CRUISE 2013 - DAY 5 - ST LUCIA

There are two cruise ship docks in Castries and when we woke up on Day 5, we realized that the ship was berthed at La Place Carenage instead of at Pointe Seraphine where we have always been docked on previous stops on St. Lucia.  Fortunately, they are just across the bay from each other.  We were hoping that our tour guide, Herod, would be aware of the change and meet us at the right spot.  We figured that most locals know Herod anyway so we could always ask someone to give him a call.

Valor at the pier in Castries

We grabbed a quick breakfast and made our way off the ship to meet Herod at 8:45am.  As is the norm, once we got through the shops that they send you through to get out onto the street, there was a crowd of people hollering and offering tours.  We asked the first guy we came to if he knew where Herod was and he immediately pointed us to right outside the door where we spotted Herod’s wave and smiling face. 

We have toured with Herod several times and he has always been so accommodating.  We had been trying to arrange for a Land & Sea Tour with him but he needs a minimum number of people to run that tour and did not have enough.  He told us, when we were emailing him, that we shouldn’t worry.  He would take care of things and make sure that we got to do exactly what we wanted once we got there.  He had arranged with a friend who was running a tour out of one of the Sandals resorts that we could hop in the boat with their crew and they would take us down the coast to Soufriere, where most of the best sights and experiences on the island are found.  Herod would pick us up in Soufriere and do whatever we wanted to do or see.

Our trip down the coast was beautiful.  It was already very warm at that time of the morning and the boat would stop periodically so the guide could point out some sights from the water.  We got to go right into Marigot Bay, which we had only ever seen from a lookout above the bay on our previous land tours. 

Marigot Bay

We saw spots where they filmed Dr. Doolittle and some Pirates of the Caribbean scenes.  We went through a small tunnel in a rocky outcropping that was used in a scene from the movie.  These water taxi guys sure have to know how to maneuver the boats as there is a lot of current and waves going through the tunnel. 

We went directly to Sugar Beach, an upscale resort located between the Pitons, the volcanic mountains that are St. Lucia’s claim to fame.  They dropped us off on the small dock and pulled out snorkel equipment for anyone who wanted to snorkel.  Dave wasn’t up to it but I grabbed some gear and headed into the water at the base of Petit Piton.  There are tons of tropical fish and lots of coral to be seen, even though it looks like nothing exciting above the water.  Unfortunately, there were a lot of little small jellyfish around that day.  Some were very hard to see until you came into contact with them, then ZAP!!  It wasn’t extremely painful but after two or three zings, I decided to head back in.  We had some beach time and then got back in the boat to go to Soufriere where Herod picked us up.

Snorkel area at Sugar Beach

Sugar Beach Resort

Our next stop was the drive-in volcano.  Since we had seen the volcano tour on prior visits, Herod took us straight to the volcanic mud baths down the hill.  You are supposed to immerse yourself in the hot (and I do mean HOT) mineral pool first but the day we were there, the temperature of the pool was 105F and I stepped in up to my ankles and jumped right out.  Herod said that you can get dehydrated in that temperature within a very short period of time.  We went right to the buckets that contained the mud and smeared the mud all over ourselves and then went to sit in the sun until the mud dried out.  Then we scooped up water from the mineral pool and got the worst of the mud off and hit the open-air showers to rinse the rest off.  When you are done, your skin feels so soft and smooth, like a baby’s skin!

We headed back to the car and our next stop was a local restaurant called Martha’s Tables, where we stopped for lunch.  Absolutely delicious local cuisine.  I had mahi mahi done in butter and garlic and Dave had a Creole Chicken dish that was so tender the meat was falling off the bones.  There was also saffron rice and beans with small dumplings, steamed veggies, sweet potato, a starchy root vegetable that is common to the islands, homemade mac and cheese and an eggplant stew that looked like a green chutney and was very tasty.  We met some people that came over from the Sugar Beach resort and chatted with them for a bit before we continued on with the tour.

