JWALL

comments, suggestions ?

johnno

Wow. You want to start two debates here. People have VERY varying opinions on Sandals resorts and on the beaches in St.Lucia. <BR>My $.02 -- There are a number of nice beaches in St. Lucia (including the one at the Grande), but they are not of the long powdery white sand with pale blue water variety. The water at some of them (the ones exposed to the north) can get a little rough, especially in the winter. The beach at the Grande faces south, so the water is almost always very calm. (Some people think that all beaches on the north end of the island get rough. That is not true -- the important issue is whether the beach is EXPOSED to the north and, thus, impacted by winter storms in the North Atlantic.)<BR>I have never stayed at any of the Sandals in St. Lucia but have visited all of them numerous times. My opinion is that the Golf resort is the nicest but, having never stayed there, I have no opinion on the rooms. The Grande is closest to nightlife and restaurants in the Rodney Bay area (although, if you are staying at an AI, you probably wouldn't care about that. Personally, I'm not crazy about AIs -- I prefer visiting local restaurants). If you are into golf, there's a course at Cap Estate, a 10 minute ride from the Grande. <BR>If you are staying on the north end of the island, try to fly into Vigie (aka Charles) Airport. It's in Castries and much closer to the resorts in the north than Hewanorra.

hjkl

JWALL

How about it early September?<BR>

johynno

In September you are in the middle of hurricane season and St. Lucia, while it is pretty far south, is not out of the hurricane belt (like Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao). However, your chances of actually being affected by a hurricane are pretty slim. My wife and I were in St. Lucia for two weeks late last August and had beautiful weather. It does rain a lot there (which is one reason that it is so lush) but the rain tends to come in short, heavy showers.