Scott Barronton (00:00)
Today we're taking you to one of the most breathtaking destinations in the Caribbean, St. Lucia. Known for its iconic Piton Mountains, lush rainforest, and luxurious resorts that seem to defy gravity, this island is more than just a postcard perfect escape. It's an experience.
In this episode, we're joined by seasoned traveler, Stephanie Yeargan who recently explored St. Lucia and is here to share her insights
From choosing between jungle hikes and beach days to whether resorts like Jade Mountain are truly worth the splurge,
Stephanie offers an honest, experience-rich look at what it's like to travel in this island paradise. So whether St. Lucia is already on your list or just now earning a spot, you're in the right place.
Speaker 2 (00:49)
We're Scott and Melissa, The Sunshine Travelers.
Speaker 1 (00:52)
We're all about exploring the world and sharing the journey with you. Whether you're a seasoned traveler, dreaming of your next adventure, or just here for the stories.
Speaker 2 (01:00)
No matter where you are on your travel journey, we've got first-hand experiences, tips, and plenty of inspiration from some of the most amazing places on Earth.
Speaker 1 (01:09)
So buckle up and get ready to travel with us.
Scott Barronton (01:19)
I'm really excited about today's destination. It's one that we've had our eye on for a while. And it seems like the kind of place where you can find that perfect balance between relaxing at the beach one day and heading off on a rainforest adventure the next, which is kind of the perfect relaxing adventurous vacation that we like to take,
Exactly. It's one of those destinations that checks a lot of boxes, especially if you love combining a bit of luxury with a sense of discovery. And let's just say after hearing more about it, I don't think it's going to stay on our wish list for a whole lot longer.
It's got to get it past this year. Let me introduce today's guest, someone who's no stranger to the Sunshine Travelers podcast. Stephanie Yeargan has joined us several times before, and each time she brings fresh insight and infectious enthusiasm for travel. She's an avid explorer with a true passion for discovering new places and just as importantly, helping others do the same. Whether she's traveling across Asia or lounging on a Caribbean beach,
Stephanie loves planning unique, meaningful trips for fellow travelers in her spare time. We're thrilled to have her back to share one of her latest adventures, this time to the stunning island of St. Lucia. Stephanie, thanks for joining us. Thanks for having me. I'm very excited to be here. Yeah, so St. Lucia is a place that a lot of our listeners ask us questions about.
And we've never been there before. So we decided to have you on and come talk to us about St. Lucia. And I'm sure by the end of this trip, Melissa will have a full trip already planned. Probably so. So Stephanie, start out by describing St. Lucia to somebody who has never been and maybe even never heard about this Caribbean island.
So St. Lucia is often called the Hawaii of the Caribbean, which, as you know, my husband and I love Hawaii. So it's one of the things that attracted us to St. Lucia. And the reason it's called the Hawaii of the Caribbean is it has dramatic volcanic peaks, lush rainforests, and beautiful beaches, including black sand beaches.
Like Hawaii, it offers a diverse landscape with the iconic Pitons rising majestically from the sea, creating a stunning landscape backdrop for the island. St. Lucia has also been an independent country since 1979. So it was a former
French and British colonies. So it's a relatively new country, which to me is interesting. The culture is a mix of African, French, and English influences reflecting its history. And English is the official language, but French Creole is also widely spoken. The majority of the population is of African descent. So it really has a rich culture, which I appreciate
from the East Coast of the US where we all live. About how far is it to get to St. Lucia? So Delta Airlines does have a nonstop from my hometown Atlanta and I believe it's about a four hour flight each way. So you could easily go for a long weekend or of course if you have to longer go for a week. ⁓ And then there are some other airlines that fly there as well through other hubs.
We, none of us know what they are though. No, we don't. The reason I asked that though is because you've got all of these features that are very Hawaii-esque, but it's only four hours from the East coast. And it's the same time zone or maybe one hour off. So it's a lot easier, shorter flight, less jet lag, less time zones to travel.
