Review: East Winds Inn, St Lucia

I was very kindly invited to visit the East Winds Inn resort in the northern part of the island of St Lucia in June. I did minimal research on both the island and the resort before I visited as I didn’t want to be influenced by anything.

After being picked up by an extremely friendly taxi driver, my brother Mike and I travelled from the south of the island to our resort. What immediately struck me about St Lucia is how immensely green and densely populated with trees it is. In fact our taxi driver told us that many had likened the landscape to something from Jurassic Park as the island is essentially a giant rainforest. Our resort was hidden away from the main road, a short drive down some windy roads to a private beach.

We were greeted by welcoming staff who offered us a cooling fruit drink and after showing us our room gave us a tour of the resort, which we fell in love with it immediately! Our room was nestled amongst the rainforest – we later were told by the managing director Judith, that the resort had been purchased by an American couple in the 1950’s who had been drawn to the natural private beach. Back then it was just a beach and a rainforest which they slowly turned it into the resort that it is now.

We had a balcony overlooking the rest of the rooms, the beach and the rainforest behind us. The resort was all inclusive and as a result, every room has a fully stocked mini fridge that was replenished daily. I don’t think I have ever actually used a mini fridge before! There was a delicious chilled bottle of Prosecco in our room when we arrived (which was exactly what we needed after 18 hours of travelling!) and perhaps my favourite part of the room was this incredible shower.

I arrived on this trip very stressed, I’m self employed and running lots of projects at the same time. I don’t really have an off switch but I was determined to come here and completely unwind.

A few hours into the stay and I realised it would be easier than imagined – in London the main sounds you here are traffic and people. Here, all I could here was the waves crashing against the shore ( I could even hear this from my room) and a little orchestra of beautiful, exotic birds that live in the grounds of the hotel. I didn’t realise until this trip just how much I valued nature and the calming effect it has on me.

East Winds Inn has a total of 30 rooms so there is only ever a maximum of 60 guests here at any one time. It’s brilliant because you quickly get to know everyone staying in the resort and really feel as though you’ve formed a mini community in just a few days, it gives the place a homely vibe.  Whilst many of the guests were slightly older than me (45-60) ) what struck me about almost all of the guests was the fact that this was their 5th or 6th trip to the resort, they had nothing but good words and experiences to share about their time there.

It’s easy to understand why.

The staff are quite possibly the most friendly hospitality I’ve ever come across (staff in London should take a leaf out of their book). They all took their time to learn our names, what our favourite drinks were and little bits of information about us that really made me feel like they cared.

During my time at the resort I came down with a chesty cough and badly sunburnt lips. After meeting with Judith (who is quite possibly the nicest lady I’ve ever met) she recommended I speak to Sylvanus the gardener. He was very friendly and was also conveniently a witch doctor and immediately made me a concoction of bush medicine to heal both my chesty cough and my sunburn. He checked on my daily and made sure I had enough herbal remedies to get better. It was like having my very own personal doctor – I’ve never experienced anything quite like it.

The resort is located on a private beach and they have a heap of free water sports that we tried during our stay including: hobbie cat sailing, snorkelling, kayaking, pedalos and paddleboarding.

There were two helpful and chatty water sports instructors that helped guests with the various activities available and were even able to turn people from novices to confident sailors in just a few days!

Further along the private beach there is a beach hut called Good Vibes Centre run by a permanently happy guy called Simeon, were guests could book trips to do around the island with the hotel. They offered everything from sunset cruises to chocolate making classes to tours of Castries (St Lucia’s capital).

We decided to do a full day tour that covers the highlights of St Lucia via sailboat. I’m a huge fan of being on the sea so I loved my first ever experience on a sail boat (I’ve only ever been on a Catamaran & power boats). Our trip saw us sail for two hours in the morning to the famous Pitons – two mountainous volcano plugs that are a World Heritage Site, standing 2,500 feet above sea level. Our first stop took us to the famous Sulphur Springs of St Lucia where ee sank into hot grey waters that stank of rotten eggs to cleanse our skin and let the waters anti ageing miracles work on us.

Then we visited Toraille Falls, which were simply stunning.

The water was icy cold and refreshing and we made sure to stand right in the middle of the fall to feel the full force of the water ontop of us. Afterwards we dried off and headed back to the boat where the captain had made us a BBQ lunch that we enjoyed on board.

We finished the day trip by grabbing a mask and snorkel and exploring Anse Cochon that had the most colourful selection of fish on its coral reef, I could have stayed there all day. I love fish (perhaps because I’m a Pisces) and I love being surrounded by fish. I’ve snorkelled all over the world but was amazed to see so many fish I’d never seen before here.

One of the best things about this resort is the food. Being all inclusive there is food available from pretty much when you wake up to when you sleep. Breakfast is always an incredible buffet with the option of having freshly made pancakes, omelettes or a full English breakfast and a  different ‘therapy’ – a healthy juice drink each morning.

Lunch was always a beach BBQ of some kind, with the tastiest juiciest prawns I have ever eaten.  But my favourite meal of the day was dinner, not just because it was a candle lit meal on the beach but because every day there was a different 4 course menu with different paired wines. Adjusting to making my own dinner now I’m home has been difficult!

There is a different form of entertainment on most evenings either in the form of a piano player, acoustic singing or African drumming. Four times a week the resort put on early morning yoga and Pilates in an outdoor pavilion. I was only able to try the Pilates class on the last day but Nikita was an incredibly attentive instructor. I’ve been to countless Pilates classes in London and no teacher has ever tried as hard to help me fix my posture and make sure I was able to do each Pilates move correctly so as not to cause any damage. It was a brilliant start to my day!

Mike and I both had a massage mid way through the holiday and I think I experienced my favourite moment of the entire trip so far here. As I visited the resort in June, it was during the rainy season and there were lots of showers throughout the day. The spa was also located outside in a pavilion just next to the Pilates class. As soon as my Swedish massage started, I could hear the rain from the afternoon showers, hear the symphony of birds in the rainforest and felt a cool breeze on me – it was a totally blissful moment!

Aside from a beach, the resort also had a pool with its very own pool bar where guests are allowed to make their own cocktails (which I made sure to visit every day).

Sylvia, the main bar tender who worked on site was absolutely brilliant. She made a great effort to get to know Mike & I and was constantly whipping up drinks that she catered to our tastebuds each day.

By the end of the week we were truly sad to go home. We built a bond with not just the other hotel guests but also the incredibly lovey staff too. We left with incredible memories, new friends and with our batteries fully recharged.

If you’re looking for a relaxing holiday where absolutely everything is done for you, from arranging day tours, to tasty cocktails, to incredible four course dinners then check out East Winds Inn. I promise you won’t regret it!

They also offer the opportunity to get married at their hotel and as a gift the hotel give you the wedding – the cake, the decorations, the flowers, the ceremony – where else would you find that level of service and commitment to making sure guests enjoy their stay?

To my ever lovely readers, what are your thoughts on this resort? Have you ever been to St Lucia or the Caribbean?

Giulia

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