The next stop was Dave’s favorite spot on the island….the warm waterfall aka The Fountain of Youth.  They say you leave looking and feeling 20 years younger : - )  It was quite crowded when we arrived but everyone left within about 15 minutes and we had the entire place, both waterfall and soaking pool, to ourselves for over a half hour until a couple from Melbourne, Australia joined us.  It is fun to meet people from all over and pick their brains about their weather and culture.

We headed back to the pier to catch the water taxi back to Castries but had to wait quite awhile.  Herod was on his phone chattering away in Creole and I figured he was trying to hurry the boat along as our all-aboard was at 4:30pm.  Eventually, we heard him say “Mango” during a conversation and when he hung up, I asked him if Mango was on the way.  We had Mango as our water taxi captain a few years prior and he was very charismatic and we always remembered him.  Herod said that the other boat was still on its way and he wasn’t making us wait any longer and since Mango was just heading back to Castries with a group, he got him to turn around and come back and get us.

We had a pretty wild ride back to the ship because time was of the essence and speed and waves makes for some rocky slams and bumps.  We made it back with five minutes to spare before all aboard.  We were very sore when we got off the boat and knew we would pay for that ride the next day.  The ship didn’t actually leave until 5pm, but we don’t like to cut things that close.

We didn’t have much time to get ready for Formal Night #2.  I just wanted to lay down and sleep.  I had a Greek dish called Spanakopita (Greek pie with spinach, feta and stewed tomato) for supper.  It was delicious!!  Another pro of cruising is that you can try new and different dishes without wasting money.  If you don’t like it, you just ask for something else and they bring you another option.

We were so tired from our day…the fresh air, the hot mineral pool, the boat ride.  We spent the evening in our cabin watching TV and trying to keep our eyes open until a reasonable time to go to sleep.  We can thank Herod for another wonderful day on St. Lucia and for tailoring our tour to exactly what we wanted.  If you are ever interested in a great tour guide, email him at herodtours@gmail.com or check out his website at  http://www.herodstours.com/  .  He is in the process of revamping his website as emails sent from the site are not getting through to him so I would avoid using the contact form until things get fixed up.

Cruise 2011 - Day 5 ST. LUCIA

The Carnival Victory docked in Castries, St. Lucia

None of us could be slug-a-beds on this morning. We were all up around 8am, had breakfast in the Mediterranean Buffet and got off the ship to meet our favorite tour guide, Herod, for his Land & Sea tour at 9:15am. The very first time we visited St. Lucia was with Trent & Rebecca in 2004 and we just grabbed a cab to Reduit Beach and thought that the island was nice…but nothing spectacular. The next visit, I had actually done more research and came across a tour guide named Herod Stanislas so we decided to do an island tour with him. Well, that was about five years ago and we have stopped on St. Lucia every year since then and have done a tour with Herod every year!! He showed us the sights that make St. Lucia so memorable and we rave about him to anyone who may be planning a visit to St. Lucia. We usually take a private land tour with Herod but this time we decided to take his Land & Sea tour.

Hurricane Tomas hit St. Lucia in October of 2010 and caused significant damage to homes, roads, etc. on the island. The island received over 23 inches of rain in a 24 hour period and there were some landslides that blocked off some main roads for several days and resulted in the deaths of several residents of the island. We were glad when we met up with Herod as he had a good-sized group of 21 people for the tour and he said that things were starting to get back to normal on the island and with his business.

One of the larger landslide areas

Herod had rented a large van for the day so he could fit everyone in.

We all climbed aboard and our driver, Charles, drove us through the morning traffic of the port city and capital, Castries. Our destination was the town of Soufrière (Herod’s hometown) nearer to the south end of the island. The roads down the coast are incredibly twisty. They have to replace their brakes and tires every three months due to the wear and tear!!! The trip down the coast went slowly as we stopped in several spots to see the sights.

The interior of the island is uninhabited and a protected rainforest

We stopped in a valley where there were 400 acres of bananas that are exported to the U.K. The land is owned by over 100 families. We ate some fresh bananas and, let me tell you, there is nothing like a banana eaten right where it is grown!! They are so sweet and flavorful. According to Herod, the bananas that we eat get shipped while they are green and when they get to their destination, they are gassed and sprayed to ripen them.

