Travel Blog- Covid Safe Travel Serenity in St. Lucia

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~ Covid Safe Travel ~ Serenity in St. Lucia ~

the pitons st lucia

I am a travel addict; I can’t seem to go more than three or four months before I find myself at the airport with passport in hand ready to go off on a new adventure.

Covid-19 put a huge cramp in my style in 2020.

I cancelled my trip to Easter Island, postponed twice my trip to Egypt, cancelled a river cruise and for the first time in 20 years was unable to visit Italy.
By the time November rolled around it had been an entire year since I had left the country and I HAD to go somewhere- but I wanted to make a smart choice.

After researching the data, I concluded my safest options were limited to either East Africa or the Caribbean.
My husband was not up for flying to Tanzania at the drop of a hat so I started investigating the status of the various islands instead.
St. Lucia had great numbers, I was able to fly there nonstop from Boston, and I enjoyed my previous visits, so I decided to head to the Pitons.

I wanted to give myself the opportunity to socially distance as much as I wished as I really did not know how I was going to feel about it once I arrived.
I had spent the past seven months under “house arrest” and was not sure if being around a lot of people was going to make me nervous.
As such, I booked us at Sandals Grande St. Lucian in a Rondoval Butler Suite with private pool sanctuary.

It was a great choice!

Our little backyard had a private pool and jacuzzi and the butler could deliver meals from all the restaurants to us.
If I wished, I could never leave the villa, and still have a wonderful relaxing experience.

To travel we had to get a PCR Covid test, it was no big deal at all, no pain or discomfort.
We did a “drive through” test where the nurse handed each of us a swab which we put up our own noses and swirled them around replacing them in the test tube.
It was comforting to know that everyone else on the plane had also taken the test and that it had come back negative.
We also had to fill out online with St. Lucia a pretravel authorization, a very simple form.

Upon arrival all passengers went to a building for health screening.
This consisted of getting your temperature taken and being asked several questions about possible exposure to Covid.
We also had our temperatures taken when we arrived at the resort, other than that it was a normal experience.

Sandals is a nice property with a beautiful sugar sand beach, it sits on a peninsula with the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Caribbean Sea on the other side.
It spans around 15 acres and as the resort was at about 50% capacity there was plenty of room for everyone.
The restaurants were all excellent, I really enjoyed the Japanese Hibachi grill, but my favorite was the overwater steakhouse.
It was very relaxing to sit under the Palapa umbrella our butler reserved for us each day at the beach and just stare at the waves.
If we wished there was a multitude of included water activities from Hobie cats to snorkeling we could partake in, we just used the time to relax and feel free.

St. Lucia has a beautiful landscape with the soaring Pitons being one of the highlights.
We headed over to that side of the island one day to visit the mud baths at the volcano.
It was great fun soaking in the hot mineral water and then rubbing the mud on each other.
My husband, always the good sport, allowed me to do a video of him waiting for his mud to dry before we hopped back in to wash off.
The spring water is great for aches and pain and leaves your skin super soft when you get done.

The week went by very quickly and before I knew it, I was back on the plane heading home to the states.
I used the same precautions on the way home as I did on my departure.
I cleaned every surface we may touch with alcohol wipes and wore plastic gloves when I used the bathroom.
To make my mask more comfortable for the 5-hour flight I used a silicone mask bracket I bought online that created a little pocket keeping it off my mouth.
Our flight was half empty and I never felt concerned about my safety.
A pilot friend had explained to me that in order to keep the cabin pressure stable air is constantly being pulled out and replaced with fresh air via the engines.
The air goes through hospital grade Hepa filters as well.

It was so nice to get away and not think about Covid, to feel “normal” for a week!