Celebrity Summit Day 4 - St Lucia

Sunrise was at 5:45 so despite my best efforts to sleep in, I was wide awake at 6 o’clock. I sat out on the balcony where I could see the mountains of St Lucia slowly getting closer. We were in St Lucia with Mama, Daddy, Jenny and Jeremy in 2001 for our 10th anniversary. I think that was Ron’s all-time favorite vacation. We stayed at Sandals Regency La Toc, and Ron loved diving in the morning, golfing in the afternoon and sitting in the pool at the Sunset Bluffs. We both got hooked on Sandals. So of course our plan for the day was to visit another Sandals – Sandals Grande St Lucian.

After breakfast, Ron and I headed off the ship to the taxi stand where we were placed in a cab driven by a very nice man named Cristophe. It was morning rush hour and traffic was crawling so it took about 30 minutes to get to the resort, but the views along the way were nice. St Lucia was even more beautiful than I remembered – lush green mountains and hot pink bougainvillea spilling over walls, coves filled with sailboats. So pretty.
 
I’d called Sandals a couple of weeks before our trip so when we got to the resort, the security guard already had our names and ushered us right in. We checked in at the front desk and then went in search of lounge chairs. Of course, all the chairs with umbrellas by the main pool were already “reserved”, but we didn’t have any trouble finding two chairs under a palapa between the beach and pool. I’d gotten a little too much sun on our snorkel tour the day before so I very happy to have some shade.
 
Once we settled in, we took a walk up and down the beach, exploring the grounds. This actually didn’t take very long since the resort was fairly small. There were several small pools and a large, main pool with a swim-up bar and Sandals’ signature observation tower. After the walk, we cooled off with a drink at the swim-up bar and then I was ready for some stand-up paddle boarding! Sandals was located on the calm waters of Rodney Bay, which made it perfect for water sports. There were already several paddle boards and kayaks crisscrossing the bay. I got even less instruction from the guy at the water sports hut than I did in the Bahamas. He just said, “stay on our knees until you pass the swimming area, then stand up.” OK, seemed simple enough. Until I’d paddled way out into the bay and then thought, “Wait, how do I turn around??” Fortunately, I remembered what to do before I got too far. :-)  It was fun.

For lunch we ate at the buffet at Bayside and shared a chocolate crepe from the creperie restaurant. Then I spent the afternoon relaxing and reading under the palapa while Ron hung out in the main pool. Too soon it was time to head back to port. Cristophe picked us up in front of the lobby at 3 o’clock, as we’d arranged. The traffic was much lighter on the ride back and we were back onboard the ship at 3:30. I called to check on Mama, who had gone to the clinic for antibiotics. She was feeling much better with no sore throat at all. Yay!

We met up at 6:30 for dinner and another good meal. After dinner Daddy wanted to go somewhere quieter and talk for a while, but Mama was still not feeling 100% and was ready for bed. So we said goodnight and Ron and I headed off to the casino for more Black Jack. I started out losing badly and was down to my last hand when my luck turned and I won back all my money plus the money I’d lost the other night! It seemed a good time to quit so we went back to the cabin, where I could see the lights of another cruise ship from our balcony.

Day 5 - Antigua