Anse Chastanet Resort Trip Recap
Anse Chastanet Resort - St. Lucia
Welcome to Paradise! That was the first thing I heard upon arrival at Anse Chastanet on the island of St Lucia. This island is not solely a dive island, nor is Anse Chastanet just a diving resort. Although the diving might not rival the Pacific there are a lot of positives to diving from Anse Chastanet with Scuba St Lucia.
The island is accessed easily from the U.S. I flew Delta from Atlanta to St Lucia in 4 1/2 hours…I must admit that was very enticing compared to a 13-hour flight to Asia. There is also an hour-long car ride but it’s not bad and if you prefer there is also a helicopter option for airport transfers, at an additional cost.
The resort offers hillside rooms with amazing architecture, views of the ocean and or the Pitons…they also offer beach rooms with a/c for those addicted to cold air. A convenient shuttle is offered from any of the rooms to the restaurants, beach or dive shop. If you prefer a challenge the stairs offer a way to burn off the excess calories from the amazing food and desserts.
In addition to diving they offer…Snorkeling, twice a day yoga classes, plantation tours (some guided hikes can be purchases too), chocolate tasting hosted by one of their 3 chocolatiers, rum tasting, tennis, nightly live music, windsurfers, sit on top kayaks, sunfish sailing and paddleboarding, Creole history class, art classes, a 15-minute wellness consultation and Cocoa Tea & Bakes with the Pastry Chef .
Each day brings new options to fill your day with organized activities, water sports or rest and relaxation at the beach under a palapa with a waiter to service beverages or food…all you need do is put your yellow flag in the sand, at one of their two beaches. Talk about service! For a fee they also offer mountain biking, spa services, and kayak trips.
Our diving, aboard their 5-week-old dive boat Julietta, was easy, enjoyable and close. Most of the dive sites were less than 10 minutes away. One of our dives had 2 wrecks at the same site. The dive briefings mention 45 minutes, but that time is approximate…most dives were about 55 minutes with one being 61. Fresh fruit and baked goods are offered as a snack between dives. We had divers adjusting their breakfast size to make sure they had room for the yummy surface interval snacks. We saw stingray, so many lobsters, shrimp, a variety of crabs, including arrow crabs, two 4-foot claw to claw crabs dancing (a real first), turtles, eels galore, plus several encounters with sharp tail snake eels.
In closing St Lucia is a fantastic all-around destination. You can experience a beautiful tropical island with exotic pitons in the background, a wide variety of easy and fun non-diving activities but there is also decent diving too!
