2022-04-06 Landed in St. Lucia

Toronto to St. Lucia

The shuttle bus to the airport left at 07:00 and I had a couple of college kids in the seat beside heading to Mexico for partying. But they had coughs and sniffles so I hope that both their masks and mine kept me from the worst.

I’d checked my bag through to St. Lucia and I already had my boarding pass so I went straight through security and was close to my gate in good time. About 2 hours too early! But Air Canada had wanted me there 4 hours before the flight and there was no chance of me doing that.

I read my book and had a breakfast bagel and coffee while waiting to board the 5 1/2 hour flight. I’m glad I did that, as it turns out that there was no free food or drink service on the flight and my credit card was in the backpack which was stored in the overhead and too much trouble to reach.

The flight was only half full, which was nice. I had a window seat and opened my shade in time to see Sombrero Island, the northernmost outpost of the Caribbean chain. Then I saw Anguilla, St. Martin, St. Barths, St. Eustatius, Saba, St. Kitt and Nevis and then our course took us over the water and I didn’t see anything until we landed in St. Lucia.

Upon arrival we had a long wait in the “Medical Tent” to get our paperwork checked, then customs & immigration took time as well.

Instead of taking a $110 cab ride, I opted to rent a car for a week so that I could be more mobile and did the long trip on my own. The airport is at the southern tip of the island, and Rodney Bay is at the north end. The last couple of miles between the capital city of Castries to here took almost as long as the rest of the trip. Traffic is always congested on that stretch of road.

Soco Resort

The hotel I’d booked was under renovation last year, but it looks really nice now. The only downside is that despite a nice resort and big pool there are only about 10 guests here – there are more employees than us!