So before we get too much into just St. Lucia specifically, like maybe compare it to some of the other Caribbean destinations that you've been or contrast it, from some of the other places that you've been. Yeah, sure. I think, you know, to me, it's a little more off the beaten path. I think a lot of people kind of first time Caribbean, me included, go to
Bahamas, Jamaica, maybe Puerto Rico. And then you get some of the islands that are still British, so Cayman Islands, things like that. I think what stands out to me is the landscape of the island. So just like the mountains and the volcanoes is pretty unique compared to some of the islands I've been to.
Yeah. And then there's, I think there are similarities, just the kind of pace of life is very, you know, slower compared to sort of mainland us. ⁓ so that kind of tracks across the Caribbean and then, getting seafood, things like that, and just the stunning beaches, I think pretty much everywhere you go in the Caribbean, there are stunning beaches, just different depending on the islands. mountains and volcanoes, that makes me actually think about like Costa Rica.
Yeah, I think a lot of the landscape is similar to Costa Rica and some of the activities as well would be similar to Costa Rica trip. And so I think that we're going to get into this a little bit more as far as like, do you go somewhere and just stay? Do you pick a place and then go and do a lot of stuff? So let's start with like different activities and specifically like on your trip, what did you do? Did you
explore different areas of the island? We did. So we spent time in both the north and southern part of the island. So we had our own car rental, which I don't know that I would recommend unless you're pretty adventurous. I would say like the roads were a little curvier and maybe not as good as we thought they would be, but it was fine. But it did afford us the ability to see more of the island. So I think, you know, it just depends on what you want from your trip. you
Just want total relaxation. I would recommend a resort to see, know, dig a little deeper. I think staying different places is nice. So we kind of got a different vibe staying in the Northern and the Southern part of the island. And then quick question, what side of the road did they drive on? They do drive on the left side because it's a former British colony. So that adds another layer, especially kind of with the roads and the mountainous landscape as well.
It did surprise me a little bit, think, just, and it maybe took a little bit longer to get places to. don't think Google maps has quite figured out the realistic timing of some of the distances between places just because of the mountain roads, if that makes sense. You mean you can't drive 75 miles an hour between places? No, no, you cannot And then
I think you asked me about activities. Yeah, so you would definitely recommend, so if you want to explore a lot of the island ⁓ to rent your own car, because I guess otherwise, I guess let's talk about that for a second. So if you were maybe at an all-inclusive or something like that, they would probably have some transportation that they could provide you or you would do an airport transfer. And then how would you get around if you didn't have a car? Yeah, that's a good question. So I think, you know, if you did stay at a resort, most people
have the airport transfer included, which is great. And then probably the best way for standard as a resort is to book tours through the resort. So then they take care of the transportation. You don't have to worry. And you can still see a good bit of the island doing some of the tours as well. just depends on what you want. OK, so then let's get into that. Some of the activities that you guys did have in your car.
Yeah, so I would say this was one of our more kind of like chill, even though we did have the car rental, it was a pretty chill vacation. We didn't do a ton of activities. Kind of our main activities were just like exploring different beaches. But one of the things we love to snorkel, so we went to, and I looked up the pronunciation, but I already forgot, Anse Chastanet or something in French. We went to this beach.
that was, and there's a resort there and then, so there's that resort plus Jade Mountain, which we'll talk about later, above it, but it, all the beaches, I think this is similar in a lot of Caribbean islands, are public beaches. So there's, there was a separate parking lot. We parked and then had to walk in kind of through the resort entrance and there was a resort part of the beach and then the public beach and you could rent snorkeling gear. So we snorkeled from there and there was a reef. So, my husband and I switched off.
childcare on the beach and then snorkeling. And so that was, we love snorkeling and just to be able to snorkel off the beach and not have to go on a boat tour, boat tours are amazing too, but just to be able to do that is really fun. So that was a great activity that we did. And then I think one of our other favorite activities was doing a sunset boat ride with the Pitons in the background from Soufriere. And that was really beautiful.
