Been busy over the past few days. On Saturday we did a sunset catamarin cruise - we sailed along the west coast and snorkelled with turtles (amazing!) then drank champagne and rum punch whilst watching the sunset, very romantic.

We've also been exploring the island a bit with the hire car. Drove along the east coast which has some beautiful white sand beaches, visited a Plantation House and Harrison's cave.

On Saturday night we went clubbing with Miles to Harbour Lights, a club in nearby Oistins. It cost about 15 euros and then the drink was free all night (oh dear!) So, had a few rum and cokes and watched the Rastas strutting their stuff on the open air dance floor...

Today we've been on a submarine trip. The sub descended 150 feet to the coral and there were loads of fish to see. Some were bright yellow, others electric blue - not the Great Barrier Reef but impressive none the less.

So tonight is our last night, our flight to London Gatwick leaves tomorrow around 5pm. We're going to eat at Pisces - a good fish restaurant which is a short walk away and we may have a few more Pina Coladas to try to forget that we will soon be returning to cold, wet Dublin (sob!)
annecawthorn 11:49 PM - [Link]
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Friday, May 23, 2003
We're now nicely settled down in the new hotel in Barbados. Its definitely not the same level of luxury but still nice. The beach and town are close by so we've been eating out quite a bit so far (still excellent seafood!).

Last night we went to the Reggae lounge for a while and it seems pretty mad. Plan is we are going to hit that one again on Saturday for a Bob Marley night.

We hired a car yesterday and are going up the coast today to meet up with Anne's brother Miles for lunch.

As for the next few days, well we've booked a romantic Sunset cruise (complete with champagne) and a submarine trip for tuesday before we head back.

Must go now, and abandon this technology lark, beach is calling!
seandevlin 2:49 PM - [Link]
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Wednesday, May 21, 2003
Well this is our last day in St Lucia so our days of luxury are at an end. Tomorrow it's on to Barbados where we have an apartment for a week in St Laurence Gap. We've been taking it easy over the last couple of days as Sean has managed to get sunburnt and eaten by flies. They seem to prefer his tasty Irish skin rather than mine!

We've just been to a fish bbq on the beach, lovely delicious tuna and enormous shrimps - much bigger than tiger prawns at home! We have got the wedding video now, so we'll let you see it on our return.

That's all for now, will write next from Barbados.
annecawthorn 1:42 AM - [Link]
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Monday, May 19, 2003

And as promised heres a pic from the wedding!
seandevlin 4:15 PM - [Link]
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Sunday, May 18, 2003
Just back from 2 days travelling around the island. We hired a car and headed for the north, stopping off at Marigot Bay on the way to Castries (the capital). Marigot Bay was gorgeous and was the setting for the Dr Doolittle film with Rex Harrison. We had a beer on a floating bar with panoramic views of the bay and rainforest. At Castries we visited the central market which sold everything from horses' hooves to tacky souvenirs! Then we visited the cathedral which was decorated in true Caribbean style complete with pictures of a black holy family and colourful murals. But enough culture, the real reason we were going north was for the Gros Islet Friday night "Jump Up" street party. This was a very mad affair, with locals having bbqs and selling food in the street, all served with lots of rum punch. The music blared out all night, plenty of crazy characters around - one of them danced to the music all night long balancing a beer bottle on his head! We stayed overnight in some pretty cheesy apartments up there and Sean got eaten alive by biting insects (I was clever enough to hide under the sheets!)

Today we drove back down to our hotel. On the way, we visited the deserted Cas en Bas beach and watched people riding horses in the sea. We also stopped at a waterfall and cooled down by showering under the cool, cascading water.

Afterwards we made a mad dash back to the luxury of the hotel via some very very bumpy pot holed tracks. Its nice to be back in a posh piece of civilisation. We are now going for dinner in the hotel's best restaurant and the champagne is on ice! Talk soon
annecawthorn 12:47 AM - [Link]
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Thursday, May 15, 2003
So its now a couple of days since the wedding. Anne's family have now gone on to barbados so we are all on our own for the first time.

Yesterday, we spent the morning in a Volcanic mud bath, getting firstly covered in mud, then letting it dry and then rinsing under a thermal waterfall. The whole experience was finished off with a refreshing back massage so it was a totally therapeutic experience.

In the evening we went to the Bang restaurant outside the resort, for an evening of acrobats, fire-eaters and tasty caribbean jerk chicken. Very enjoyable and I even ended up taking part in their show.

