Though the island boasts a huge selection of honeymoon hotel and resort options to suit any budget, here we discuss three of the best.

East Winds Inn

Those who seek peace, quiet and space away from the tourist crowd during their honeymoon need look no further than East Winds Inn in Labrelotte Bay. Winner of TripAdvisor's Travelers' Choice Award in the categories of Top Hotels, Best Service and Romance, the team here leave nothing to be desired in their quest to create your perfect honeymoon or romantic getaway.

26 open style cottages are nestled in 12 acres of lush tropical gardens on the gorgeous Caribbean beachfront on the northwest coast of the island, allowing you to open your bedroom doors right into paradise.

Particularly renowned for their outstanding cuisine at the 'Flamboyant' restaurant, including freshly-caught fish and pastries made daily on-site, East Winds Inn is one of the few Caribbean hotels to have their restaurant certified by the prestigious Chaine Des Rotisseurs guild.

East Winds Inn doesn't clutter up its experience with an abundance of watersports and activites, but aims to keep relaxation and quality time as the focus of its appeal. The Bamboo Lounge sets the stage for tranquil evenings with soft jazz, local folk groups and live performances on the Caribbean's first Steinway concert piano, specially shipped in from New York. The East Winds Inn's beach hosts a steel band once a week for a dose of local flavor.

It was not all that long ago that Caribbean holidays were only accessible to the wealthy and required multiple flights and airport transfers. With the international travel market changing so drastically in the last few years, Caribbean breaks have become far more accessible, particularly for families. Prohibitively high flight costs have now dropped dramatically with the rise of budget providers such as Thomas Cook and the emergence of plenty of competition keeping the prices down.

Now that St Lucia has become affordable for those with children, other concerns come to the fore. Well established as a romantic honeymoon destination with three Sandals resorts and plenty of other adults-only hotels, parents may worry if St Lucia offers enough to keep their little ones occupied.

Here we run down 10 activities that families with kids can enjoy whilst soaking in the beauty of this tropical paradise.

1. Splash around at Coconut Bay's water park

Frequently thought of as the best hotel in Vieux Fort and just two minutes' drive from the airport, Coconut Bay Resort is great for families with young children. Their water park is particularly spectacular and the only one on the island. Kids (and brave parents!) will love zooming down the great selection of waterslides.

There are also lazy rivers and wading pools for chill-out time, and for the ultimate in relaxation, try the swim-up bar, where children can gulp down mocktails along side their cocktail-sipping parents.

2. Go whale watching

Try Hackshaw's Boat Charters or any other recommended provider for a whale tour. Your experienced tour operators will zip around the sea to track humpback and sperm whales, dolphins and even orcas, all for your viewing pleasure. Of course, there's no guarantee that the majestic creatures will be around when you are, but these experts have an excellent track record and will do everything they can to try and seek them out.

To avoid disappointment, make sure you book before you arrive on the island as these tours are popular and can get booked up very quickly.

To continue on your St Lucian immersion journey, you could...

6. Go 'Square'

Assou Square, held on January 1nd and 2nd every year and affectionately called 'Square', is a celebration that all the family can enjoy. Traditionally celebrated in Walcott Square in Castries, it has been tried in different locations in recent years, though it returned to its city-centre home last year and looks like it will stay put for the next few Januaries.

A main stage is set up to host a huge variety of entertainers throughout the two days. Calypso singers, known as Calypsonians, strut their stuff to the frantically-paced beats and chant uplifting lyrics in an explosion of energy. St Lucians try their hand at Country and Western singing and dancing, and the most talented receive prizes and accolades.

Stalls abound with a huge variety of hot food, snacks, soft drinks and chilled alcoholic beverages, including the local 'Piton' beer. There's plenty to do for kids, with games, bouncy castles and face painting to keep them occupied.

'Immersion' is the new buzzword in travel circles. It shuns cookie-cutter beach all-inclusives and characterless package holidays in favor of seeking out experiences that reflect the genuine feel of the country.

Immersion traveling says sun, sea and sand can be found in thousands of places all over the world, but what is it about your destination that makes it different? What makes it unique? It is pretty difficult to capture the real spirit of a place if you're cooped up in a resort.

This is where 'tourist' ends and 'traveler' begins. Perfect for those who crave adventure and culture, approaching holidays from this revolutionary perspective  will create unique memories that last a lifetime.

Here we run down 10 immersion experience ideas to get you started:

1. Join in Independence Day Celebrations

The main image here is not of Reduit Beach this is the view on the other side of what you can see looking left from reduit beach, various trails lead up this way to a fish pond believe it or not and some good views can be had. Also the segue tours run up here.

Location : Reduit Beach St Lucia. Close to Rodney Bay.

We stayed at Rodney Bay reduit Beach and the Rex Resort there called the St Lucian during the month of November. It’s hard to fault the beach here and the resort also has a great variety of watersports  on offer. Cruise ship day we felt a little relegated to one side as the resort welcome the cruise shippers to come and stay on the beach. The resort has no less than 3 pools but the third and largest pool is somewhat hidden away. Considering that it has a pool bar its strange that they don’t advertise it more. Facing the ocean this part of the resort is on your left side. Via the beach just walk up and notice the pavilion style building from the beach and cut in. It is your resort don’t worry ! To the right is a slightly more upmarket rex resort the Royal that is out of bounds apart from a paying restaurant you can frequent, virgin staff get to stay over here, but it seems a little quiet to me and the beach is no better. Back to the left hand side of the resort facing the sea you can walk through the resort to get to the dilapidated but functional tennis courts. They look rougher than they are in reality the surface is passable for any game you might have, though it adds to the overall feeling that the resort needs a makeover also some kit is needed like a proper volleyball for the pool as there is shockingly NO beach volleyball a big disappointment for me. The gym is decent enough and pernile I think his name was who also do the activities friendly fun and helpful. The room we had was not poolside and was perfectly fine but nothing luxurious either.

Being all inclusive here and eating in the same place for all the meals would get very tiring indeed past a week. We stayed for just the week and it was ok. The food was to a decent standard and varied enough to help me bulk up – on purpose of course. I did feel there was no one place that encouraged meeting so easily.

http://www.scubamom.com/st-lucia/ansechastanet.htm

There are some really good informations on scuba diving st lucia here - just thought I would share.

in fact there are good resources on other islands in the caribbean as well.

http://www.scubamom.com/caribbean/

Went diving today from my resort in reduit beach, long trip to the boat called dive fair helen via castries. But all good from then on excellent service and care though there was no dive shop as such the boat had all we needed - everything was done on board then off southwards to the marine park and soufriere. Two dive sites keyhole peaks and before that site was superman's flight normally a drift dive but today not much current to speak of. If you are looking to dive a lot in St Lucia you should make sure you get closer to the dive shop or find a closer one which may be another solution. The transfer was really killing it for me so for 1 hour 45 minutes of time in the water it took from 8.30 to past 4. So this isn't a workable solution for me staying in the st lucian by rex resorts. I hope I can do more diving and I would do this again but not more. Lee concurred with me who was staying even further north in smugglers cove, its a torrid minibus ride - I hate those things. Come on guys where is the water transport ?