And then we also spent some time at Pigeon Island National Park and they have military ruins there that you can explore. So just kind of getting closer to the history of the island. We enjoyed that and kind of, we didn't do a major hike there, but there is hiking you can do as well. So if you weren't gonna book through a resort, these activities, did you book things ahead of time or did you, were they available like once you got there?
We did not book our Sunset Cruise, I think, until we got there. Yeah, because I think we were just kind of playing it by ear based on what we wanted to do, what we wanted to see, how our kid was doing at the time. Yeah, so we were able to, I think, book day of, and it wasn't an issue at that time of year that we were there. So I think depending on when you're going and how much you really want to do an activity, you probably would want to book in advance.
Let's talk a little bit about accommodations
Where would you stay if you're going to St. Lucia and where would you maybe recommend to others? Because we've seen the resorts, those amazing resorts like Jade Mountain that was featured on the amazing hotels. Are these places that you recommend people to stay in St. Lucia or are there other places that maybe you would recommend? Yeah, I think it really depends on what you want from your trip. So I think...
You know, these luxury resorts have their reputation for a reason. And I think if you're celebrating a honeymoon or anniversary, that could be a really great time to splurge for something like Jade Mountain or Sugar Beach is also a famous one, Windjammer. So I think it just depends on what you want. If you wanted to go still luxury, but maybe a little more affordable, Sandals is a great option. There's three Sandals properties all on the...
Eastern side of the island kind of spaced out so kind of pending and they have Stay in one play in three and so you could you know kind of resort hop and see some of the other Resorts to mention that I I remembered in my sandals training is that You could stay at any of the sandals resorts and play at the different golf courses Yes, yes and eat at the different restaurants as well. So if you're a foodie, can have some more variety
Yeah, I think resorts are definitely an option. There's also villas or guest houses. So we did one villa that actually was on the same beach as one of the Sandals properties. So we saw the Sandals property from our villa, but the villa had a kitchen, which can be really nice for families having kids. And then another option.
are things like, there are a couple of eco-friendly resorts. So there's a black-owned resort called Fondue Eco-Resort. And then we actually stayed at an eco-friendly guest house called Allen Bush that was like an old plantation. It was like a rum plantation. It was really interesting. Now it's an organic farm retreat center eco-friendly guest house, which I wouldn't recommend for everyone because it was rather rustic, but we enjoyed it.
And then there was another Black-owned resort that I was going to mention. called Stonefield Villa Resort. So if you really want to kind of support more locals, then that's a great option as well. And we ate lunch there one day and the restaurant was amazing. They a poolside restaurant at Stonefield. And did you stay in the same accommodation the whole time or did you change?
We changed, so we split between the villa, it was called Villa Beach near the Sandals Resort up north and then we did our other one down south. we, because we wanted to see two different parts of the island. And then not have to drive, right? I guess she gave you, since it took a while to drive, it gave you more time to spend in those different areas. Yeah, I think it would be really hard to do. Yeah, it would be a lot of driving. And it doesn't sound like there's anywhere kind of in the middle.
that you could split between the northern part and the southern part. Yeah, think if you did probably, think a lot of people do stay in the Soufrière area because that is kind of more central, maybe like Margot, but you know, I think some of those beaches kind of halfway down, that would probably be the most central. Yeah. So there's a lot. Yeah, I think there's no shortage of options for accommodations. Just depends on what you want out of your trip.
So when you guys went, you mentioned that your son was young. So obviously you do things different, right? When you have a family and are there other activities that you looked into or that you're aware of that maybe other people would be interested that y'all just didn't do on this particular trip? Yeah, that's a great question. So a couple of unique activities that we looked at, we didn't do, and some of it is we had done similar things in other locations. I think sometimes, you you skip things because you're like,
done something similar. There is the Sulphur Springs drive-in volcano, which is super unique. But if you've never been to a volcano before, that would be great. There are mineral-rich mud baths that you can go to. So that's a really popular activity. There's also the Botanical Gardens, Diamond Falls. And then if you wanted to get into the jungle, you could do zip lining, Jeep Safari. You can hike. You can even hike up the Pitons if you're, I think you have to be a pretty.
avid hiker for that and I believe there's a permit required for that as well. And then if you're a diver, there's no shortage of diving to do on the island as well. So there's a lot to do. So in Curacao, one of the things we really thought was neat is they had all these dive shacks right near the water. You get your tank and you just literally drag it out into the water and start your dive. Is it like that in St. Lucia as well?
