An Adventure in St. Lucia

This week's Spin Cycle topic is ADVENTURE! This reminds me of one of my favorite events on a vacation with my sister, so thanks Jen at Sprite's Keeper, for choosing this topic.

Whenever my sister and I plan an adults-only vacation together, we always ask the same question: do we go all out and select the high-end hotel experience or try the next level (or two) down for a different kind of experience? Both can be fun but one is always less money and the other typically brings at least one "surprise element" to the trip. Two years ago, the surprise element was what we loved and remember the most about our trip to St. Lucia.

We selected a medium-priced, delightful place called Ti Kaye with their "romance package". It included a wild boat ride into town on a rainy day which produced my favorite vacation picture of my sis. We got champagne and cheese and crackers brought to our outdoor deck of our villa, which the birds thoroughly enjoyed. But we saved the big adventure for our last evening of our stay. The hotel staff was to pick us up at the beach in a small motor boat and taken out for a large sailboat sunset trip with appetizers and wine.

As is usual, my sister and I traded clothes, shoes and jewelry. She ended up in pink Capri's and a pink and white top that cried out for my pink and white Jack Rogers' sandals. I borrowed a turquoise shirt to go with my white pants. The guys were in shorts and polo shirts and sneakers or dock shoes. We headed down to the beach on a warm, sunny late afternoon.

The guy was waiting with his little boat with two long oars. He had no shirt on and dreadlocks down to the middle of his back. His smile was as bright as moonshine and his eyes were as red as cherries. There was quite a wake as the tide was rolling in. He explained to us how we should hop in two at a time and he would work the boat to avoid the wake splash. Only I think he did the exact opposite. My sister and Scott hoped in and faced the beach and waited for our guide to pull the boat out, waiting for the wave to break. But his timing was off and instead landed the boat right into the wake, and a huge wave came crashing in on my sister and husband! They were sopping wet and Bill and I watched the whole episode standing on the beach. Unfortunately, the camera was tucked away in a bag. We were all laughing hysterically. The local guide was so embarrassed but really I think he was afraid it was going to happen again with the higher waves and all.

It was our turn to get in the boat. We jumped when he told us to, he pulled the boat back and waited for the wave to land on shore and we were sitting in the boat, dry as a bone in a desert. That made us laugh even harder.

We got to the sailboat but they never opened the sail during the trip, and that made us laugh.

There was a stiff breeze and Scott was sitting in his moist shorts the whole time and that made us laugh.

The bottle of wine was delicious but the crackers went flying off the deck and that made us laugh.

(Photo by raijomayo100)

The sunset was bright and colorful and peaceful and we sat in silence and appreciated all that life has given us. We were thrilled to be together enjoying each other's company and we dreamed of doing this kind of trip every year for the rest of our lives.

As we left the boat my sister was walking funny. I asked her if she was alright. She said, "yes, but I think your leather sandals are ruined". To this day, I slip on those loosened sandals and can't help giggling too myself about our little surprise adventure in St. Lucia.