WanderingTexan

I am now considering Jade Mountain and Ladera... the opposite of Eden Rock! I am finding St. Bart's difficult to fly to from where I am in Texas, and then difficult to get to from St. Maarten.

I have to go the last few weeks in June. Since Ladera and Jade Mountain are open air, will it be too hot? Will the "green" landscape be brown?

doug_stallings

I posted a reply to your other post comparing Jade Mountain to Eden Roc. To be honest, I just don't understand why you think it's so difficult to get to St. Barths from St. Maarten. It's a very short flight on a small plane. Easiest thing in the world, and an exciting landing to boot.

Ladera, like Jade Mountain, does not have phones or TVs or a/c. It's got similar (or even better) views than Jade Mountain, but it's not quite as spectacular. A very serious consderation, though, is the beach. Ladera is in the mountains, and you will probably have a courtesy shuttle down the hill to the beach at Jalousie Plantation, where the beach is as nice as Anse Chastanet (though artificial), with great snorkeling.

I don't think you'll find June to be too hot; both resorts get good breezes. But if you are not used to having no a/c, you will find that a challenge. The landscape will absolutely not be brown; St. Lucia isn't an arid island; it gets a lot of rain throughout the year and stays pretty green.

kellybeaches

Keep in mind that June starts the rainy season in St. Lucia. You may get a lot of rain while there. Check w/the hotel staff to see what they think. We were there end of May into first week of June and it seemed to get more rainy each day. St. Lucia is an absolutely lush and beautiful island. Enjoy!

WanderingTexan

Thank you Doug and kelly! I did discover that June starts the rainy season and I have to go late June. I don't know if the staff will be honest with me about that.

Re: St. Barth's, My husband and I don't really want to fly the small aircraft and don't want to take a big ferry. That leaves a water taxi at great expense. It is also hard to get to St. Barth's from central Texas in one day. To get to Anguilla, I had to go to DFW the night before, stay in the airport hotel, to catch the flight to ATL and on to St. Maarten. I want to stay 10 days this time and Delta only flies once a week! I can fly US air through Charlotte, and I think I can do an American flight with a couple of stops, but I wanted to upgrade my seats with flyer miles and can't do it on those airlines. So if I go to St. Lucia, I can fly Delta, and use my flyer miles and I don't have to pay 800E each way to get anywhere.

I am still leaning toward Eden Rock, but if I fly in on US Airways and if the flight is late, I will miss the last flight out and have to take the ferry anyway.

Does Anse Chastanet have great snorkeling?

Thanks.

doug_stallings

Anse Chastanet is renowed for its snorkeling and shore diving; it's the specialty of the resort.

I"m not sure what to suggest about travel to St. Barths. One must fly on small planes or take ferries to get to minor islands in the Caribbean. Just a fact of life. But the pilots that fly into St. Barths must have special certification, and to the best of my knowledge, there has been only one airplane accident in the history of air travel to the island.

I'm also a bit concerned you will be disappointed with the Eden Roc beach.

WanderingTexan

OK, Thanks to Doug, I am convinced that I could probably do the flight to St. Barth's, but I am starting to like the idea of JM. Weather.com says it will be in the 90's. I can handle that during the day, but am still a little worried about no AC in the rooms in the evenings, even with the breeze. I found Caneel Bay (pre-AC) to be too hot in the rooms in June.

Has anyone stayed at Ladera, Jade Mountain, or an open air type room in June in St. Lucia?

Is St. Lucia prone to flooding during the rainly season? I understand there are short, intense bursts of rain.... just don't want to fall down the hill....

P.S. While I love to just lie on the beach, my spouse has to have something to do... either walking around a town or snorkeling... he doesn't like just the beach. I would go back to Anguilla if it were just me! As long as there is good snorkeling, and we could book a day sail, he would be fine at JM.

I am going to decide in the next few days and will let y'all know what I decide.

Thanks again for all your help!

WT

doug_stallings

Just to be clear, June is NOT the rainy season. It's the hurricane season, and tropical storms (if they occur during your stay) will be heavy and may cause flooding. Unfortunately, Jade Mountain is kind of isolated and difficult to get to, and I'm not so terribly fond of Soufriere, the nearest town, though it is walkable if you take a water taxi there. It's also easy enough to take an excursion to the Rodney Bay or Castries area if you want a change of scenery. St. Lucia has a lot of activities, including rain forest hikes, etc.

mah1980

I'm pretty sure American flies direct, non-stop to SXM from DFW. You can get a lot of non-stop flights from Dallas as that is the American base (which unfortunately we always have to fly through from MSY).

kellybeaches

WT,
We stayed at Stonefield Villas, nestled next to the Pitet Piton. (stonefieldvillas.com). We really enjoyed it there. They don’t have AC either, but it wasn’t a problem. There was a nice breeze. One thing to keep in mind though is to make sure you close up the room before going to bed or the bugs will get you. Just bring lots of bug spray and you should be okay. We went to Dasheene restaurant at Ladera one night for dinner. It was nice-it’s way up in the mountains and you look down the valley through the pitons, over Jalousie hotel. Personally we liked the location of Stonefield better-much better sunset views (the Pitet Piton obstructs the sunset from Ladera –you can see what I mean in our picture at the link below).