Today we have tried to make as relaxing as possible, just a little sunbathing, some snorkelling in the nature reserve and numerous cocktails at the beach bar.

Tomorrow we have booked a jeep and are heading off to a street party or 'jump up' at Gros Islet, so we wanted to be well relaxed for it.

As for tonight, well the current plan is to take it quite easy, a few more cocktails, and a nice meal at the pier. Photos still haven't arrived back yet, but as soon as I get them online I'll send a couple by email to all the addresses in the guestbook, and try to put some on the blog.
seandevlin 10:21 PM - [Link]
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Tuesday, May 13, 2003
The Big Day eventually arrived! We had breakfast in our room at 8ish and then I ironed the wedding outfits. Had a bit of a nightmare when I made a big waterstain on Sean's new shirt, luckily we sent it to the laundry for a rush repair job!

At 11am Sean, Mum, Miles and I were booked in to the spa for a caribbean massage. This was an all over body massage and took about an hour, very very relaxing... Then I continued at the spa where I had a manicure, pedicure and my hair put up. Mum brought my dress up to the spa at 3pm and we got changed together and waited for the others to arrive.

For the wedding location, we had chosen a secluded plateau on the side of the Piton mountains overlooking Jalousie Bay. The views were stunning and the sun shone all day long.

At 3.30pm the steel band was tuning up and my stomach was churning up! Apparently, at the same time, Sean was relaxing in the room with Miles and a rum and coke (typical!)

4pm finally arrived - Miles, Dad and Sean were waiting near the floral wedding arch, the band started playing "Here comes the bride" and I did my best not to trip up over my train or drop my bouquet on the short walk to the arch. The St Lucian wedding official was waiting for us and the short ceremony began. She surprised us when she told us she expected us to say our own special vows (we hadn't prepared anything!) so we had to do a bit of improvisation on the spot and hope no one noticed! Then we exchanged rings, said "I do" and signed the register in front of our witnesses.

After the ceremony, hors d'oeuvres and champagne were served while the music played. We had our first married dance and even mum and dad had a waltz!

We were then taken for photographs at various locations throughout the grounds, including the beach, water lily pond, giant chess board and gardens. We will show all these to you later...

Afterwards we had dinner on the balcony of the Palm Court restaurant where our table had been beautifully decorated with fresh flowers. Our wedding banquet - lobster and champagne - was served around 8pm. We stayed up eating, drinking and talking until after 10pm.

On returning to our room, we found it bedecked with rose petals, embroidered bed linen and bathed in candlight. The perfect end to a perfect day ..... with the prospect of a beautiful champagne breakfast in the morning.
annecawthorn 4:39 PM - [Link]
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Monday, May 12, 2003
Morning All! The big day has finally arrived and we're just making our final preparations this morning. (shirts ironed, suits pressed, the usual routine). It seems so long in the making that I can hardly believe the day is here... And for a while last night we were even wondering if we would make it!

We had taken a water taxi yesterday to see the end of the St. Lucia Jazz festival at Pigeon Island, and with such a beautiful day everything seemed to be going good. Its a simple 1hr trip up the St. Lucian coast in a small speedboat, and we'd intended to be back good and early in the evening so to be well rested for the next day.

However when we were on the boat we discovered that one of the other guests had arranged that the boat was not coming back till after the last act, but we guessed that would still mean we'd be back by 8 or 9pm at the latest. Well by 9am Earth, Wind and Fire hadn't even made the stage yet so we were getting a bit worried as we knew we had an hours ride back, and no other way home.

They eventually went on stage about 10pm and to be honest they were excellent. I was amazed how many of their songs I knew, and the St Lucians around us were going crazy.

It was all over about 11:30 so we headed back to the jetty, under the cover of fireworks, to get the boat back.

All was good, and the boat was there waiting, so we headed off promptly as soon as we got back. But then the main engine on the boat wouldn't start so we started drifting slowly back to home. And it looked like it was going to take hours to get there. But eventually one of the crew got it started and we had a very fast cruise back, a lot of the time just bouncing off the top of the water. But we made it and not too late.

Anyway I'm just finishing breakfast by the pool, (thanks to the xda) and then heading off for a carribean massage before the wedding.

Thanks for all the messages added to the website over the last few days, and all the nice thoughts and we'll update you all soon.