It’s no secret that I love a good BBQ. Where I live in England it’s about as far away from the sea as you can get, so BBQ settings don’t really get more adventurous than the back garden. Needless to say in St Lucia I jumped at the suggestion to have a BBQ on the beach!
The beach we visited is something of an island secret. Hidden away from the tourists down a pretty treacherous off road track, ‘Five Dollar Beach’ is known only to the locals and so remains completely unspoilt by sun loungers and sand rakes. With some insider knowledge we took the secret route and arrived to find it totally deserted, just for us!
Being all alone I may have pretended we were survivors on a desert island and put my hunter gatherer skills to the test…
Coconut was successfully opened! Alas it was all mouldy inside, so it got chucked aside in favour of a rum & coke.
The water on this side of the island is the Atlantic; much darker, colder and angrier than the calm Caribbean sea on the other side. Makes a relaxing paddle along the shore with your drink more of a battle not to spill it.
We came prepared with local St Lucian BBQs: small clay ovens that act like chimeneas.
Lots of drift wood and sheltering behind tarpaulin later we had them lit!
All was going swimmingly…
Until the chicken got knocked on the floor! Sandy chicken = terminal. Thankfully most of it stayed on the grill! And the stray dogs living in the woods nearby weren’t as fussy as us! Disaster aside it turned out pretty damn good!
Steak was treated with the greatest of care.
If you fancy a bit of al fresco dining in St Lucia, this beach is the perfect setting for it. Ask the locals about getting to Five Dollar Beach. You will need an off road vehicle and five dollars per head to get past a man who often guard’s the way (that’s where the name comes from!)