Texas/Miami/St. Lucia

By:  Jennifer Stillman 

This vacations was a seven day six night stay at the Sandal's Grande resort in St. Lucia, West Indies complimentary to Scott's business success.  Due to travel constraints, we were fortunate enough to have it include two nights in Miami.  Here I am at the Miami International Airport (MIA) waiting for our flight to St. Lucia.

Below is a panoramic shot from the beach at the Sandal's resort.  

Below are the tantalizing (taunting) shots of some catamarans at anchor in the bay.

Fort Rodney 1778

Pigeon Island (located next to Sandal's) only some 25 miles south of the French Base at Fort Royal, Martinique, had long been recognized by the British Admiral Rodney as an import observation and defense site.  Fort Rodney was built in 1778 with an armament of three 24-pounders and two eleven and half-inch mortars.  This was quite a hike, but the views were definitely worth it.

The picture on the left below shows an aerial shot of the Sandal's resort.  Another benefit of the Sandal's resort is that it's all inclusive.  In that blue area there is a swim up adult beverage server.   That also reminds me that this is a couples only resort, thus no whining children (or people proving their bad parenting skills) around.

One bonus to staying at this Sandal's resort is you can stay at one and play at three.  Thus, one night Scott and I traveled across the bay to the Halcyon resort and had dinner at The Pier.  This restaurant was advertised as having local cuisine.  It was delicious.  Of course we don't remember what it was that we ate but it was seafood and it was good.  The gentleman on the beach is Simeon.  He made me that angel fish and convinced us to buy his beads.  See necklace.  Also, the next day we were set to go on a catamaran tour.  Thus I decided to have my hair braided so that it wouldn't get in the way.

Below are our pictures from the Catamaran tour.  The first is the herd of people from Sandal's that were in our tour group.  Yes, we were being treated like cattle again.  But once on the boat everything was great.  On this tour we were actually sailing, that was nice.

Of course they couldn't let you be on a sailboat all day so they marched us around to this "drive-thru" volcano.  It wasn't all that exciting but the locals seem to enjoy it.  Everybody always comments about the sulfur odor.

They also took us to these gardens.  We obviously weren't excited to be there because our only picture was of the waterfall.  I think we were definitely hungry (or bored) by this time.  Supposedly this waterfall was filmed in the most recent Pirates of the Caribbean movie and Romancing the Stone.

Lunch was at a local restaurant, and again it was wonderful but we don't remember what we ate.

Let me explain our normal day on vacation at the Sandal's Grande resort.  Wake around seven and wait until eight when the restaurants opened for breakfast.  Then normally we'd go back to our room and read for a little while.  Our room wasn't that exciting, it faced the tennis courts.  When we were finished reading we'd head to the beach.  Where we played on the bouncie (trampoline in water) and went on the Hobie Cats.  We had a lot of fun on the Hobie Cats.  The first day out we flipped it, and Scott was able to practice his woman overboard drill.  Then it was time for lunch.  After lunch, we'd head back to our room for a little bit more reading, until it was time to be sociable at the previously mentioned pool beverage station.

I stop my story now, and hand you back to my loving husband, Scott.

College Station, TX

July 26, 2006

By:  Scott Stillman 

While reading the log of The Ithaka I found this recipe for bread.  Something to add to my menu of thing I can cook on a boat.

June Log     August Log

Revised: December 29, 2006

copyright © 2005-2006 aggiecat.com