jdybnsn,

I stayed in Rodney Bay a couple of years ago. Having visited a few of the Caribbean Islands, my heart is in St Lucia. I love the lush tropicalness of the island and the reefs are in pristine condition, particulrly in the Ansa Castanette area. The people are great as well. Definately my pick of the Caribbean. They were filming Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3 while we were there. The tall ships and support boats were moored in Rodney Bay and the crew staying at the Sandals at Pidgeon Island. We kept a look out for Jonny Depp etc, but never saw them.

Back on topic!! In terms of flights / holidays, try Virgin Holiday. I went to Antigua through them in March, flying with Bmi and they were pretty good. We went with Thomson but I think they've dropped that route now so Virgin is probably your best bet. Virgin offer a direct flight on one of their 747-400's from Manchester. For 5* accomodation, you'll be looking at quite expensive. Many of the 4*s are pretty good though.

Darren

Hi

Thanks for the info Dazbo5

Well, I took the plunge and booked the flights as the Virgin miles plus money deal finished today ...I paid £1529 for 2 adults and 2 children (2 days before Feb.half term)-should be well over £2200 'normal' economy fare price today....do you think that was OK ?

I'm going to research the island in a bit more detail and the accommodation options before I book anything else.......looks like private rentals are not too expensive....so now I'm a bit torn as to whether we should go for the all singing & dancing AI hotel of Coconut Bay since it has everything for the kids (including a waterpark ) and is near the airport.......or try and go for the budget option of a private rental, hire a car and make it more of a DIY holiday.
Do you know anything about the Coconut Bay Resort ?

If anyone would like to post a review for the Coconut Bay Resort http://www.holidaytruths.co.uk/reviews/caribbean/st-lucia/vieux-fort/coconut-bay-resort-and-spa/

Pippy

jdybnsn,

I stayed in the north-west of the Island in the Rodney Bay area so I wouldn't knwow about Coconut Bay.

Darren

Well, that's useful to know Darren

........ because it looks like we might be ditching the idea of Coconut Bay in favour of a waterfront appartment in Rodney Bay now !

Any chance you could give me the low down on this area ??

Also, we are particularly interested in the following activities;

-Doing a zip wire trail ...I believe there are two places on St Lucia are there not ?- any idea which is the best ?
-Snorkelling
-Seeing /swimming with Dolphins

Any tips/ideas in relation to the above would be appreciated too.

jdybnsn,

One of the resons I travel is to dive!!! Snorkelling in Rodney Bay is pretty good. It's not the best by any means, but the rocky shoreline on the left of the bay provides plenty of things to see. I saw a huge baracuda one afternoon, the biggest I've seen by a long way. You'll see the usual array of marine fishes, plus puffers etc. Most of the hotels are situated around Rodney bay, on the coast wth apartments / villas being around the marina. The town of Rodney bay is a few minutes walk inland where you'll find a supermarket and shopping centre, bars, restaurants etc. It's a lovely little place. The beach is narrow in places but is pristine white coral sand. One advantage with Rodney Bay is you're only 10 minutes drive from Castries, the islands capital. I don't know about the zip wire I'm afraid. I saw loads of Dolphins while on the various boats for diving. We saw Spinners, Bottle Nose and Common Dolphins and were lucky enough to see a Humpback Whale breaching, come right out of the water and splash down again. It depends on the time of year for them though. We also saw a few Marlin and Sailfish hunting. St Lucia and the Grenadines are full of marine life, you won't be dissapointed. I don't think they offer swimming with Dolphins, not that I know of anyway but if you spend any time onthe water, out of the bays there's a good chance you'll see some.

A few photos for you:

The famous pitons around Soufries (great diving here)
A pair of Porcupine Puffers (you'll see these snorkelling)
Dolphin1+Dolphin2 riding the bow wave while on the dive boat between Castries and Anse Castanette
Diving at Anse Castanette
Panaramic view of Rodney Bay, taken from the top of Pidgeon Island
Pidgeon Island (lots of history here)
Reduit Beach, Rodney Bay
Left of the bay, this is where the best snorkelling is
Trunkfish (while snorkelling, Rodney Bay)
Peacock Flounder (while snorkelling, Rodney Bay)
Ocean Surgeon (while snorkelling, Rodney Bay)
Cowfish (while snorkelling, Rodney Bay)
Colourful corals (while snorkelling, Rodney Bay)
Gold Spotted snake-Eel (while snorkelling, Rodney Bay)

This is just a selection to give you an idea. I love the place.

Darren

Wow !!! Darren those are great photos, and Rodney Bay is looking more & more like the hot favourite than ever now.
Thank you so much for taking the trouble to post those pictures (my daughter loved the Puffers by the way !).

Personally, I'd much rather see dolphins in the wild, so a boat trip sounds like a must do.

It all sounds fantastic.....and the more I think about it, I'm sure we will want to do more than sit on a beach eating & drinking for a week in a remote AI hotel..... when by your account, St Lucia is such a beatiful island and has so much to offer.

I'd love to go diving again (I did a Padi equivalent qualification many years ago in Egypt) and have my son do a course too before we go, but I'm a little worried about his age and the effects on his lungs of the gas in the tanks - he is only 11 years old and small for his age at that. .......perhaps I'm just being daft though, I've no real basis for thinking that way ....

Just in case... do you have any recommendations for dive schools who would be willing to take a couple of novices out... and that are based in, or around, Rodney Bay ? (subject to some pre-dive lessons in the UK for both of us of course).

jdybnsn,

I wouldn't worry too much about the effects of diving on your son. I'm a PADI Rescue Diver. The age limit was dropped from14 I think it was to 10 a few years ago. Unless he has a medical condition, his lungs will be fine. I have small lungs for my size. I have to have a HSE medical for work every 3 years and I'm always borderline on lung capacity / peak flow for my size because I have small lungs. He'll be fine. I used Scuba St Lucia who are based at Ansa Castanette. That's about 45 minutes by boat from Castries. There is a local scuba operator based at the Rodney Bay marina, but I can't remember who they were. Scuba St Lucia are the main ones on the island.

I managed to get my diving camera (video) to St Lucia so these are some of the underwater delights:
Scuba St Lucia - EDIT - The file size is too big and Photobucket has cut it to the first 5 minutes so you miss the best bits

This is a quick edit from my recent trip to Antigua which isn't too far away (I much prefered St Lucia as the corals and reefs are in much better shape, but the sharks played out in Antigua ): Jolly Dive Antigua

Darren

Thanks for the advice & clips Darren

........not sure I'd want to be playing with that shark though !!!!!

Can't wait now.

Black-tips (sharks) are big softies!! It's the ones with stripes (tiger sharks) you have to watch out for There was one spotted off Jolly Harbour where I was diving while I was in Antigua. The first one spotter for 12 years apparently. Tiger Sharks are the man-eaters of the caribbean. We went looking for it but never saw it
Have a great time

Darren