The lovely island of St. Lucia was our oyster today. We explored it all on a 7.5 hour excursion. We left no stone unturned, so to speak. It was a long day but a good one. In order to get it all done, however, we had to get up early and be out the door by 8 AM.
Before I start on our day, however, here is the requisite history lesson which I can repeat practically by memory as it is the same as 9/10ths of the other islands we have visited.
The Arawaks were the first people on the island. They settled it about 200 AD. Then the Caribs came along and took over the island in 800 AD. For a change, Columbus didn’t “discover” this island although it is believed that he sailed nearby it in 1502. The island remained in the hands of the natives until 1550 when “Wooden Leg” a.k.a. Francois de Clerk set up a camp here. He used Pigeon Island as his base to attack Spanish ships. Clerk was a French pirate. Then the Dutch came and built a fort on the southern tip of the island. However, it was the British who first tried to colonize. Their efforts failed due to repeated attacks by the Caribs. After two unsuccessful attempts, they gave up for a while. However, in 1660 the French successfully negotiated a peace treaty with the Caribs and were able to colonize. By 1674 St. Lucia was made an official French crown colony and a dependency of Martinique.
The Brits didn’t give up for very long and over the next couple of hundred years, ownership of the island traded back and forth between the two countries 14 times. Finally in 1811 the British took full control of the island. In 1979 it gained its independence although it falls under the British monarchy and is a member of the Commonwealth.
The volcanic island itself is 27 X 14 miles so not big at all. It is part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles and is located northeast of Saint Vincent, northwest of Barbados, and south of Martinique. The Atlantic Ocean is on its eastern side and the Caribbean on the west. The population of 182,000 people is mostly of African descent. Their ancestors were brought here to work the sugarcane fields. The island has one city—Castries which is where we docked. The next largest place is Anse la Raye which is just down the coast from Castries. It was the first fishing village. There are five other towns on the island as well as a few fishing villages. Of course the official language is English but they speak their version of Creole. They even have a Bible translated into Creole.
We got our bus pass down in the lounge and then discovered that we were going straight on to a catamaran. I could have sworn we were suppose to do a bus ride first and THEN do the catamaran and ocean swim. Things change though so you always have to stay flexible. I brought stuff to change into to swim but wasn’t sure if it was worth all of the trouble or not. The catamaran was much larger than the one we snorkeled off of which was nice. We actually had a seat up top so we could see out and be comfortable. Although it was open, there was a covering so we were also out of the sun which was nice.
Although we weren’t scheduled to do the ride until this afternoon, it was nice bouncing through the water and seeing the view of the coast from the catamaran. Onboard we had a local guide who explained what we were seeing as we sailed by. Apparently St. Lucia is a big tourist area as they have several Sandals resorts here. Most resorts are on the north portion of the island but there are a few towards the Pitons which are on the west side of the island down towards the southern end.
We sailed passed Grand Cul de Sac Bay which is the 7th deepest harbor in the world. It is also a crude oil storage area. We could see huge oil containers from where we were in the water. They weren’t very scenic but this was the best location for them because the deep harbor allowed the tankers to get in there and offload the oil to them.
The coastline itself was dramatic and beautiful. Rocky cliffs topped with trees dove straight down into the water. Waves smashed upon the rocky cliffs. The turquoise of the water perfectly framed the meeting of sky, land, and water.
We made a small detour through a cute bay call Marigot Bay. It is a double-necked bay that is the most protected bay in The Caribbean. It has the largest mangrove swamp of any on the island. For me the most interesting thing about the bay was the fact that the original Dr. Doolittle movie was filmed here. I’ll have to find it somewhere and watch it again. It’s been a while since Sam and I watched it.
We tried one bay with a name which translates to the Bay of Pigs for swimming but the water was too rough. It wasn’t safe. By this time I had vetoed the idea of swimming. Maybe if we had done it according to schedule as the last thing of the excursion, I would have gone in. I didn’t want to spend the rest of the day wet or try to dry off and change in some tiny little bathroom on the catamaran.