Regarding activities, Jalousie has a great beach for hanging out. There are plenty of activities to do too. If you like hiking, you can hike either piton. The gros piton is a less intense hike, with steps going up. We hiked the Pitet Piton which was pretty rigorous-straight up grabbing onto tree roots. I was trying to overcome my fear of heights (didn’t work too well) There is also really good horseback riding nearby with gorgeous views, you can take a water taxi tour around (you get the taxi at Jalousie), there’s Friday night Fish Fry in Anse la Raye which was so much fun-great fresh food and local culture, you can head up north to Castries-there’s a banana farm tour you can do. And there’s also mountain biking if you’re into that (bikestlucia.com). Definitely lots to do there! We liked the town of Soufriere. It’s very small and poor, but the people were so friendly and there were beautiful views.

Here’s the link to our pix if you want to see.
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLan...share&Ux=0

WanderingTexan

Re: DFW. Yes you can fly from DFW. We flew to St. Maarten 2 years ago and I don't think it was direct. I have been checking flights and didn't see any direct ones from DFW. We couldn't get there early enough and had to fly in the night before and stay in a hotel.

Re: Hurricane Season. I do realize it officially starts in June, but it seems to me they are rare until August/September. Am I wrong about that. I have to go in June if I go this year.

Re: rainy season. The St. Lucia websites say the rainy season starts in June.

kellybeaches, I believe you said you were there in May. I will check out the site.

Thanks.

WanderingTexan

Wow! Kellybeaches, those are fantastic photos!!!! Thanks for sharing. I couldn't believe those sunsets!!!!

Barbara1

AA does not fly direct to SXM from DFW.
you have to go through San Juan.

brenandg

Those pictures are great. I really enjoyed viewing them. We have been to St Lucia twice. I think I somewhat "forgot" just how lush and beautiful it is. I really wish we would have gone to The Anse La Raye Fish Fry. I now feel like we missed out on a fun experience. One of those lobsters had my name written on it!! What is the place that looks like an outdoor bar with the colored bar stools? Was that your own pool or do the other guests at Stonefield share it?

kellybeaches

WT and Brenda,
Glad you enjoyed the pix! We really loved St. Lucia, and Stonefield was amazing, although I wouldn’t take our 2 year old there. It’s much better suited for adults. The fish fry was a lot of fun. We took a water taxi there which was a great way to travel. They had fun music and dancing in the street, lots of local crafts, and great food. The place with the outdoor bar and colored bar stools is the restaurant at Stonefield. All of the guests (and anyone for that matter) can use it. They had great food, but were definitely on “island time” as far as being quick, but that’s okay. With that spectacular view of the piton, we didn’t mind! The large pool by the restaurant is for all the guests, but we only used our private pool outside our villa. I only saw one couple in the main pool the whole time we were there, the the restaurant was never crowded. They had live music too some nights at the restaurant. Oh, I forgot-other activities to do too while there-the rainforest hike, botanical gardens, and volcano tour. There’s golf on the north shore too.

doug_stallings

Major hurricanes are pretty rare until August, as you suspect, though they do happen from time to time. But I would not hesitate to travel to the Caribbean in June.

Many people use the term "rainy season" in direct exchange with "hurricane season", but it's a misnomer. The Caribbean as a region simply doesn't have a monsoon. Heavy rains are as likely in Jan/Feb in the midst of the high season as they are in June. But hurricanes are almost exclusively limited to June to November. This year, there was a pretty strong tropical storm very late in the season, a real rarity, but there were relatively few hurricanes.

WanderingTexan

Thanks so much to everyone! After getting input from all of you, I decided against both St. Barth's and St. Lucia. St. Barth's is just too expensive and I was afraid I might not like the beach and St. Lucia (Jade Mountain was just too rustic and isolated) even though JM looked fabulous.

So I ended up renting a villa on Mustique. I still have to fly on a small plane from Barbados to Mustique, but I am staying on Barbados for three nights and since I have never been there, will see it too! We found a villa with a staff on the beach within walking distance to the hotel, so we will be able to go to the bar/restaurant whenever. A rental car also came with the villa.

This will be my first time to rent a villa. I will let you know how it works out.

Thanks again for all your help.

WT

gismo91

Hi, My husband and I went to Ladera back in June 1995. The food, hotel and the experience of having the 4th wall open to the jungle for me was once in a life time experience. There was no a/c but the breeze was great (my husband needs a/c all the time and he was comfortable) There was rain but it lasted for 15 minutes and was no big deal. The island was lush very green and beautiful It was a pain to get to the beach because you had to go down the mountain to get there. So we spent a lot of time at the pool. The restaurant Dashinee was great back then.

I'm celebrating my birthday the end of June and would like to treat myself to a vacation there. The problem for me is that I want to use my Amex rewards for the flights which doesn't leave me too many choices.

From my experience I would recommended it very relaxing no night life at the resort but wonderful experience for me.

Good Luck!

gprybs

I know these posts were a while back, but I wanted to comment on the temperature at Jade Mountain. We were just there (May 2009) which aparently for the locals is considered the "hottest time of the year". It was hot during the day, but with a nice breeze. At night, however, we were alway comfortable in our room - lots of ceiling fans, and one was actually directly over the bed - so we were always cool while sleeping.

Patty

We were also at Jade recently and found the temps fine for sleeping. That was one of my initial concerns but it wasn't a problem at all. Our sanctuary was breezy and with the ceiling fan inside the bed canopy it was very comfortable for sleeping. There were no bugs either!

gprybs,
Which dates were you there? We were there from May 14-19. Maybe we ran into each other?

ejcrowe

I love hearing the feedback on Jade Mountain. I doubt very much it will ever be in my pricerange, but it's simply stunning looking and I love to read about it.

However, I have to doubt that any local would say that May is the hottest time of year anywhere in the Caribbean. Maybe it was just an unusually hot May? Because August and September are usually considered the least bearable because of the heat, humidity, and the slacking off of breezes.