# 8: St Lucia

Another day and yet another stunning Island!

I must admit that when you are touring around the Caribbean it is sometimes hard to differentiate between the Islands. Today is Sunday the 13th of April, not that I would know what day it is really, and I haven't had a watch on since we boarded the ship! The only time you need to worry about is what time you have to be back onboard, so they don't sail away without you and also what time you meet up with the others for drinks at the Ice Bar! 😉

St Lucia is yet another stunning location and the fifth Island of the eight that we will be visiting. The weather so far has been absolutely beautiful with temperatures up in the high 20's plus. It is hard to imagine that the Caribbean hurricane season isn't too far away, (June through to November) and over the years many of the Islands have suffered terribly with cyclones devastating many Islands over the years. St Lucia is no different to most of the Islands and relies heavily on tourism, (which is their main source of income) and as mentioned in a previous blog, it is a sad time when the ships stop coming for those 5 months! Many of the Celebrity Cruise ships head for the Mediterranean and South Pacific and cruise there during this time.

The Capital of St Lucia is Castries, and this is where we docked this morning. The Island has a small population with only around 180, 000 inhabitants, with most of these being descendants from African slaves that were brought to the Island to work the sugar plantations. English is the official language, so once again we there won't be any communication issues.

Our plans for the day, (along with Karen and Dave) were to hire a driver with a minivan to give us of a guided tour of the main attractions. We started our tour with a visit to a little fishing village around the coast. The driver stopped for us to have a look around and a walk up the main street, obviously hoping that we would spend some money to aid the very poor residents of the village. This was certainly not a place that you would see on any postcards of St Lucia, extreme poverty and I could only describe their dwellings as shacks, and I would be surprised if many of them would survive even a low-grade cyclone. Now, I did mention that it was Sunday and all of a sudden, we're in the middle of a church parade with the procession heading up the main street with drums and various other instruments playing, everyone dancing and dressed in their Sunday best. It was quite an amazing experience, and we were a little disappointed that time didn't allow us to join them in the church service.

From there it was a drive up into the Rain Forrest, from here there was some fantastic views out to the "Pitons". These are two volcanic mountains and are regarded as the main attractions on the Island and they are a world UNESCO Heritage site.

The Pitons!

It was then a drive down to view the Toraille Waterfall. The falls are located just a short walk off a decent size carpark so quite convenient for tourist access. The Falls were very pretty but I must say not very spectacular! They say that they're meant to be 10m plus in height, but I think this is probably a bit of an exaggeration. There is a very nice pool at the base of the falls, and you can take a dip and stand under them. From there our driver took us to a lookout to view Marigot Bay which was stunning, the bay is full of magnificent yachts and apparently home to many celebrities and wealthy businessmen. We then drove down to the water's edge and had a lovely walk around the beach.

We then got our driver to drop us off at the Castries Market which was within walking distance back to the ship. The market is full of food outlets and locals trying to sell their wares. We didn't purchase anything, (which we could sense upset some of the stall holders). We were actually warned that sometimes they can get quite aggravated and pushy if you're not buying! We were also warned that we needed to be careful as there is a growing amount of crime in this area of the city, so we stayed very vigilant as to what was going on around us! Luckily, we walked away unscathed! 😏

Once back on the ship it was the usual procedure of shower, (it was a formal night on the ship, so we put our number ones on) and then to the Ice Bar. We decided to join Alana and Dan for dinner in "Blu Restaurant". It was a bit of a pity that we couldn't all dine in there, but the rest of our team didn't have free access there so would have had to pay extra.

We were sitting at a table for the four of us then there was a small gap over to a table of two sitting next to the windows with a view over the ocean. Now I wouldn't normally interact with a couple sitting have a nice meal on their own, Alana and Dan were at their end of our table, and I could hear them starting to get into a conversation with this couple, as the chatter went on, I heard the word golf mentioned and all of a sudden, I was interested! This lovely couple, (who were probably out for a nice romantic dinner) were from a small village in England called Malvern and having their meal interrupted buy people from New Zealand. As the night unfolded, we finished our meals and retired to Michael's Club bar to continue the discussions with our new Friends. Their names were Roy and Sally and we instantly got on, Roy liked a single malt whiskey and so did I, (and Dan) while Mary, Sally and Alana hit it off instantly as well. We had a fantastic night and said our goodbyes for the evening. We got back to our cabin via catching up with the rest of the touring party and Mary and I both said how nice it had been and what lovely night we'd had. I did say then though that with nearly 3000 onboard, (including about 600 staff) that we may never run into Roy and Sally again! Luckily, I was wrong! 😁

I woke up in the morning and before I got my coffee I went out onto my balcony and probably feeling like I'd had one single malt too many! I'm relaxing and looking out to the new days adventure of Antigua and I hear "Good morning Earl", I look to my right and my new buddy Roy is in the cabin next door! This was the start of a very nice friendship.

Next edition, Antigua!

The unspectacular but pretty Toraille waterfall

Stunning Marigot Bay from the lookout The Pitons from the lookout.

Karen and Mary getting ready to get back on board.