nomad416

Hi all,

As I was mentioning in another thread, my wife and I are visiting St. Lucia shortly to see if it could serve as a potential Caribbean home in the future for us.

Then I realized maybe some of you nice folks might have some other suggestions besides St. Lucia.

The criteria that my wife and I came up with for a future Caribbean home are:

1. English-speaking.

2. Direct and frequent flights from Toronto. (Note: St. Lucia seems to have the most airlines serving it; both Air Canada and Westjet seem to fly there throughout the year, and in the wintertime Sunwing and AirTransat. As far as I can tell, we would probably be in the Caribbean for three weeks each month, and fly back to Toronto to stay for a week to take care of our businesses there.)

3. Fertile soil for tropical gardening.

4. Reasonable living costs and prices for homes with a decent space for tropical trees and gardening.

5. And of course, what everyone wants: Safety (or as safe as possible?) Both in terms of less chance of crime and less chance of natural disasters.

6. Almost forgot add: the home should be near a hospital or decent medical facility.


Things we don't require:

1. Near the water or beach (we don't even swim!); an inland home is fine for us.


So far, the list that we came up with is: St. Lucia, Antigua, and Grenada.

Any help greatly appreciated.

thx.

Edit: We also have a five-month old right now. By the time we're ready for such a tropical home, we would have to consider having him go to a school in the Caribbean if we're to be spending most of our time there instead of in Toronto. For St. Lucia, I see there is the "International School" in Rodney Bay, so I guess there's a possibility...

johnh009

Why not look at the Dominican Republic? Democracy, Charter of Rights, etc. and there is a large expat community in Sosua on the north coast. Plus cheapish flights from Toronto:

http://www.sosuanews.com/index.php

http://www.juanperdomo.com/

Although technically Spanish speaking, just about everyone speaks English and there are American schools there.

nomad416

Wow, we never considered the DR. Ok, we'll will do some digging on DR comments. thx!

mirann

Hi, I know St Lucia pretty well...my son has lived there for 23 years and we have just come back. Have you thought of living in the south? It is SO MUCH better than up north which is heaving with traffic, tourists, congestion etc., My son knows St Lucia like the back of his hand and knows of land for sale so you could build a house....we are renovating a house in Laborie and just can't wait to go back. My grandchildren go to school in Piaye and Augier and another one goes to the convent which is very strict, up in the north, in Castries. The education is very good. In fact there are West Indians living in the Uk sending their kids back out to St Lucia to be educated. Vieux Fort has good shops and supermarkets, banks and facilities . Forget Rodney Bay - full of expats and very expensive. If you need to ask anything, please feel free to email me.

pgtips

I would have to somewhat disagree. I have considered veiux fort, but not much happening there. I have younger cousins who live in Choiseul and they wish they could live in Rodney Bay. If you live in Rodney Bay, or the environs you get the best of everything. Canadian run international school, excellent prepratory schools, great beaches, restaurants, shopping malls,one of the best marinas in the Caribbean. Yeh there is a good reason the expats flock to this area. Also an important thing to remember is that when there are water shortages, because this is the hub of the hotels and tourist district you will not be affected as bad as other parts of the islands. You will not face resentment from locals for living in a nice house or driving a nice vehicle as these are in abundence in Rodney Bay and accepted as the norm. Also if you live in Rodney bay, Bonne Terre, Cap Estate etc, the traffic is not a problem to you as everything is close to hand, including dentist and doctors. The only people who may have a problem with traffic is outsiders visiting the area.

My wife is also a Trini and has also been all over St Lucia, and the one place she says she can quite easily live and adapt to and feel at home is Rodney Bay and the environs, she loves the place. It is also more interesting meeting people from all over the world there not just local St Lucians.

Just my take

nomad416

mirann and pgtips: thx for the replies. I guess each area of St. Lucia caters to different interests, and perhaps has a different level of comfort or security depending on the number of expats and how you conduct yourself around the locals.

So far, my wife does like the Vieux Fort area for it's open space, flatness, and I'm guessing cheaper land costs. But Rodney Bay certainly has it's conveniences and other advantages.

Well, we still have a few more days to enjoy St. Lucia...and it's looking good day.

mirann

Enjoy the rest of your stay..have you been to Laborie? Its the real St Lucia..charming.

nomad416

We only drove through Laborie on our way back to Vieux Fort, but Laborie does look nice. We might be able to spend some more time in that area later in the week before we leave.

pgtips

Here is a link with some info on Laborie

http://www.laboriecommunity.net/

nomad416

pgtips: thx for the link!

pgtips

Nomad the UK is so cold now, has been like this since november I truely wish I was there with you guys now.

nomad416

Ah, that sucks; I was under the impression you were in SL full-time? If it's any consolation, it's apparently -17 Celsius with the windchill in Toronto, and they're getting up to an additional 15cm of snow today, on top of the pile from the snowstorm they got a few days ago! Ugh.

nomad416

Folks: Got back in Toronto on Sunday evening. We miss St. Lucia and the nice Caribbean weather so much already.

While we were there, we met a real estate agent -- a Canadian who has lived in SL for about 20 years -- and shared his insights on the island and other Caribbean areas suitable for our needs. He recommended SL and Grenada as the islands most likely suitable for us.

An interesting thing we learned from him is that almost any citizen of a CARICOM country is able to buy land in other CARICOM countries without the wait time that other foreigners must go through. So, it turns out that since my wife has Trinidadian citizenship, she should be able to buy land in SL and have paperwork processed in about 3 weeks, instead of having to wait over 3 months as is typical for others.

Oh well, until we visit the Caribbean again, it's time for us to start saving some money for the future.

MrsX

Saba. Connection via St Maarten. Maybe not the easiest to get to but cheap because there are no beaches. There is a medical school and hospital on this tiny little island, and no crime.