Beautiful St Lucia

9 March 2015

We arrived in beautiful St Lucia this morning, which Jean and I have declared our favourite island so far.  In fact, St Lucia was voted among the top 10 honeymoon destinations worldwide.  My first impression too was that St Lucia is like Grenada for its hills along the shore line.

We joined a tour group, and explored the island, passing through towns like Marigot and Canaries (pronounced 'can-o-wee').  We stopped in the fishing town of Anse la Raye, where they had a market, and I bought a nice polo shirt.

We stopped at a viewpoint, and photographed the famous Pitons, two almost twin mountains, three miles apart, which are St Lucia's national landmark.  One is 798 metres high, the other 750 metres.

We stopped at the Diamond Botanical Gardens.  Our guide pointed out many of the plants and fruits grown here.  These include crotons, soursop, Swiss cheese rhododendrons, ginger lilly, yam, taro, christophine (choko), breadnut, turmeric, papaya, grapefruit, oranges, coconuts, and sexy pink (a heliconia native to Brazil and Guyana).

Before returning to Castries and our ship, we visited St Lucia's dormant volcano and the town of Soufriere, which sits within the caldera.

The capital, Castries

Castries, St Lucia

Our cruise ship in port at Castries

The Governor-General's residence (a lady).  St Lucia is an independent, sovereign state, but still acknowledges the Queen as its Head of State.

The fishing town of Anse La Raye

These mountains are called the Pitons, are St Lucia's national landmark, and are featured in the design of the national flag.  

Our guide for today, Amelia, shows the cocoa plant, which features throughout the Caribbean.

The yellow hibiscus

Looks like a Waratah.

Ginger Lilly and flower

A kind of heliconia

The gwi gwi palm and its needles

Swiss cheese rhododendrons

Something interesting...

This picture shows a rocky moonscape of pits and open craters.  St Lucia is a few hundred thousand years older than Barbados, but, unlike the latter, is volcanic.  We stood in the caldera of this steaming, dormant Mt Soufriere volcano (last erupted 1766).  The caldera, which is a collapsed volcano, is huge.  Even the nearby town of Soufriere is inside the caldera.  Mt Soufriere is the only 'walk up volcano' in the world.