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A Grand Discovery in St. Lucia: Anse Chastanet
Say "St. Lucia, West Indies" to almost anybody and they immediately conjure up a picture of the famous Pitons, twin volcanic peaks rising steeply out of a sparkling blue sea, each covered with a mantle of lush green vegetation. So strong is this image of St. Lucia that even the St. Lucia Tourist Board admits it still has a job to do to convince the world the island has much more to offer than its admittedly wonderful scenery. If you've had a vision of what an ideal family hotel might be on a tropical island, we think we may have found it.
Traveling south after our arrival at the George F.L. Charles Airport in Castries, principal city and seat of the St. Lucia government, the well made, narrow road winds breathtakingly along the west coast. This gave us wonderful panoramas of small fishing villages, deep bays and banana plantations, often against a backdrop of the always present mountains. The island's highest point is Mt. Gimie at 3,118 feet (960 m) but it has competition from at least 10 other lofty peaks, including the Gros Piton and Petit Piton.
Suddenly we came upon a community of some size and greater importance than the coastal villages we had seen. But our introduction to Soufriere had to wait for another day as our taxi slowed abruptly to follow a one track road around the hillside. Avoiding the worst of the potholes, our driver told us that many taxis "from the city" (by which we presume he meant Castries) refuse to drive this two-mile road to reach the 600-acre property which was our destination. It was worth every second of those bone-shaking few minutes. The Anse Chastanet Hotel was like arriving in paradise, so friendly the welcome, so charming the reception, so splendid the views everywhere.
Families Welcome
As grandparents looking for a romantic getaway, we were startled but delighted to see so many families at the resort. Looking ahead to our next family reunion, we asked a mother of three young boys, ages 6, 9 and 11, why she had chosen this hotel for their family vacation when the island of St. Lucia boasts world-class hotels and deluxe resorts with well known brand names and elaborate facilities.
She said, "I consciously chose to come to a place with no TV, without telephones in the rooms, where the boys would have to get involved with all the outdoors things there are to do here and spend time with each other." She chose well.
When we asked another parent, this one with a girl and a boy both under 10, the mother used almost the same words in her reply and added, "It's been a real learning experience for the whole family. We are all doing new things for the first time and doing them together is such fun."
Yet another multi-generational family group consisted of two grandparents, two parents, two teenage boys. They were into the professionally run scuba training classes, the kayaking, the mountain biking, and last seen were heading for the beach to check out the windsurfers and to book a sunset sail. The parents told us the boys grumbled a lot at the prospect of a hotel without phones in the rooms and "What do you mean, no TV?" but it didn't take them long after arrival to adjust their sights and find, to their own admitted surprise, that doing all these things plus swimming in warm, crystal clear sea water and exploring the nearby sugar plantation with a very knowledgeable guide had its own rewards.
Hillside Oasis for the Fit
Anse Chastanet ( 800/223-1108) is the architectural vision of Nick Troubetskoy and his wife who developed a pre-existing property of 14 units purchased in 1974 into a romantic resort nestled into a hillside "just around the corner" from the town of Soufriere. In its pristine isolation, it is still romantic, but also appeals to families with children. Actually, a better transportation option for families than a land taxi is the hotel's own water taxi, the improbably named vessel Another Peach on Earth piloted by the efficient Captain known to all as "Jungle."
Forty-nine uniquely designed rooms, scattered up and about on the hillside and nestled at beach level, have a view of the ocean and/or the Pitons. Twelve rooms, better suited for the physically challenged, are at beach level. The rooms vary in size and style but all have either clay tile or tropical wood floors, ceiling fans, jalousie windows and louvered doors, and large patios. Some of the superior rooms are decorated with the work of local and international artists, which can be seen and purchased in the hotel's own art gallery. This is a place where exercise is not an option, since the hotel's main facilities, reception, office, main dining areas and bar are 100 real cut-rock steps above beach level, with the highest rooms up to another 100 steps or so above that, too much for less active adults and those under the age of 8 or so (but there is a complimentary shuttle).
On our first day, we tennis and golf-playing grandparents wondered if we would survive this rigorous up and down lifestyle. After initially pausing for breath at several strategic points--just to look at the view--we found that the rate of acclimatization is very high. The walks up and down soon went unnoticed, except for the staff's congratulatory mentions of how well we were doing.
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