St. Lucia, Lesser Antilles — July, 1996

It got dark just after our arrival. The airport is not as nice as this picture indicates. Our ride to the villa didn't show up and the cabbies simply refused to drive us where we needed to go. We ended up calling the owner and having her escort a cab up a rutty little road to the top of a mountain. Needless to say, this arrival did not bode well for the rest of the vacation.

Despite the fact that it was on the side of a mountain and the middle of nowhere, the Orchid Cottage turned out to be the most amazing place we've ever stayed. This is the gate to the private path leading to the front porch.

Here's part of the luscious, well-kept garden that surrounded the place. The villa had no A/C (didn't need it) and at night, the frogs would sing to us. It was like nothing else I've ever heard before -- millions of frogs croaking loudly in unison.

This is the mast of the brig Unicorn. We sailed on her up the coast all the way to the Pitons (twin mountain peaks in the north) and back again. The Captain was a middle-aged guy from Boston who had come down on a vacation and never got around to going back home.

And speaking of those beautiful twin mounds, here they are! Not those. The ones in the background.

We walked down the mountain to this beach below the villa. The beaches were not great there, but they were certainly interesting. This one was covered with water-worn stones that looked like gems.

This is the front porch where we ate most of our meals. The view down the side of the mountain was incredible. Behind Kathy and off to the right is the open air shower attached to the house and covered with huge yellow flowers. Often though, we just showered outside in the rain which came nearly every afternoon.

Dinner at the fancy restaurant at the end of that dirt road leading to our villa.