So I do think there are a few different dive resorts in St. Lucia as well that you can stay at, that you can just dive straight from the resorts. And because you had mentioned that the snorkeling, like you didn't have to go out on a boat, that it was right there. And so if you were an avid snorkeler, would you recommend somebody to bring their gear with them or was it pretty easy to find snorkel gear too? It was pretty easy to find snorkel gear right on the beach where we were.
We didn't bring our snorkel gear with us. We just rented it. it was, as long as you're not picky, it was fine. And something else that I'll mention too is they do have a whale watching season. So we were not there during whale watching season. So I do think if we had been there during the October to February timeframe, we probably would have gone whale watching. We love whale watching. think we do it any opportunity we get. So that's something that's seasonal that I would recommend to people, depending on when.
be there. So is the water, are the waters kind of protected in this area because I know Ed doesn't do well on boats and you guys went on the sunset tour and stuff like that. Yeah, yeah. It was a pretty short tour and it was, yeah I don't remember it being rough and he may have taken Dramamine beforehand but yeah I remember it being pretty well protected and we didn't go far out.
because it was mostly to see kind of the scenery. mean, the scenery is just so breathtaking. So you're just seeing the sunset, the mountains, the volcanoes. Yeah. A little bit earlier, you mentioned some of your favorite restaurants or some of the places that you went to eat. Is there a local cuisine for St. Lucia? So they have a lot of Creole dishes.
So that's one of their main cuisines. And then they have a national dish that's called green fig and salt fish. So it's green bananas, but are locally called green figs and salt cod, which is cooked in different spices and seasonings. And it's a staple in St. Lucia, and you have to try it at least once. I tried it, I think, at the Ann's Chastainy restaurant. We ate there when we were at the beach that day. Otherwise, amazing seafood.
Other favorite restaurants besides the Stonefield Villa that I mentioned earlier, it was called the Naked Fish. And it was on the northern part of the island near kind of the Cap Maison Resort near Smuggler's Cove Beach. And you had to take these really steep steps down to the beach, but it was beautiful. You could see the island of Martinique from the beach. And then the restaurant was right there.
That was a really fun dining experience. Did you find any opportunities to interact with local culture or local people while that you were there? Yeah, we did. think one of the ways we interact with culture is through food. So I think eating.
we went to kind of a more local spot when we were staying on the southern part of the island and that felt like very authentic and gave us more of a chance to interact with locals sort of outside of the hotel setting. And then just in all our other interactions, people were really friendly. And then I think another way we experienced the culture was at the Ballinbouche estate kind of touring kind of the old ruins as well there and learning about the history of
the different production of like rum and chocolate and all the staples that they produce or have historically. And just interacting with your tour guide in that? Yes.
What time of year was it that you guys went and what's the weather like? Because being in the Caribbean, you got to pay attention to the time of year that you're going. We were there in March. So that is during their peak season. So their peak season runs December through April. So definitely, you know, kind of getting the holiday, Christmas holiday, New Year's when it's winter in the U S and Canada. lot of people obviously go to the Caribbean and then
lower season, fewer crowds would be experienced May through November, but then you have to watch out for hurricane season because they are in the hurricane belt. So that's something to keep in mind, but you, I'm assuming could find lower rates if you're willing to kind of take that risk. And I would probably recommend travel insurance in that case. And then when did you say the whale season would be again?
The whale season is October through February. So it coincides with most of the peak season, but not all, and then a little bit of the lower season. What's the water temperature like in March? Was it cold? No, it was pretty warm. I remember it being, warm. It was comfortable to get in. We got in and swam and we weren't cold at all. So it makes it a great, like you said, when it's winter.
and you're tired of the winter in the US, it's a great escape from that then. Definitely. It's a good break from the winter in the US. Yeah, like I mentioned, holidays, winter break again for families. If you're thinking about winter break, spring break destinations, that's a good option. One of the things that our listeners really like are packing tips and suggestions. So what would you suggest that people would pack to go on this trip?
