Since we arrived in St. Lucia a couple of weeks ago, we have all been having fun exploring the island (after school, of course).
From Marigot Bay, we visited two fishing villages, Anse La Ray, and Canaries. We learned that most of their fishing skiffs are made with wood from the local rain forest and that the majority of the fish they catch is sold to local restaurants and resorts. We had great views of the Ocean and the Pitons on our drive along the coast.
We also visited Diamond Falls and the Botanical Gardens. Our guide there was nick-named “Alexander the Great.” He told us about all of the plants and trees in the gardens. Most of the plants we saw only grow in tropical climates so we don’t see them growing in the United States. Alex the Great also made me a grass hopper. Literally a “grass hopper” made from local palm fronds.
Alex also took us to this awesome waterfall that was approximately twenty-five (25) meters tall. The water from the waterfall is different colors every day depending on which minerals are flowing through the water. After the waterfall he showed us a river with water from an underground spring heated by the volcano. It was very hot and super cool!
Another cool place we visited was a drive in volcano and sulphur springs in Soufriere. The sulphur smelled like rotten eggs. Our guide at the volcano told us there has not been a major eruption in forty thousand (40,000) years. He also told us that once another guide was showing tourists how below the ground there was hot boiling water. He jumped down below so they could hear the ground crack. He cracked the ground open and fell into a hole of hot water. He was OK, but after that they put up railings.
This past week we left Marigot Bay and cruised north to Rodney Bay. We pulled into the channel right behind former Apple CEO Steve Jobs’s Mega Yacht “Venus.” It is 78.2 meters (235′) long and is an unusual looking boat. It looks like, if you looked at it from up above, an iphone resting on top of an ipad, in an ipad box.
We are currently at he IGY marina in Rodney Bay. It is a great spot and has everything a boater would want or need. This includes a marine chandlery, floating docks, 50 and 60 Hz power, restaurants, a pool, and two malls and a bulk provisioning store nearby. There is also a great big field where a lot of kids come to play soccer. Yesterday we played in a soccer match at a nearby school.
St. Lucia has been a lot of fun and I hope we can come back someday!