Rodney Bay

Rodney Bay is where most of Saint Lucia's tourism sits: a sheltered west-coast bay with Reduit Beach along it, a marina cut into the lagoon behind, hotels, restaurants and the island's nightlife. The marina is the finishing line for two Atlantic crossings, the ARC rally that brings a few hundred yachts across from the Canaries each December and the rowing race that arrives from the same direction with crews who have spent forty days or more at the oars, and the arrivals through December and January are worth being there for. Pigeon Island is at the northern end of the bay.

What you actually see

• Reduit Beach - the long sheltered strand along the bay.
• The marina arrivals - the ARC yachts and the Atlantic rowers in December and January.
• The lagoon - the cut marina behind the beach.
• Pigeon Island - at the northern end, joined by a causeway.

When to go

December to April is the dry high season. The ARC yachts arrive from mid-December; the Atlantic rowers come in from mid-January onward, and the welcome for each boat on the dock is genuinely worth watching. Gros Islet's Friday street party is next door.

Honest expectations

It is the developed part of the island and looks it, with hotel and apartment building along the beach and a commercial strip behind. Reduit Beach is busy and worked hard by vendors and watersports touts. Prices are the highest on the island. It is convenient rather than beautiful.

Nearby

Pigeon Island is at the northern end; Gros Islet is alongside.