Oceana to Caribbean 2014 - St Lucia

Tuesday 14 Jan – St Lucia

26°C

E Force 3

We had booked on Spencer Ambrose’s Land & Sea Tour leaving at 8.30 so were up early to watch us dock. Right behind us were Celebrity Summit and Silver Spirit.

We berthed on the other side of the dock from where I did on Oriana in 2012 last year. We walked out through the duty free shops to see a girl holding a sign saying Spencer as promised. We were taken through a craft market area just being set up, to await a water taxi to take us over to where Celebrity Summit was and our two tour companions – Pat and Bill from Oklahoma.  Here was my first inkling of a potential problem – getting on and off small boats! Told to just step on and hold the drivers hand! It wasn’t too difficult or scary! Over on the other side, having had to step up on the seats to get off and onto the jetty, we were introduced to our guide David and taken out to the silver people carrier for our land part of the tour.
 
We set off through Castries, seeing a 450 old yew of “Massav” tree in Derek Walcott Square. The opposite side was the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. Then we set off up through the mountainous roads and rain forest. As we climbed the rain began which somewhat obscured the views but it was still an interesting drive up to the Morne Fortune Overlook. 

Carrying on along the coast past banana plantations, we drove through the quaint fishing villages of Anse La Raye and Canaries. The latter was the fishing village where the heavy rain on Christmas Eve had destroyed a bridge and flooded homes.

Bailey bridge over river

Landslides

We then drove through Soufriere to the drive-in volcano with steam and sulphur gases rising from the rock and water boiling in pools and then to the Toraille Waterfall dropping 50 feet down to a small pool where people were bathing.

Lunch was at a tiny roadside restaurant where a buffet was laid out with jerk chicken and various salads, washing down with Piton beer.

Then we drove back down to Soufriere to board a boat to take us to Jalousie beach where we had an hour or more to enjoy the white sand, sun and turquoise water. Getting in the boat was a major struggle, as was getting out again – requiring to men pulling me up and one pushing from behind - not an elegant look but it worked!!

On the beach were some sunbeds for Spencer's Tour people as well as free drinks - the rum punch was good –and strong. An hour and a half later a motor boat came to pick us up – another nightmare to board but so worth it for the ride back at speed!

Home of thousands of Fishermen bats

Fisherman stopped to show us his catch of flying fish

Marigot Bay

We cruised around the base of the Petit Piton, to the Bat Cave, home to thousands of "Fisherman Bats" , then to Marigot Bay, one of the most beautiful bays in the Caribbean! Marigot Bay is also a safe harbour during hurricanes and was the location of the 1966 movie Dr. Doolittle staring Rex Harrison. Overlooking Marigot Bay were homes from celebrities such as Mick Jagger and Sophia Loren.  Just before arriving in Castries, we stopped at the Natural Bridge featured in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean.  This unique rock formation is also known as the "tunnel of love" or the "lady's slipper."

 

Then back to Castries. We dropped off the people from Celebrity Summit and the boat took Caryll and I back to the main port beside Oceana. We each got a hug from Spencer as we disembarked and then headed into the duty free terminal as usual to browse the (mainly) jewellery shops, but we also had a beer in a café with a first floor terrace overlooking the port - for the free WiFi of course!

Back on the ship we just had time (it was then nearly 6pm – back on board time) to dump stuff and get on deck for sailaway. Summit had already left but Silver Spirit was just leaving. After a shower and changing it was time for dinner after which I headed for bed – it was a great day.