Date: March 23 – April 5
Rideable days: 14 out of 14
Wind: 15 – 28 knots
Air temp: 30˚C
Water temp: 28˚C
A trip to the Caribebean was long overdue. Last time I was there was in 2016, and not only was I looking forward to see my friend Nick and reconnect with the lovely kite community in St Lucia, but since then my friends Greg and Fran had moved to the neighbouring island of Mustique, off the coast of St Vincent.
Hang out and catch up with friends, escape the still dark and cold UK spring to soak up the tropical sun, and last but not least, kitesurf all day until your body can’t take any more: Yup, I didn’t need much convincing when Greg put the offer out there.
This trip actually started out just as a visit to Mustique to see Greg and Fran, but since you fly St Lucia to catch an island hopper flight, I took the opportunity to sandwich it with a couple of nights in St Lucia each side of the stay.
St Lucia
Nick was out of town but had set me up with a room at his resort and made sure that I was well looked after. After a lovely dinner and a bit of banter in the bar I made it back to my room to rest up and prepare for heading North to Cas en bas beach the following morning. After a gym session and a massive breakfast I got picked up and driven to Gros Islet where I met up with Nick’s brother Charles.
Charles loaded up his truck and we went to Cas en bas where the wind was already in full motion. I even regretted only bringing my 13m for the trip, but once on the water I could still hold a decent edge and made the most of the strong wind by boosting massive jumps. It’s been nine years since I was last here on my trip with Bjorn. Very few things have changed: Beth is still there, teaching, the locals are still there, chilling (maybe a few more gray hairs now). A hotel and a golf course have popped up since back when, but it’s not obtrusive. And Simon now works there as the water sports manager. It was almost like stepping into a time capsule and be taken back in time. Water time was beyond expectations. Conditions here are so good that they boost your confidence and you push yourself. Warm water, stable wind, a few spectators to impress, haha, really though. This place is great. Hours later I had landed both a triple front roll and a double front downloop transition for the first time ever.
As the sun set, Dirk rocked up on the beach and went out on a wingsurf session. Dirk is an interesting man. We first met here in 2016. Both travellers. Dirk went from island to island that year. But St Lucia was his favourite and years later he ended up buying the guest house where he had stayed. I stayed at his that night and got to see what he had done with the place. Impressive to say the least. Not only in terms of restoring and expanding the guest house, but also in terms of designing a lifestyle where he and his family now spend time between here and Berlin to get the best of both worlds.
Mustique
After three nights on St Lucia it was time to do the quick jump over to Mustique. Now, this is a funny little island. Privately owned and managed by The Mustique Company, it has a rather exclusive vibe. The owners slash population (you buy land to build on to get a stake in the company) can’t be more than a few hundred, but their combined net worth could buy a country or two. I suppose it’s another status symbol in some circles to own a villa on Mustique, but the rich and famous also do it for the privacy and safety.
But you don’t have to own a villa to visit Mustique. You can rent one, starting around 20,000 USD a week and practically no upper limit. If this is a bit too steep, you can stay at Cotton House, the island hotel, or you can come in your yacht and moor in the marina. If all these options fail, and you really want to spend time on Mustique, you can befriend the island doctor and stay at his house. This is a particularly good option if you’re a kitesurfer, since so is he, and he’ll gladly take you to the island’s main kite beach in the island ambulance.
Pasture Beach
A lot of the Windward Islands’s coastline rocky, so it’s not a given that your random tropical island will have a good beach for kitesurfing. Mustique visitors are in luck however. Pasture Beach is a large, sandy, crescent shaped beach facing the Atlantic, from which the prevailing Westerly trade wind is blowing. There are other options too, for other wind directions and a bit of variety, but this is the main spot. Greg and I were here almost every day, and every day we had the beach completely to ourselves. No other kiters, not even other people on the beach. If you want you own private kite beach, look no farther.
The wind is a slight cross on-shore, so the waves can be a tad tricky to get past. They’re not babies either – they’re rolling straight in from the Atlantic after all. Add a hefty amount of seasonal seaweed and this is not your entry level beach. But Greg, the nutter he is (the dude freaking crossed the Atlantic in a rowing boat), set out to learn kitesurfing here. With the help of his grit, wind awareness gained from years of paragliding and sailing and a lot of YouTube, he showed an impressive level of kite and board handling after only a year of riding.
It takes only a minute to cross the bay from one side to the other, but it’s perfectly sized for a few kiters to have fun together without constantly dodging each other. On one side, there’s a reef, and on the other is Rabbit Island. The waves break differently depending on where in the bay you are, and this makes for a surprisingly varied spot given its size.
The parties and the lifestyle
Mustique runs on routine. Seasonal routine, and weekly routine. Apart from all the self-organised villa parties and picnics, there are also a host of island events. As an island official, it’s Greg’s duty to attend these events, which to my untrained eye looked a lot like drinking champagne and mingle with celebrities and top models. But if you eat steak every day, eventually even Wagyu becomes boring.
At Basil’s bar in the marina, the tourists and locals mingle together, at Wednesday’s Jump Up, Taco and Tequila Thursdays and Sunset Sessions on Sundays. Come for a week and you’re in paradise. Live here for years, and you soon realise that you’re stuck on a tiny island, hanging out with the same people, doing the same things over and over and with very limited space to go and simply be by yourself. I can see why Greg cherishes his moments of solitude on Pasture Beach, where it’s just him, his kite and the elements.
This is my interpretation of a lifestyle I haven’t experienced myself but only seen a glimpse of. But I did live in Gibraltar for a year, a place that has a lot in common with Mustique, and I can tell you that without having Spain that I could escape to in the weekends I would’ve gone bonkers.
Where does Fran, Greg’s partner find her me-time? In the island’s state-of-the-art gym! Her fitness journey since she moved to Mustique has been nothing shy of jaw-dropping. Two amazing human beings that embody commitment and show that one can achieve astonishing things when you put your mind and heart into it.
Back with the gang
Nine days after I set foot on Mustique, I once again found myself on the tarmac of the tiny landing strip. As Greg and Fran was waving me off the hopper flight set course for St Lucia. The wind was still pumping and now Nick was back from his Florida trip. We spent the evening at his resort, sharing general life updates and drove to Cas en bas the following morning. Nick’s a legend. When we first met in 2016, Bjorn quickly assessed his lifestyle and nicknamed him ‘Party boy’. After getting to know him more closely, I think it was a pretty astute assessment. But Nick has calmed down since then. He’s building a house next to his brother’s and has already got a rescue stray dog with his name on it (whether he likes it or not).
Two more days of St Lucia’s finest, including a Friday night Jump up in Gros Islet, and I could not ask for more. It was the perfect holiday, and as if it was meant to be, Dani showed up last minute before I was about to head for the airport, and we reunited in a ‘nine years later’ photograph. I have a feeling it won’t be another nine years before I’m back.
