Home for today is the Island of Saint Lucia, part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles north of yesterday’s stop in Bequia. To contrast with Bequia which was 7 square miles, St. Lucia is 238. Castries located on the west coast is the capital and major port town, and is where most of the cruise ships anchor.
However, our stop today is more specifically, Pigeon Island, a small island (44 acre national reserve) on the north end of St. Lucia that has been joined to the main island by a causeway built in 1972 by Sandals Resorts to allow for the development of their property. A previous notorious visitor to Pigeon Island, pirate, Francois le Clerc, (known as Jambe de Bois (Peg leg) by the French and Pata de Palo by the Spanish, due to his wooden leg), camped here in the 1500s to strike out at passing Spanish ships.
Saint Lucia literally stands out for its two tall and narrow mountains on the south west coast called the Pitons designated as a World Heritage Site. One of the excursions is a catamaran trip down to see them but it was a 4 hour tour and I figured I’d be fried by the time I got back! So sorry, no pictures of them. The topography of Saint Lucia is again hilly, with green interior rainforests and beaches dotted around, some volcanic. English and St. Lucian Creole are spoken among the approximately 185,000 inhabitants. Interestingly, Saint Lucia (or Saint Lucie) is the only country nation to be named after a woman. They have a similar government structure to Canada, put in place in 1924. They are part of the Commonwealth, with a Governor General and a Parliament consisting of a elected House of Assembly of 17 members and a Senate of 11 appointed members.
The first inhabitants, like many of the islands, were the Arawaks, likely settled here around 200-400 AD. The French first settled the island in 1660, and then, also like many of the islands, the French and the British proceeded to fight over it for 150 years. Eventually the British won out in 1663. Remnants of those days is Fort Rodney at the peak of the highest point on Pigeon Island. Some of my fellow passengers hiked up to the fort this morning, but I declined to join as I don’t have appropriate hiking shoes with me. (Great excuse, eh).
St Lucia’s main economic drivers are tourism (65%) and offshore banking. Agriculture and specifically banana exports were more significant previously. St. Lucia seems to have avoided most of the most damaging hurricanes although Hurricane Tomas in 2010 caused some damage. The economy had recovered before the pandemic, and they had been able to attract foreign investment. They actually have a manufacturing sector in chemicals, clothing, and plastics among other things.
Today I chose not to do any excursions. I decided to have a break from the action and just chill. After breakfast I sat in the shade on the top deck of the ship, reading, writing this blog and enjoying the view. And watching the two Windstar tenders going back and forth to the beach pier. The fabulous crew on the Windstar worked feverishly as soon as we moored early this morning to prepare the site for our Beach BBQ. Hundreds of beach lounges, towels umbrellas, the food, tents, stuff to set up the food and bar, the water toys (kayaks, SUP, floating mats, trampoline, etc.
I went over around 11 am, chose my chair and parked myself with my book, and a crossword puzzle book. Drinks were delivered, the steel band played and I was a happy camper. In due course lunch was served under a big tent on a hill where the breeze kept us lovely and cool. I went in for a swim multiple times and the water was cool enough to be refreshing but one got used to it very quickly. I spent another two hours on the beach and then came back to the boat to get the salt water rinsed off.
In no time at all, the beach looked like we’d never even been there. Everything was stowed back on the ship and we’ll soon be off on our next island adventure. Not before the water toys were towed back to the swimming platform to be stowed til next time.
I’m invited to another reception tonight for passengers continuing on to next week’s cruise and think I’ll have dinner at the outdoor grill. In any case, I’ll sign off now, earlier than usual because there’s not much left on which to report. Other than to say, it was an amazing day in St. Lucia.
Lois' Adventures 