We motored on down the coast and finally came to a calm stretch of water. The captain made the decision that this would be our swimming area. Frankly, I’m not sure I would have wanted to swim here. There was a whole slew of plastic bottles bobbing in the water. I had to wonder what other kind of trash was floating around in there as well. But that didn’t stop a good number of people from jumping in. They seemed to have a good time and enjoyed splashing around.
They had a good 30-40 minutes in the water before we raised anchor and continued down the coast to Soufrière which is a French town. The name translates to “sulfur in the air.” It was the first French settlement on the island. You also had great views of the Pitons from the seaside town.
I’ve mentioned the Pitons twice. They are two mountains that rear up 2000 ft in the air from the ocean. The peaks are roughly 150,000 years old and are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. “Superman 2” was filmed at the Pitons. These days they are the symbol of the island. You can’t come here without visiting the Pitons. We got to see them from the sea and from land. The sea view was the best. They very much reminded me of Hawaii.
Although we had a great view of them from the catamaran, my pictures didn’t turn out that great. The day had turned overcast so the mountains were dark. But still you can get an idea of how magnificent they are. Although it looks like they are right next to each other, their bases are separated by 2.5 miles. Each rocky peak is covered with rainforests that are home to the endangered St. Lucia parrot.
We got off the catamaran in Soufrière where we picked up our bus driver Chester and our guide Candida. We drove through the town on our way to the famous Botanical Gardens where we spent the next 45 minutes.
The Diamond Botanical Gardens, Mineral Baths, and Waterfalls is a portion of the 2,000 acres of land that King Louis XIV gave to three brothers by the name of Devaux in 1713. He gave them this land grant in recognition of their service to the crown. Nice gift! People say that as a child Napoleon’s wife Josephine bathed here in the baths while visiting her father’s plantation here.
In 1928 the owner of the estate and the baths excavated the site and restored two of the 12 original baths that had been destroyed during the French Revolution. The baths are fed by the original spring. In 1983 when the owner Mr. Boulay died, his daughter became the manager of the property and began restoring it and planting the gardens.
The gardens were beautiful. There was color everywhere from the hot pink cattails to red coffee beans to pink ginger and yellow bird of paradise. Short retaining walls were made around the plants using the husks of coconuts. I thought that was very resourceful. One of the most intriguing plants was the wax flower otherwise known as the red torch ginger. I also quite liked the shell ginger. Then there was the sexy pink heliconia as well as the red bee hive ginger.
Eventually we made our way to the tiny falls in the park. They run different colors depending on which mineral happens to be coloring the water on a particular day. Today the water was whitish because the water was filled with calcium. Doug had a little issue at the falls. He moved off of the path to get out of the way of some people and slipped. He caught himself with his hand on the ground so he never completely fell. However, Candida was concerned. He was perfectly fine but she insisted on filling out a report. I could understand her point of view. She wanted to cover herself. I don’t blame her. But he was perfectly fine, just irritated at all of the red tape caused by a little slip.
After the falls we saw banana trees with bunches of bananas. Each tree grows one bunch. On several of them you could see the large bloom hanging down from the bananas. We even saw a bird. Honestly, we haven’t seen many critters of any type. This bird was a thrush, I believe she said. It was small, black with orange beneath its head and a touch of red by its eyes. He was a pretty little thing. We also saw fish tail palms loaded with the “fish tail” blooms. They were neat to see.
We wrapped up our visit with a few minutes in the gift shop and then we boarded our bus for a trip to a plantation where we were having lunch and seeing a tiny replica of a Carib village. The plantation—Morne Coubaril Estate—has been in the Devaux family for more than two centuries. The family came to St. Lucia when sugarcane plantations in Martinique stopped doing so well. The planters came to St. Lucia because the land was mostly unoccupied and they began clearing it. Three brothers came and got a concession of land in the Soufriere Valley which was the most fertile part of the island. The land was eventually split between the three brothers and these days only this plantation remains in the family.
