On my Windstar cruise last year, we visited the north of Saint Lucia at Pigeon Island National Park for our beach party. We will see Saint Lucia again on this cruise but our stop today is at Soufriere on the west coast.

Saint Lucia is 27 miles long and 14 miles across, and is very hilly, and the centre of the island is what we would refer to as jungle. That 27 miles can take up to an hour and a half to drive though because the road is so windy. Its landmark Piton mountain range, with its iconic twin peaks is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The two volcanic peaks, Gros Piton and Petit Piton, stand 2600 and 2400 ft respectively, above the sea. St Lucia’s capital city founded in 1650 by the French is Castries where about 1/3 of the 180,000 people of the island live. It was named “Carenage” by the French which means “Safe anchorage”.

Caribs, who had taken over the island from the Arawaks called Saint Lucia “Island of the Iquanas”. Saint Lucia is one of those islands that changed hands many times, mostly between the French and the English who eventually took control over. Saint Lucia gained its independence from Britain in 1979.

Here again, sugar cane was cultivated with the use of West African slaves, and it remains a crop today. By the time slavery was abolished in 1834, there were more than 13,000 black slaves, around 2,500 free black people and around 2,300 white people living on the island. Bananas were added to the mix in the 1960s however, tourism has outpaced agriculture as the principal economic driver.

Fun Facts:

⁃ There are approximately 21 rum distilleries in the Roseau Valley, a hot tourist destination.

⁃ St Lucia has had its history of pirates and it’s believed that the famous Blackbeard used Vieux Fort in the south of Saint Lucia as a spot to stash his spoils.

⁃ And yes, Saint Lucia has had its own share of movies filmed here as, well, it’s so picturesque. Romancing the Stone, Superman II, and Dr. Doolittle are among them.

⁃ Hurricanes have hit Saint Lucia over a dozen times since 1800s but none have been that severe. Sourfriere did have some damage in 2010.

⁃ Vudou is still used and respected on the island.

⁃ Visitors enjoy natural hot pools and mud springs produced by it’s volcanic geography – Soufriere in French means sulphur mine in English

⁃ Saint Lucia stands out as the only country in the world named after a woman!

⁃ Saint Lucia is a member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OES), La Francophonie and the British Commonweath.

⁃ From a sports perspective, besides the ever present cricket, the annual Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) race begins in the Canary Islands off Spain and ends in Saint Lucia.

We didn’t have an excursion planned for today, so three of us walked into the town of Soufriere, to get our steps in and to see what we could see. After running the gamut of very polite locals wanting to taxi us to their favourite island spots, or sell us their wares we walked through the commercial area into the town square in front of the church. We then headed into some residential neighbourhoods to see the brightly painted homes.

We soon found ourselves at a main road, and saw a sign pointed to Diamond Falls Botanical Gardens & Mineral Baths. A local woman kindly told us it was only a 5 minute walk and so we ventured out along a shady one lane road leading through the very dense jungle. It was about 10 minutes but we did come to the botanical gardens and for a bargain price of $US 7 we were in and on our way. It was the most gorgeous wild-ish garden laid out in various walkways with some hard landscaping among the beautiful natural growth and planted areas.

We came to a covered building selling snacks and souvenirs and to the side was a line of small cement mineral baths being enjoyed by many. Apparently this was a famous spot for Napoleon’s wife Josephine to come to bathe. We carried on along the pathway to the falls which spilled over rocks coloured beautifully by the minerals in the water. A definite Kodak moment. It was a surprise happy place – a cool, and lovely way to spend our time in Soufriere.

Back on ship, the afternoon was spent enjoying the breeze on the top deck, reading, talking and working on one’s blog. Trivia is the name of the game in late afternoon and today our team did much better than yesterday but still didn’t win. I’m proud I was able to supply the name of the inventor of the code made up of dots and dashes, Morse’s first name.

We left port at approximately 4 pm today and Captain Mark took our Star Pride right along the coast line of the Gros and Petit Pitons, truly a majestic sight. He even did a 360 while centred between the two before heading off to our next stop. By the way, Captain Mark also announced just before 6 pm that there was going to be a lovely sunset this evening, and he would be turning the ship so that the sunset could be easily viewed from the port side. How cool is that.

This evening, we are dining at one of the two specialty restaurants on the Star Pride, Cuadro 44, which has a Spanish inspired menu including one of my most very favourite treats in the world, churros, served with a delectable chocolate sauce that I swear has chilli in it for a bit of a bite. Very excited for that experience.

By the way, if you read yesterday’s blog you’ll know I had trouble getting a picture from a fellow traveller, and now I have it but it won’t upload. So maybe it wasn’t meant to be!