I think anytime I go to the Caribbean, I'd pack pretty light because, you don't need a lot of clothes. Like you bring your swimsuit, bring your kind of active wear shorts and, and tops. And then maybe like a couple, you know, especially if you're staying at a resort, I would bring nicer clothes for dinners. but otherwise I think like beachy casual, you probably need less than you think you do because you're just going to be.
at the beach. in your bathing suit all day. Exactly. And then like if you're going to do some of the hikes, then obviously you need something for that. Even if you're not doing like the really strenuous hike, maybe some like more walking shoes, I guess. Or like you're saying, if you're don't wear your flip-flops if you're going down those steep steps, right? Having something maybe a little more sturdy than you would normally bring. Yeah.
Yeah, definitely. think if ⁓ you're hiking, I would bring either hiking boots or tennis shoes. I think we had tennis shoes with us, even though we weren't doing any major hikes. I like to just bring tennis shoes. We mentioned snorkel gear. If you're really particular about, have to have certain snorkel gear, you could do that. And then definitely sun protection. feel like Caribbean, all year long, you need your hat, your sunglasses, reef-safe sunscreen.
Any other tips you can think of for first timers or anything that maybe you wish you would have known before
I think to me the roads are the only thing that I wish we had been more prepared about. Otherwise, I can't really think of anything else. Sounds like Trippiamo needs to go down there and do a St. Lucia driving video. That would be fun.
⁓ for someone that's looking for a balance of relaxation and adventure. And when, when I was thinking about this, I was like, yeah, that's definitely Ed and Stephanie. Like they like to have that good balance. little bit of something to do, but a little bit of downtime. I learned from you guys on that one. And I think Melissa did too, you know, finally to, to put that in, but how would St. Lucia stack up for that? Is there plenty of adventure and.
good balance with the downtime. think St. Lucia is a great place to have both the combination of adventure and relaxation. There, like we talked about before, there's so much you can do. mean, there's things I didn't even mention like rum, chocolate tasting tours. but then there, you know, just chilling on the beach or kind of in the hammock, just finding time to like read and relax is great. And also I didn't mention before,
spa treatments are great at the resorts. And then we also, where we stayed, they had a little yoga barn. we did some, my son and I did some yoga one day, so that was fun. So there's a lot of wellness activities as well. So I think it's a really good place to combine adventure with relaxation and just recharging and resetting as well.
Melissa, anything else before we jump into the rapid fire round? I don't think so. think St. Lucia sounds like a fantastic place to, like you just said, have some adventure and see a new place and see a beautiful place, but then also just relax and recharge. So let's do the rapid fire round then. All right. I've got three questions for you. Just quick rapid fire answers. jungle hike?
this is a hard question, but I think my answer for this trip particularly is going to be beach day because we did. That was kind of our theme of just like chill at the beach. Rum punch or piton beer? This is also so hard. I think I have to go with rum punch though. Sunrise over the ocean or sunset behind the Pitons? Definitely sunset behind the Pitons. We are not mourning people and it was just the sunset.
Boat cruise was one of our favorite things we did and being able to see Pitons from the water was really gorgeous. Highly recommend it. Well, excellent. But we do have three questions that we ask all of our guests. You should know this by now and it'll be interesting to go back and listen to see if any of your answers have changed, which is quite possible. But what is the favorite place that you've ever visited?
You know, this is so hard for me. usually like cheat and do like a top five. Favorite place. I know it's really, really hard. I think I'm going to just go with Italy because if you made me pick one place, it's yeah, it's Italy. The food is the tops for me. I've been back three times. It's I think it's just a place I could go back to over and over. So I'm going to go with Italy. I think we find that to be true as well.
