PHOTO: The kite shack where the dream day started.
The palm-fringed south coast of St. Lucia supplies all the elements for the quintessential paradise experience. Honey-colored beaches and cobalt waves offer opportunities for the expected beach lounging, sailing and snorkeling experiences. But this tiny island also offers more unusual adventures.
If sailing and snorkeling supply a relaxed, easy vibe, then kite surfing provides the exact opposite-a complex and focused experience with spectacular rewards. Allowing a kite to pull you along St. Lucia's rolling waves is truly a thrill seekers activity but the Coconut Bay Resort kite center and surf shack offers lessons for all skill levels. Boasting some of the strongest winds in the Caribbean region, St. Lucia attracts kite surfers from all over the world during the December-May kite surfing season.
The surf shack director Bruno, hails from Portugal and lends his expertise of eight years of kite surfing around the globe to the center's students.
"Kite surfing is an adrenaline sport and women tend to learn faster," he says. "It takes nine hours on average to learn to kite surf and we divide it up into three hours over three days. The requirements are that you are comfortable in the water and know how to swim, nothing more."
With such simple criteria, I figured that I'd give it a shot. Coconut Bay Resort offers all guests over eight-years-old a complementary "taster" lesson of flying a trainer kite on the beach and enjoying a guided ride on the water. I dived right into the taster, learning how to steer the kite. "It's all about balance and steering," says Bruno. "The first thing to do is getting comfortable on land and learning how to steer."
Although I loved to fly kites as a kid, kite surfing requires more refined abilities. The average wind speed in St. Lucia is 16-18 knots, which is just strong enough for beginner and intermediate riders to catch a breeze and start kite surfing. Gripping the long bar, I gently guided the kite toward the wind but it was a task to keep it in the air longer than a minute.
With Bruno's guidance, I managed to maneuver my sky blue kite into the air but as soon as he dropped his hands, so did my kite. I vowed to come back another time to take the full three-day course and watched as seasoned kiters launched into the water, skimming waves and filling the sky with brightly hued kites.
On the sprawling all-inclusive of Coconut Bay, the resort is divided between the adults only wing called Harmony and the family section dubbed Splash. Splash is where you can challenge friends to a sun-streaked paintball battle. Called The Zone and the first of its kind in the Caribbean, the course unfolds with brass barriers shaded by palm trees.
Suited up in masks, chest pads and overalls, players fire neon paintballs at opponents trying to snatch their flag. It's a surreal experience waging paintball war against a backdrop of tropical flowers and the resort's pet donkeys, cinnamon and sugar, strolling by. Afterwards, cool off under a palm tree with the resort's signature cocktail, the dirty banana.
A decidedly adult concoction of fresh bananas, rum, coconut cream and the local Ti Tasse liqueur, several sips will ease sore muscles and help you relish choosing adventure over lounging.
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