Tag: stlucia

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Scuba Diving

A few years ago, while on a snorkeling excursion, I decided that I really wanted to see what was deeper below the surface of the ocean. I had been a fan of and in the water since as far back as I could remember, and had no fear about learning to scuba dive.
I checked in with Dwain at Captain Nemo’s dive shop and he got me started on the path to certification.

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Dwain

We had a couple of weekends of class time, where we learned all about scuba diving, the importance of properly fitted and maintained equipment, and the effects of pressure on the body while diving. We covered material in our books, watched videos, and took tests to ensure we would be safe divers.
We also had a couple of sessions of pool time, which is when we were able to access a local indoor pool and learn how to assemble and use our equipment and practice our skills. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think I would be able to master taking off my mask at the bottom of a pool, much less in the ocean.  But I did! And I left it off for a couple of minutes.
After the class and pool sessions, the time had come to sign up for my Open Water dives, which would be done in Bull Shoals Lake in Arkansas.

This is basically where we got to pull it all together in an open water environment under the guidance of an instructor to see if we would receive certification or not. Even under the horrible rainy, stormy conditions and a lot of time sitting in my car between dives, I passed! I was a newly certified, open water diver.
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Housemates for the weekend AND Certified OW Divers

After that, it was time to go practice my skills. We headed to Cozumel, Mexico which is one of the top ten places in the world to dive. It didn’t disappoint! My dive buddy was an Englishman named Ray (hubby wasn’t certified yet) who was very experienced and we saw some neat stuff. We actually found a nurse shark napping and just before our ascent, 3 huge lobsters walked across our path in the sand. I didn’t have my camera yet, so I have no pics, other than one of me and Ray after the dive.
IMG_1655Over the next couple of years, hubby got his certification through Captain Nemo’s as well. Although, while he did his open water portion in Punta Cana, I was working on my Advanced Open Water certification. Win, win, right?
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Punta Cana

While on our honeymoon in St Lucia, we stayed at a Sandal’s Resort, which includes scuba diving. We took the opportunity for hubby to then work on his Advanced Open Water while I took a photography class.

As we are now getting ready to take a trip to the Pacific side of Mexico, we’ve discovered there might be a couple of places we would like to dive while there. If there’s one thing I’ve learned about scuba diving it’s that there’s always something else to learn. It’s a never-ending process. So even though we’ve come a long way baby, we’ve still got a lot left to learn!

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Grenada–Sandals La Source

Spring 2015, after a long winter, I had a case of spring fever.  Yes, I know some people love all four seasons and insist that they love experiencing each one.  I am not one of those people.  I love the warmth and sun of summer and the outdoor activities.  I like fall, seeing the beautiful colors of the changing leaves and the cool, crisp weather that comes in.  And I enjoy spring, seeing all of nature re-emerging and the days growing longer.  Winter?  I’m not a fan.  I actually despise it.  Shorter days, with darkness coming early, send me into hibernation mode.  Those are the days that since it’s dark when I get home from work, it’s all I can do not to just crawl in bed and wait for brighter days to return.  Literally, winter saps me and makes me a lazier human.  I could easily skip winter, every year.  Sure, snow is pretty, but only if I don’t have to get out in it and can stay in my bed all day.  Summer? I’m up early and can’t wait to get outside in the sun.  I know I really should have moved somewhere warmer, years ago.  But, I digress.  
Spring fever, 2015, I was longing for a touch of sun to re-energize me.  Luckily, I stumbled across a sale going on by Sandals Resorts.  Up until our honeymoon at Sandals Grande St. Lucia the year before, I had been a skeptic of the price tag Sandals carries.  However, that trip converted me into a fan–see my post Honeymooning in St. Lucia.  So, you can imagine my excitement of finding a Sandals sale.  It was called a fill-the-rooms sale.  This equated to a lower price on less popular days of Sunday through Thursday.
As they say in Jamaica, no problem mon!  We flew out on a Sunday planning to stay until Friday.  There are no non-stops from Missouri to Grenada, so with a lay-over in Atlanta, it took most of the day to get there.  We arrived around 10:00 pm.  One of the best things about Sandals  La Source Grenada?  The resort is just around the corner from the airport, so it took us all of 10 minutes to get there after a long day of airports and flying.
You’d think after such a long day, it would be time for something to eat, and bed.  However, stepping off the plane into such warm weather had just the opposite effect.  The karaoke show was in full swing by the time we got there after grabbing a sandwich on the way down from our room.  We don’t do karaoke (in public anymore) but we had a very fun time relaxing in cocoon swings and watching.Usually, on vacation, I can’t wait to get up and tackle whatever I can’t do at home, but this trip was different.  I was still trying to emerge from winter hibernation, so I didn’t have that itch to do much.  We slept in, and never left our resort on this trip, but that’s ok, we had everything we needed right there.
Sandals La Source Grenada is one of their smaller, more intimate resorts.  All rooms are close to the pool and beach, although from our village of rooms, it was all down a steep, short hill.  We lounged in the pool a lot.  Each morning started with pool aerobics, led by a trainer who was incredibly fit, challenging us to use water weights,  and who had us sweating in the pool!  I wrapped up each work out with a cocktail afterwards just to cool back off.We took turns experiencing the restaurants on property.  One of my favorite things about Sandals is that you never have to make reservations for dinner, there are no “buffets”, and if you’re completely zapped by dinner time, you can order room service.  Our first morning there, we discovered there was a Creperie, which served incredible crepes and omelets.  This was our favorite and became our morning routine.  We also enjoyed that we had a sushi bar, “Soy” that was open early for dinner, and we frequently treated ourselves to “late lunch” there.  We also had a beachside restaurant that served sandwiches and light dinners in a casual, outdoor environment, and our favorite was Butch’s Chophouse, which had a double meaning.  It was named for the creator and owner of Sandals, Butch Stewart (more about him in a sec) and we also joked that it was named after my Dad.  Butch’s Chophouse served lobster in addition to steaks, which demanded more than one visit by us,After our first full day there, we found ourselves at the poolside, open air bar for some live music after dinner.  Keep in mind, we usually didn’t finish dinner until late evening, so we were right on time for the show.  As we were sitting there people-watching, I saw a man I thought looked familiar flanked by a number of people dressed very professionally.  I told my husband I thought that it was Butch Stewart, the owner.  After our first Sandals experience I had researched the creation of Sandals.  If you enjoy biographies, you should read the story of Butch Stewart, “All That’s Good: The Story of Butch Stewart, the Man Behind Sandals Resorts“.  What a fascinating story!  My husband joked that there was no way that was the guy I had seen a couple of pictures of.  Challenge accepted, I went over and asked him if he was Butch.  To my shock, he said yes.  (OMG! It’s him!).  I told him I was a fan and admired his story and his resorts.  I asked if he would mind if we took our picture together, and I will never forget his answer, “My dear, this is Sandals, you can have anything your heart desires”.  He had one of the guys with him take our picture with my phone. (Please don’t faint, please don’t faint.)  it’s one of my favorite pics ever!The rest of our vacay was very laid-back and relaxing.  We talked about going for some dives–Sandals includes diving for free, and Grenada has an underwater sculpture park.  But, we never got around to it.  We decided that we would save that for our next trip to Sandals La Source Grenada, which would be a longer trip. So, this post is to be continued…

