What Beach Resort Must You See Before You Die?

Photo Credit: Heidi Schumann for The New York Times

Are you wanting to take a low tech vacation where there are no televisions and no telephones in the room? On the west coast, of St. Lucia overlooking the jagged peaks of the island’s famous Pitons, is Jade Mountain. A luxury high end Beach House Finds, resort where the view has no fourth wall with a breath taking views of the twin peaks of the Pitons. Oprah Winfrey declared the Pitons one of the top five sites to see before you die.

To get there you must arrange Travel to Hewanorra International Airport (American Airlines and Delta currently fly here) which is about an hour’s drive from most hotels. Many resorts will arrange a car service, or a helicopter transfer ($170 per person) one way to avoid the hairpin roads. The most popular way to travel between towns or resorts is by boat or water taxi, which is a great way to appreciate the island’s dramatic cliffs and diverse terrain.

Jade Mountain -a double room with an infinity pool starts at $1,450 January to mid April

$1,150 a night in summer

758-459-7000; http://www.jademountainstlucia.com/

Come Sea It

Santa Monica Seafood Market and Restaurant Opens

Santa Monica Seafood,

1000 Wilshire Boulevard, at Tenth Street, Santa Monica

310-393-5244

http://www.santamonicaseafood.com/

Santa Monica Seafood is owned by the Cigliano’s, a family tracing its California roots back to the end of the 19th century. John Deluca, arrived from Naples, Italy in 1898, and settled in San Pedro where he started life there as a fisherman. John's oldest son, Jack, began assisting his father in the family business at age nine, and by sixteen, he owned his own fishing boat. He left fishing five years later to start a new venture, a wholesale fish business called State Fish. Jack started this company with his friend Gerald Cigliano, who would later become his brother-in-law and the grandfather of the current generation of Cigliano’s running the Company.

The families first location was on the Santa Monica Pier, where they sold shark, halibut, tuna, white sea bass, sardines, anchovies, live lobsters and the "catch of the day" to the hungry tourists visiting the pier. The city of Santa Monica asked the family to move in the late 1960’s, due to increase vehicular traffic on the pier. In 1969, the Company relocated twelve blocks east to the corner of Colorado Boulevard and 12th Street, which served as its principle processing facility and corporate headquarter until April, 2003. .

As each child reached adulthood and stepped forward to join the business, a new opportunity presented itself to expand the Company. This led to the construction and opening of a second distribution and processing center in Orange County in 1985 with a state of the art complex in Rancho Domingues, which houses their entire wholesale staff, the corporate and sales offices as well as a commissary which prepares soup, special salads, and signature recipe menu items sold in the Company’s retail stores. In 1997, the Company opened its first retail-only site in Costa Mesa. This store combined an extensive display of seafood with a full kitchen in which hot meals are prepared for patio eating or take-out.

The Cigliano’s have carried on the tradition of their great Uncles Jack & Frank which has assured their continued success: hard work, business savvy, and a strong philosophy. Today February 16, 2009 is the Grand Opening of a larger new Santa Monica Seafood providing the highest quality product at a fair and reasonable price.” The owners have also added wine, cheeses, fresh cut flowers, European condiments, and delicious ready-to-go desserts to the new spacious location. This is an incredible Beach House Find, you've got to Sea!