Originally it was a coffee plantation but then it gradually made the transition to sugarcane. Today they still grow coffee as well as cocoa. Since cocoa required shade, they grow amongst the cocoa plants mango, copra, and other fruits. They also have a good crop of banana and coconut. These days bananas have replaced sugarcane as the cash crop of the island.
Andre was our guide at the plantation. He took us first to the few huts that represented a Carib village. The tiny kitchen hut was built of bambo with fronds making up the roof. This style of construction allowed smoke to escape the building. The bar and cocoa house was a shingled affair. This is where the tribe would hold meetings and people would congregate. The bedroom building was a unique structure. The roof reminded me of a thatched roof while the sides had a duo style construction. The top portion was woven bamboo, some wood, and fronds making it relatively waterproof while the lower portion was faced with fronds over the woven bamboo. The interior was divided into two tiny rooms with the rear room the bedroom. A tiny table filled the front room. It was an interesting grouping of buildings.
From the Carib “village” we made our way to the mill where we got acquainted with Noel the donkey. It was Noel’s job to turn the grindstones. She got paid handsomely. She would make two circuits and then refuse to budge until she was “paid” with a couple of pieces of sugarcane. As we had walked to the mill, she had treated us to a “song of her people.” I do love hearing donkeys bray :-). This mill worked like all of the others we had seen on various trips. The one novelty was actually seeing the donkey move the grindstones. That was the best part for me. I know some in the group were feeling sorry for Noel. Somehow I don’t think she was overworked. She looked fat and sassy from all of the sugarcane she got paid. And she only had to turn the grindstones when tourists were there to watch.
From the mill we went to the coconut station. A young man was demonstrating how to peel the husk off of coconuts. He used a piece of rebar stuck in the ground to do it. It had to be back-breaking work. They had a huge pile of husks and shells off to the side that they kept and used as mulch. We learned that the unsprouted coconuts have the milk and the meat that we are use to. However, the sprouted coconuts have a unique texture to the meat. It is soft and spongy like a marshmallow. He opened one up and let us have a taste. We also sampled the milk and the unsprouted coconut meat.
We took a quick tour of the cocoa area of the plantation as well. The young man inside the building explained the drying process to us and then actually demonstrated the “polishing” of the cocoa beans. He poured a mixture of water and syrup from green cocoa pods and cocoa nuts into a huge pot. Then he shuffled his rubber-booted feet around the seeds. Now I know the beans still had the shells on but I wasn’t convinced I wanted to eat cocoa that had been schmooshed around with boots that had been walking around the building. It just didn’t strike me as sanitary. Of course, I have to laugh at myself when I think that polishing the beans barefoot is more sanitary!
On our way to the lunch area, we passed by the old plantation house. It wasn’t as fancy as I would have expected. It was two stories with a wrap-around porch on both levels. I would have loved to see the inside but that wasn’t on the tour. We also got a glimpse of the old truck that they use to haul people and produce in. I can’t remember how many hours Andre told us it took them to drive to Soufrieres in it. It was a melange of colors from blue to red, yellow, and green.
Lunch was tasty local dishes. We had choices of chicken, beef, and fish. I went with the chicken and a taste of the beef. We had some kind of coconut thing for dessert. Not being a fan of coconut, it wasn’t my favorite but I did give it a try. We also had the usual choices of rice, potato salad, regular salad, and pickled vegetables. It wasn’t fantastic but it was filling.
After one last pit stop at the toilets, we were back on the road. Our group was actually in one bus and a van. Poor Candida was trying to keep track of us all and people kept forgetting what vehicle they were riding in. We finally got everybody in the correct place and then began making our way towards the port of Castries. We were going part of the way in the two vehicle caravan and then we were meeting up with a bigger bus and the whole group was going the remainder of the way in it. Weird setup but what can I say.
Along the way we stopped for a scenic photo of Soufrieres with the Pitons in the background. It wasn’t quite as gloomy so the mountains showed up a bit better. However, the best view of them was from the water. Here we could only see a partial view. It was still a great though.