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Honeymooning in St. Lucia


Sonny and I were married on the beach in Jamaica. 6 months later, we honeymooned in St. Lucia. It was definitely the trip of a lifetime! We tossed around the idea of different places and different resorts and settled on St. Lucia, staying at Sandals Grande St. Lucian. St. Lucia is a Caribbean island in the Lesser Antilles, just north of South America. We liked that 1) we’d never been there before, 2) it’s in the Caribbean, and 3) it looked like an exotic place to visit. Why Sandals? We had never stayed at a Sandals and we were curious if it could live up to the reputation. Sandals also includes scuba diving in its “all inclusiveness”, and we decided we would dive, A LOT. These decisions led to a very memorable trip.
Disclaimer: this is not an advertisement, it’s my personal opinion. If you’re a fan of all-inclusive resorts, and have never been to a Sandals, all I can say is GO! If all-inclusive resorts aren’t your thing, GO ANYWAY! It is worth the higher cost. They run an incredible operation of making you the happiest person on vacay–whatever your heart desires. Their rooms were excellently decorated, beds were the comfiest, and you could even get 24/7 butler service if you wanted. The food was of a higher standard, you never had to make a reservation, and if you wanted to have a lobster dinner at the steakhouse and then a little sushi later, you could. Late night chocolate bar or mimosas with breakfast? You got it!
Beyond the basics, we had a romantic candlelight dinner on the beach. One evening we were treated to a performance by Teddyson John, who is a very talented soca singer.  You tube his videos, he’s incredible.
We went scuba diving nearly every day. Thanks to the patience and diligence of our dive instructor, Marcus Joseph, Sonny completed his advanced open-water certification and I acquired my digital underwater photographer specialty.

And we toured the island. The island of St. Lucia was indeed exotic, lush, and beautiful. It’s a volcanic island, so think lots of hills, that can get nerve-wracking when driving in small vehicle. We took a catamaran ride to see the Pitons (our guide called them “big boob and little boob”) which was followed by a grilled chicken and rice lunch.
We also went shopping in St. Vincent and took a mud bath at the sulphur springs of La Soufriere, which is a live volcano. The mud bath left our skin feeling silky soft, but due to the rotten egg “scent” of the springs, I do not recommend going after drinking an entire bottle of champagne at the Sandals beach party the night before. Lesson learned.
Sandals and St. Lucia were certainly the honeymoon of a lifetime. If you ever get the chance, take the trip to St. Lucia. And if you don’t go to St. Lucia, at least check out a Sandals resort, you won’t regret it!