St. Lucia Carnival when I visited was a small affair; I remember being asleep when my friend who I was staying with at the time came to wake me up to say J’ouvert was passing in front of her house. By the time I awoke and went to the porch, say all of five minutes, the “J’ouvert” had already passed her house! I did go into Castries for the parade and, of course, jumped up behind a band. To me the parade route was quite similar to Trinidad’s in that it was somewhat long (longer to me than in Barbados), we passed all through Castries and they have mas on both Monday and Tuesday. The actual costumed bands are small; some only having 6 sections, but a number of spectators do follow the bands without a costume. I had a great time especially since they played a wide variety of Caribbean music! If you plan on going just keep in mind that it is nothing close to Trinidad in terms of size, but enjoyable for being something different.
There is something special about St. Lucia, even if all the beaches are not white sand being a volcanic island, the scenery is amazing, especially the Pitons! And I really like the lime in Rodney Bay with all the restaurants and bars, though I am yet to experience the Night Life like we have in Trinidad on any of the other islands I have been to, but Barbados comes close! For Carnival there are a variety of parties and limes as well as Boat Rides in St Lucia. Reduit beach, pictured below, is one of my favourites in ; from there you can take a boat to Pigeon Island on just relax on the beach with a Piton beer!
Reduit Beach
St. Lucia Carnival this Year takes place from July 16th to July 18th and band launchings usually start in May, so look out for more information and updates. The following are some popular bands for St. Lucia Carnival, the websites are still showing the 2006 presentations but you can still have a look at the costumes:
XS Energy X www.xsenergy.com
MAS Action www.masactioncarnival.com
St.Luician Spirit www.stlucianspirit.com
Rituals Inc. www.ritualscarnival.com
Red International www.redinternational.net
For more information on St. Lucia Carnival check the website Luciancarnival.com
As for places to stay in St. Lucia I personally have stayed with friends as well as at the all-inclusive hotel Almond Morgan Bay. But, if I were to go for Carnival I would want to stay in Rodney Bay area where there are several small hotels, lots of restaurants and bars in addition to being walking distance to Reduit Beach, a Supermarket and the main road for easy transportation by mini vans.
Recommended Hotels are:
Coco Palm and Coco Kreole (I have toured both and they are really nice small hotels)
The Ginger Lily
Bay Gardens Hotel
Useful St. Lucia links:
Rodney Bay Marina
Rodney Bay
Skyviews St Lucia
St. Lucia Tourist Site
Trip Advisor St. Lucia
Inntimate St. Lucia
9 comments:
Wow...St. Lucia is so beautiful! Why am I still here??? hehehehe...No worries..one day I'll be back home...hopefully soon! Buh you real temptin me to do CropOver yes...fyahhh!!! How I love meh Carnivals!
St. Lucia is very lush, as a matter of fact St. Maarten, Antigua, Grenada, Puerto Rico... lol.. all the islands I have been to are all special!
St. Lucia Carnival is very ahm...small. The route is even shorter than Barbados.
The year my g/f and I went we walk up and down their route about 20 times! LOL.
And they back to front to us, meaning, they wear full costume on Monday and 'less' on Tuesday. (Tuesday looked same as Monday I thought).
Did I mention how droolicious the men are? LOL.
we made the route several times too ..LOL.. but girl I had a good time!!
Saucy....de trini here....I happen to live in Lucia and I must say yuh well in the know. I like the Crop over big up too and I have been going to that festival for the past 5 years and playing with Baj International. Was planning to skip it this year as Trini carnival buss the pocket but I itching again so who knows may just go anyway.
de trini,glad to know u are from St. Lucia so I am hoping you can give us some info on the bandlaunchings and events!
De trini here, well as much info as i can give I will......been here for about 3 years still miss trini but settling here....just send meh email when yuh need info
hey saucy, dis is a fellow lucian living overseas since yute days. im a frequent visitor to ur website and i just love the information u give. but as i read about ur lucian mas u made a boo boo on the bands website. cable and wireless' mas action site is http://www.masactioncarnival.com/
the st.lucian spirit band site is wat u have for mas action.
appreciate ur opinions on our mas...not the best as crop over and trinidad. but i guess we're comfortable in our own setting. last yr i went 2 days; jump up in a french band the 2nd day. and i had a damn good time...in fact, a lil too crazy. the bands were great, i liked red international the most but what is really lacking in the bands are their costumes: we need more detail. 2 or more sections can do us some justice. but for now im just in the v.i. hopping that our mas would get better.
much luv and blessings
nicky
hey im a lucian this is my first time to this site.. This yr 2008 carnival is the 21 & 22 July further than usual Bands are already launching. i always wanted to jump but never did i hate the route.. Government are afraid to put it on the millennium fearing ppl getting crushed my the trucks. but if it were there they cud ha. Frequent Jumper of CROP OVER THOUGH. i jumped for the first time in 2002 in St Lucia & i had a great time. & doing it ever since mostly because of the music.. but the route still sucks
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