Two hundred and eighteen miles from St. John's, Antigua is Castries, Saint Lucia.
We were docked their by 8:00 AM for our fourth island in four days. It had helped taking the four hour taxi guided tour in Antigua the day before. Friend Carol had been our trusted "tour guide" for the whole cruise, so I was completely surprised when she told me she was leaving Saint Lucia up to me. I usually am the "tour guide" when we travel and I must admit, I was enjoying passing the baton to someone else.
What I discovered was there wasn't much to see (or I should say - I wanted to see) on the island. Since we had enjoyed the taxi tour the day before, I suggested we look for a taxi tour when we got off the ship. Our friend April was tagging along with us that day and she was agreeable also. It doesn't take long when you disembark from the ship to find a taxi tour. You are bombarded by, usually men, who are offering taxi tours. We found one who would give us a 2 - hr tour for $30/person and paid the "company". (On Antigua, we didn't pay until we got back.)
Once again we had another fabulous driver/guide.
Peter was older and had lost his wife to kidney failure five years ago.
Because it was Sunday, businesses were closed. We drove by this church with its doors open...
I took this picture of this tree but I have forgotten its significance...
Saint Lucia (pronounced Lu-sha by Spanish and Lu-c-a by English) is really different from Antigua. It is so much "greener" because of all the rainfall it gets. The island is more mountainous due to volcanoes and the roads are narrow and wind up and down the mountains. I took a number of pictures as we climbed the mountains.
Saint Lucia is a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state, represented by a governor-general. This is the entrance to his home. "Beef", our driver on Antigua, told us that Prince Charles had been to Antigua recently to check on damage from the hurricane. Peter said he had not been to Saint Lucia because they didn't have any damage from the hurricane.
Morne Fortune...
A cashew tree...
A banana tree that they called a banana tree... (Antigua called them fig trees)
Crowded beach... (It was Sunday so I guess everyone was at the beach.)
Peter took us to the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, the only college on the island, which is located in vacated buildings (Old British Army Barracks, etc) on Morne Fortune, but I didn't take any pictures there. Quite impressive though.
We had to be back on the ship by 3:30 as we were leaving at 4 and taking a cruise - by the Pitons - twin volcanic peaks that are the symbols of Saint Lucia.
As we were leaving port, it was fun watching the rain showers move across the island...
The Pitons in the distance...
A double rainbow on one end. The main rainbow looks like it lands on the sailboat...
As the ship moved so did the rainbow...
We actually show the complete rainbow...both ends. I took a video of it with my phone but can't show it here.
I didn't take as many picture on Saint Lucia but it was very interesting traveling the "back" roads and seeing the countryside. We were also a little tired after visiting four islands in four days. I think we were all looking forward to a day-at-sea on our way to Willemstad, Curacao.
One more picture before I close...
We were docked their by 8:00 AM for our fourth island in four days. It had helped taking the four hour taxi guided tour in Antigua the day before. Friend Carol had been our trusted "tour guide" for the whole cruise, so I was completely surprised when she told me she was leaving Saint Lucia up to me. I usually am the "tour guide" when we travel and I must admit, I was enjoying passing the baton to someone else.
What I discovered was there wasn't much to see (or I should say - I wanted to see) on the island. Since we had enjoyed the taxi tour the day before, I suggested we look for a taxi tour when we got off the ship. Our friend April was tagging along with us that day and she was agreeable also. It doesn't take long when you disembark from the ship to find a taxi tour. You are bombarded by, usually men, who are offering taxi tours. We found one who would give us a 2 - hr tour for $30/person and paid the "company". (On Antigua, we didn't pay until we got back.)
Once again we had another fabulous driver/guide.
Because it was Sunday, businesses were closed. We drove by this church with its doors open...
I took this picture of this tree but I have forgotten its significance...
Saint Lucia (pronounced Lu-sha by Spanish and Lu-c-a by English) is really different from Antigua. It is so much "greener" because of all the rainfall it gets. The island is more mountainous due to volcanoes and the roads are narrow and wind up and down the mountains. I took a number of pictures as we climbed the mountains.
Saint Lucia is a constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II as the head of state, represented by a governor-general. This is the entrance to his home. "Beef", our driver on Antigua, told us that Prince Charles had been to Antigua recently to check on damage from the hurricane. Peter said he had not been to Saint Lucia because they didn't have any damage from the hurricane.
Morne Fortune...
A cashew tree...
A banana tree that they called a banana tree... (Antigua called them fig trees)
Crowded beach... (It was Sunday so I guess everyone was at the beach.)
Peter took us to the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College, the only college on the island, which is located in vacated buildings (Old British Army Barracks, etc) on Morne Fortune, but I didn't take any pictures there. Quite impressive though.
We had to be back on the ship by 3:30 as we were leaving at 4 and taking a cruise - by the Pitons - twin volcanic peaks that are the symbols of Saint Lucia.
As we were leaving port, it was fun watching the rain showers move across the island...
The Pitons in the distance...
A double rainbow on one end. The main rainbow looks like it lands on the sailboat...
As the ship moved so did the rainbow...
We actually show the complete rainbow...both ends. I took a video of it with my phone but can't show it here.
I didn't take as many picture on Saint Lucia but it was very interesting traveling the "back" roads and seeing the countryside. We were also a little tired after visiting four islands in four days. I think we were all looking forward to a day-at-sea on our way to Willemstad, Curacao.
One more picture before I close...
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