Candida shared with us as we drove that the national tree is the calabash. You can’t eat the fruit but you can dry it and make bowls out of it. Bamboo is the national plant. It grows like crazy. We saw bamboo everywhere.
Sour oranges are used here for making marmalade, just like in Portugal and Spain. They grow taro here as well which is a starchy root. In Hawaii they make poi out of taro. Golden apples are not edible when green, however, you make juice out of them then. When they are completely ripe, they are good for eating. They also have soursop here. We heard about it on a few of the other islands as well. It is a green, spiny plant that has white pulp on the interior. The meat from this fruit is thought to help slow down the growth of cancer cells.
The island has 119 species of fern. I really wasn’t surprised by that statistic. I saw ferns literally everywhere from tiny ones to huge tree ferns. The island gets between 150-160 inches of rainfall a year. The bulk of the water for the island comes from the Edmund Rainforest. That is also where the national bird—the Amazonia parrot—makes its home. That makes sense as their habitat is the rainforest canopy. This particular island is heavily Catholic. I believe she said that 60% of the population is Catholic. You can always tell if a plantation is catholic if it has a monument to the Virgin Mary. Morne Coubaril had one.
We switched over to Andrew and his larger (it wasn’t all that much larger) bus for the final leg back to the port. By then we were all getting tired. We had been going strong all day long. Riding on the bus was starting to put me to sleep but I hung in there. I learned that the St. Lucia flag is blue for the sea and sky, white for the European culture, black for African culture, and yellow for the sun. The two triangle shapes represent the Pitons.
We also learned a bit about bananas. You only get one group of bananas per plant. Before they ripen, the workers encase them in blue bags to slow down the ripening process as well as to protect them from insects and birds. After the bunch of bananas is harvested, the plant is chopped down. Two of the five sucker plants that have sprung up around the mother plant are left to grow. The other three are removed. I remember replanting some of them in Egypt. It takes a full 9-12 months to grow a bunch of bananas. The second largest plantation on the island is actually a cooperative of a bunch of small farmers. Altogether they have around 1600 trees.
Eventually we made it back to the dock and I dragged myself aboard the Marina. I was tired and my head was dangerously filled with an overload of information. It felt good to get back to the cabin and just relax for a while.
We had dinner at the Grand Dining Room and it was fine. To be honest, I’m beginning to get tired of the fancy sauces and presentations. It was all delicious but I can only eat so much fancy food. I’m just not use to such a rich diet at home.
The show tonight, however, was spectacular! I admit it, I like the big cruise ships for the shows :-). And tonight’s did not disappoint. The entertainer was singer Jesse Hamilton, Jr. who comes from a musical family. I believe one of his parents sings opera, the other one does something musical, his sister plays various musical instruments….He comes by his talent honestly. When he came out and sang his first number and held the last note forever and a day with no loss in volume, I was blown away. I knew it was going to be an amazing performance. Although the title of the show was “Generations of Soul” the songs weren’t necessarily soul music. They were just songs that had influenced him and his family over the years. He sang a little bit of everything. He was part singer, part comedian, and all entertainer. He has truly honed his craft and presented a great piece of entertainment. And I liked how he was a generous performer as well. He gave so much credit to the cruise band. It was nice to see. Of course he had to do a medley of songs from”The Lion King.” He had been Simba on Broadway. He had just gotten a part on “Ain’t Misbehavin’” when he got word that the show had closed. Such are the vicissitudes of musical theater.
Anyway, I thoroughly enjoyed his performance, loved the songs he sang, and enjoyed his stories about his family. I was just sorry when his hour had run out. I was bummed until John the cruise director announced that Jesse would perform one more time before the end of the cruise. Yea!!!!!
Back in the room, I got ready for bed and mentally counted down the four days we have left. Tomorrow we land on the island of Guadalupe. We have a very short day there with our second to last excursion. St. Kitts comes the day after, followed by two days at sea. After our full day today, I was ready for a more laid-back day on Guadalupe tomorrow.
Tales from the Trail 