Caribbean - St Lucia

Oct 14, 2010 St Lucia - A few weeks ago, I happened to be browsing the Cruise Critic boards and found that someone was looking for two more people to join a particular tour. I took a look and it was very similar to another tour I'd been looking at (but better because it included lunch and a boat ride back to the pier as opposed to a taxi). I asked the poster if the two spots were still open and he replied that they were ours.

This morning, we woke up, ate a quick breakfast, and met with our group at 9:15. It was us plus four other couples for a group of ten. Two of the couples were great while the other two were anti-social.

Herod, our tour guide, loaded us into his van and took us through Castries, the capitol of St Lucia. He pointed out places such as Derek Walcott Square and the War Memorial. We made our way up to Morne Fortune which overlooked parts of the island. At some point Herod stopped at a small shop and bought us all loaves of St Lucian butter bread. YUM! Next, we stopped at a vista that overlooked Marigot Bay, where the original Dr Dolittle movie was filmed. Next up was a stop at a 400-acre banana plantation where we got to sample fresh bananas. I LOVE bananas but must say that our bananas back home don't hold a candle to these ones. They are sweeter and moister than back home. It's because in St Lucia, they are able to ripen naturally. Bananas that are exported are picked while still green and are ripened artificially with gases, which dries them out.

We made our way through two small fishing villages (Canaries and Anse La Raye) which were poor and disheveled. The homes were so shabby that they appeared deserted. We eventually found ourselves at Cold Falls and the surrounding gardens. We had a chance to swim if we wanted, but Chris and I chose to just dip our feet.

The next part of our tour is what I'd been waiting for... our first glimpse of the Pitons (behind us in the photo above). We have a framed print of these two mountains hanging in our bedroom at home and I was so excited to have a chance to finally see them in person. They are simply magnificent. We stopped at a couple of vistas to get pictures.

Our next stop was Sulphur Springs, which is part of a national park. It literally sits inside a volcano and it smells just like rotten eggs. We were joking that it would be the perfect place to let one rip, because you could just blame it on the volcano. There was a small stream that was 77 degrees, and one that topped 200 degrees. Steam was escaping from the various rock and lava formations. It was definitely unlike anything we'd ever seen. The smell is supposed to relieve sinusitis. I dunno... after smelling the springs, I think I'd rather be stuffed up.

Next up was lunch, and it was a once in a lifetime type of lunch: an authentic homemade Creole buffet prepared and served by Herod's mother! And it gets even better... we ate at her house, on the front porch which looks out at the Petit Piton! The food was amazing. It was similar to the lunch we had in Barbados. So I think it's safe to say that I like Creole food. There were plenty of meatless dishes... rice and beans, macaroni, dumplings and beans, breadfruit, fried plantains, salad, and fresh passion fruit juice. Simply amazing.

After two platefuls of food each, we drove down to the town of Soufriere (where Herod grew up) to meet our water taxi. The taxi took us south toward the Pitons to a small beach where we could snorkel. We had about an hour so Chris and I jumped right in! The snorkeling here was first class. Great coral, great fish, not a lot of current or swell... it was just about perfect. We saw some jellyfish and some strange eel-type of fish. I had my corn flakes and found myself surrounded by hundreds of sergeant majors. Even when I was out of food, they continued to follow me. I took a couple of deep dives to the bottom of the reef to get a closer look at things. We really need to get our diving certificates. One of these days...

After our hour of snorkeling between the Pitons, it was time to board our boat and head back to the ship. We were cruising pretty fast, which was way better than taking the taxi back! Herod dropped us off at the pier and we said goodbye. He put an amazing day together and showed us a great time.

On a side note, Chris and I discussed real estate with Herod. We've always wanted to buy a place somewhere in the Caribbean. St Lucia just might be the island we go for. We have some thinking to do.

Boarded the ship, showered, and ate. We attended a past-guest party in the Caribbean Lounge where they spoiled us with free drinks and appetizers. Later on, I attended the singing/dancing show alone while Chris rested.

Tomorrow we'll be celebrating our anniversary on St Kitts. I think we'll head to a beach I found in my book. We're on the lookout for stingrays and sharks, and this beach supposedly has both.