Choc Bay, St Lucia
After all the hustle and bustle of last year's trip to Japan this was always going to be a relaxing holiday and photography was low on the agenda... or so I was told! However, the full bag of tricks made it safely over the Atlantic and this is the first night on the beach before our evening meal.
Tags: St Lucia St James's Club Morgan Bay Morgan's Pier beach sunset Caribbean sea yacht boat sails wind breeze long exposure
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Choc Bay, St Lucia
The water sports - something for everyone! Tried them all, including the jet skis and banana boats, but drew the line at water skiing. Some things you just know will end in tears!
Good of the staff to line them all up for me...
Tags: St Lucia St James's Club Morgan Bay beach water sports sailing catamaran kayak one man two man paddleboards jet skis water skiing mono skiing banana boat Caribbean sea wind breeze sunshine morning
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St James's Club Morgan Bay, St Lucia
Every Wednesday is beach party night. The staff start to clear the entire beach of sun beds, tables, sun parasols and countless empty glasses from 4pm and by 6:30pm it is transformed with food stalls, tables and chairs, a stage and dance area and not forgetting the bonfire on the beach. It is such a lively event, virtually every guest forsakes the other five restaurants for the beach party.
Now, not being fans of Benidorm or the TV series, we would normally run a mile from such hotel/complex entertainment, but we made an exception here. It started with African and Caribbean martial arts - similar to Capoeira (Brazilian martial art), followed by stilt walkers and dancers that would give Beyoncé a run for her money. It culminated with the best display of fire eating I've ever seen and then the limbo dancers - flaming bar optional. I would have had a go but I had to take the pictures. Lionel Richie could have partied all night long here! Don't remember much about the following morning though!
There's only a couple of songs to go with this and so I've gone for the bleedin obvious! Apologies in advance for my lack of culture.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmin5WkOuPw
Tags: St Lucia St James's Club Morgan Bay night time beach party food and drink rum lots off entertainment martial arts African Caribbean Capoeira stilt walkers dancers fire eating Firestarter The Prodigy the morning after
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Pitons Bay, St Lucia
As this was definitely a relaxing holiday the only excursion we booked was Joy's cruise, which conveniently departs from our hotel beach down the west side of the island to the Pitons. As tours go this lived up to the Tripadvisor blurb and was a total riot - large quantities of local beer, rum and other spirits many have contributed to its success!
It was going to be my one and only chance to capture the iconic volcanic spires known as the Pitons, so I went armed with a camera bag and filters whereas everybody else took sun cream.
But you know sometimes, things don't go the way you planned...
The iconic viewpoint of both Pitons is probably taken from around Anse Chastanet Beach... but we didn't go there.
The alternative is from a boat but with 30 other people partying like it's their last day on earth... enough said.
The excursion didn't cater for photographers.
However, one of the charms of St Lucia is that all of the islands' beaches are public, even at the big, posh, expensive ones and so we dropped anchor at Sugar Beach - home to the A Viceroy Resort Hotel (5 stars).
Second disaster... our captain said we would spend one hour here, moored at the jetty. So I thought, go for a swim and snorkel, wander the beach and then get the gear and take some snaps.
Except, our boat left the jetty and moored out in the bay.
So this is a dash back to the boat on its return, grab the gear, run like a loon along the beach taking pictures while everybody else gets back onboard... needless to say, I was last one back.
This is a seven frame vertical stitched pano, although I've cropped the boat and jetty from the right side and besides you can't see the Petit Piton as you're stood under it. The distance peak is the Gros Piton (771m or 2,530ft) and the foreground is the Piton Mitan ridge that links with the Petit Piton (743m or 2,438ft)
A nice beach and a great day trip, nonetheless so not to disappointed.
Tags: St Lucia Sugar Beach The Pitons Petit Piton Gros Piton Joy's Cruise day excursion boat trip A Viceroy Resort hotel sea Caribbean blue turquoise water swimming sunshine clouds hot
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Choc Bay, St Lucia
It soon became apparent that I was never going to get a nicely composed shot from behind all of the palm trees due to everyone else strewn along the beach waiting for the sun to set behind the horizon. Only when the sun had sunk behind the horizon did the four people dotted around the stump disappear also, leaving me to an almost empty beach.
Note to self... don't bother with photography in a busy beach holiday resort again.
Tags: St Lucia St James's Club Morgan Bay beach sunset Caribbean sea palms leaves boats mooring horizon warm warmth long exposure
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