It's not what we say is our favorite place, but I understand why you would say that. And there's so much to explore and so many different things to explore. So that's a great one. What is still at the top of your bucket list? How many? Well, I'll give you the top two or three here. So I think top two or three for me.
We definitely, I think I talked about this last night, Galapagos is definitely high on our list. Just I think the wildlife would be amazing. We'll probably do it a little differently than y'all and do island hopping, which will be kind of interesting to see how that goes. Yes, I think Ecuador. I think I would be interested in the island hopping in the Galapagos. Now that we've done the stay on a yacht type.
thing and go from place to place. I think the island hopping would be pretty neat because of some of those towns we would have loved to have spent some time in. Yeah, I think it'll be really interesting and it will probably it's kind of going to be opposite because we'll mostly be in the mainland and then we'll do some boat trips more like day trips so we can see more. Yeah, I think it'll be but I think with with kids with my husband's motion vertigo issues, island hopping is the way to go.
for us. And I think it will be a little bit more economical to you. we can talk about budget friendly Galapagos after that. We can compare and contrast the two. Yeah, that would be really good. I so Bhutan has been top like one of my I think it's going to take me a while to do it. But I would love to go to Bhutan. And I just love Asia in general. And I just think it's such like a unique
and not that many people go to. And then maybe because Delta is adding a nonstop, I keep thinking about Morocco and Marrakesh in particular. So that's why I'm there for me. You hear that? ⁓ is adding the nonstop from Atlanta. So that will be really helpful.
All right. But we've got a little bit of time between now and Antarctica in February. So where are you going next? That is a good question. So we have a bit of a slower fall, but we actually... just got back from Scotland. It's true.
It's true. I you literally came from Scotland here to our house yesterday, But I think our next like bigger trip for fall break, we're planning to actually head back to the Caribbean. So we it's yeah, it's been a little while. It's been since last year. We kind of try to do an annual Caribbean trip because of the proximity and we love the beach and the Caribbean. So we're thinking
either Turks and Caicos or one of the British Virgin Islands or really anywhere in the Caribbean. Can't go wrong.
But then I'm going to Anarrako with y'all and that's my next really big trip. So we've been joking a lot is now this is going to be seventh continent for all three of us. I know, I'm so excited. And so I said it's going to be like NASCAR racing trying to get off the gangplank. No, the... What is that?
What is chariots of fire? So the chariots of fire is what plays in my head in slow motion. Watching the two of you see who can get on Antarctica first. That's what goes through my head. Or maybe we just have to like make a pact that will like link arms and do it all together. Red Rover. Red Rover. Okay. Question. Are you spending the night on Antarctica? No. I mean, I would love to, but the...
Like the camp where, people live for the research and all, isn't a totally different area of Antarctica from where we're gonna be. Well, yeah, but they have the camping where you can sleep on the... And one of the girls that we went to Paraguay with, she did it. She was like, I had to do it, but I just, I don't know. That one's... I know. I'm debating. Because I was... Until she said that, I was like, I don't need to do that. But now I'm like, maybe I need to do that.
You really nice room on know, and we're paying a lot for it. And yeah, and then you have to be extra to camp and use like this... I mean, you're going to be so cold going to the toilet. Oh, I was going say, or you can't go to the bathroom. No, I think they have like a little something, something, but you would be very cold using it. All right. With that, I think we'll bring it to a wrap.
St. Lucia is truly one of those rare places that delivers on the promise of paradise. Whether you're hiking through lush rainforests, sipping a rum punch with the views of the Pitons, or soaking in the warmth of the island's culture and hospitality, Stephanie gave us a great look at how to experience it all from off the beaten path moments to experiences that make a trip truly rememberable. If St. Lucia wasn't on your travel radar yet, I hope that it is now.
And if it already was, maybe today gave you the nudge to start planning. The good news is that Stephanie is available to help you with that planning. We'll put some info on how to engage with her in the show notes. Thanks for joining us on the Sunshine Travelers podcast. Until next time, remember that the world is full of sunshine and surprises. Make 2025 the year that you explore beyond the familiar.
