Blessed St Lucia

The beautiful Island of St Lucia saw hurricane Dean brush past their tiny island last week, however St Lucia’s tourism infrastructure was spared from its wrath and the Island was up and running as normal just a day later.

One of the Windward Islands of the West Indies' Lesser Antilles, St. Lucia is halfway down the eastern Caribbean archipelago, and has historically been spared from serious hurricane destruction, with the last direct Hurricane hit happening over 27 years ago.

Hurricane Dean was a category 2 storm when it passed over the north of the Island, with St Lucia bearing the brunt of its tailwinds travelling up to 100mph. All of the Island’s hotels reported little damage and no major structural damage. British holidaymaker reports were one of nervousness and excitement of being caught up in mother-nature, followed by big praise for the Islands residents and hotel staff, who kept them informed every step of the way.

British holidaymaker, Helen Mackenzie-Cardy from Rainham, Essex said, “We have been to St Lucia several times and always in the summer months, which is the typical hurricane season. Of course you think about what would happen if, but now we’ve just experienced it first hand, we know not to worry!”

Helen went on to say that she felt very safe with hotel staff being alert and informative, “We were given regular updates and even had a member of the staff patrolling each corridor to ensure we were all safe and happy. Hearing the winds and trees falling outside was a little frightening but my daughter Gemma (11) spent the whole time playing with her new friends and seemed to be enjoying the experience whilst my husband, Brian simply slept all the way through it.”

The Mackenzie-Cardy family said the aftercare following the storm was unfaultable with members of staff bringing them packed lunches and eventually putting on a big buffet for all guests, “I was amazed at how well they functioned immediately after the hurricane, with a top rate buffet being served from breakfast items to curry.

“They really did make our stay enjoyable even with 100mph winds that afterwards we felt a strong gratitude to want to help clear away the debris to help them get back to 100% normality. Would I come back during hurricane season? I’ve already booked with Almond resorts following the experience I just had, it’ll take more than wind to stop me coming back to paradise.”

Maria Fowell said, “We’re thankful that the island once again seems to be missed by any serious damage by the hurricane. The people of St Lucia and hotel staff did a fantastic job in ensuring that our visitors kept safe and well. We do hope that the adverse weather which happens within our region does not affect people’s decision to travel to St Lucia. Our beautiful Island of St. Lucia is it seems, in many ways, blessed”.

For further information visit Stlucia.org, the official website of the St. Lucia Tourist Board.