B and I went to St Lucia in mid-May… and we got engaged!

He proposed on our first day there, during the sunset by our private plunge pool that overlooked the Caribbean Sea. (No oysters involved, but he did splendidly with the ring!) So since then, I have been a little more pre-occupied with life outside of work and slurping bivalves. In fact, this post will be an oddball exception to my usual oyster-obsessed entries. It’s going to talk a little bit about my oyster discovery in St Lucia but mostly just about the trip. The next post will definitely be all about oysters though, so stay tuned!

Seafood is popular on the island, but it mostly revolves around fish and crustaceans. Most of the towns around the island are fishing villages, so no modern aquaculture yet (that I know of). However, I managed to find one restaurant that offered raw oysters called The Edge, a “Eurobean” fusion joint that focuses on seafood (including sushi!) Unfortunately the sushi chef was on an emergency leave of absence when we went, but the regular menu held its own. I was particularly excited about the Caesar salad with roasted oysters from Newfoundland. Canadian oysters in the Caribbean? Check.

At The Edge in Rodney Bay, B and I also shared several other tasty apps and entrees including: jumbo local prawn with squid ink pasta ravioli, shrimp and scallop skewers, red snapper, and jerk-marinated steak.

    

Outside of this fancy meal (and another swanky one at Rainforest Cafe, Marigot Bay), we had a blast exploring the local eats. We ventured into the Anse la Raye Friday Night Fish Fry with a group of Brits and went to town. I loved the fried mackerel on a stick — despite never having tried one like it, it tasted like something from out of my childhood.

    

When we weren’t stuffing our face with food and local beer (Piton beer is awesome), we were working off the calories scuba-diving, snorkeling, kayaking, and fishing… among other things. St Lucia was an incredible destination for a vacation, let alone an engagement. We hope to visit again someday soon! I’ll just leave you with some of my favorite photos from the trip. If you’re curious, you can check out the rest on Flickr.

This was my very first time scuba diving so I was very grateful to have such a good instructor! Thanks Andre

One of our favorite things to do during the day was to sit in the plunge pool and watch the boats go in and out of the bay.

A glimpse of the exquisite view from Emerald Hill Villa, adjacent to our suite. The owner of the property was kind enough to let us use the entire villa when they didn’t have other guests.

Kayaking through ominous weather = couples bonding.

Hanging around never felt so good.

Just one of the many breathtaking sunsets that we witnessed. Can’t believe I got engaged to this view!