Herod giving us some information about the banana plantation



We also stopped at an overlook above Marigot Bay, one of the resort areas on the island.


The view from above Marigot Bay

There was a small tourist stop there so we had a bit of a breather out of the van. Dave quizzed Herod about the hurricane damage on the island and we discovered that my absolute favorite spot to go to, the warm waterfall (aka Fountain of Youth), had received damage in a landslide and was not open for business. Total bummer! I told Herod how disappointed I was because I was really looking forward to it and he said that he thought he could line up another option for us, if we wanted.   We got back on the bus and continued down the coast with stops at a few overlooks for some photos, a local bakery where Herod got everyone some Creole Butter Bread (yum!) and a spot where a guy had a ‘baby’ boa constrictor that he let the tourists put around their necks and take photos…for a small fee. 

The world-famous Pitons near Soufrière, St. Lucia

We finally made it to Soufrière around noon. Our first major stop was at the ‘drive-in’ volcano.

There was landslide damage to part of the road so you couldn’t actually drive in as far as you could last year. The volcano is not active but it does have boiling black water in the caldera. While the rest of the group took a tour of the volcano area, Charles took us down the hill to the mud bath that Herod had lined up to replace the warm waterfall. Dave, Trent, Rebecca and I all got into a very hot pool of black water that is full of minerals and sulfur from the volcanic content of the soil. The next step was to smear ourselves with the volcanic mud, dry in the sun and then return to the pool to wash off the mud. It was one of the highlights of the trip, I must say! One of the guides gave us some gray mud instead of the black stuff everyone else was putting on out of a pail. He said this was “the good stuff”. It was very dense and gritty so you got an exfoliating treatment as well as a mud wrap : - ) We could not believe how soft our skin felt when we got out…just like a baby’s.


The mud and mineral bath

Herod had sent another driver back to get us so we hopped in with him and headed to Herod’s parent’s home just outside Soufrière where his Mom had been cooking since 5am to prepare a St. Lucian meal for the group. Man…she is a good cook! She had so many different dishes and by the time you took a bit of everything, your plate was full. There was stewed chicken in tomatoes, saffron rice and beans, fried kingfish, fried plantains (like hard bananas), taro (a starchy root that they cook up and eat), green sweet potatoes, fish cakes and some other dishes that I can’t remember now. Herod also served us a local grapefruit drink.


Some of the delicious St. Lucian cuisine prepared by Herod's Mom.

After lunch, Herod took us down to Soufrière Harbour to take a speedboat over to Jalousie Beach, which is located between the world-famous Pitons.

We were running behind schedule so we only had about a half hour on the beach. We usually snorkel at this spot because the coral and fish are incredible however, we didn’t want to get all wet and ride back to Castries in wet clothing. We found a shady spot on the beach and just relaxed…well, the guys relaxed. Rebecca and I walked the beach and I took photos like a mad woman : - )  All of the beaches on St. Lucia are rocky with black sand but many resorts will haul in white sand because that appeals best to tourists!  Our boat driver told us that Jalousie brings in sand from Trinidad at a cost of $300,000 a year.  I don't have independent confirmation on that figure but I imagine it does cost a pretty penny...or two!!

Jalousie Beach

It was over too quickly and we boarded the boats for our return trip to Castries. This was the reason that we took the Land & Sea Tour...so we could go back by boat instead of by van on the twisty roads. A lot of people tend to get motion sickness on the return trip because you don’t stop turning for about an hour.


The view of the Pitons from the water

The swells were quite high on the way back so we had a wild ride but it was lots of fun to see some sights from the water. Herod showed us Jade Mountain Resort which is the most expensive place on the island. A room runs about $1,200 per night…whew! A new company bought the Jalousie Plantation and are in the process of renovating a lot of the villas. I have heard that they will call it Sugar Beach Plantation but that could change. Once it is complete, the new resort will likely be the most pricey spot.

We pulled up to the dock, not far from the Victory, around 4:20pm. We made it in time for the all-aboard call at 4:30pm. Herod is always aware of the time and has never made us late for all aboard. We didn’t even worry about being late!!

We had just enough time for a (very) short nap and a shower to get ready for our second formal night and supper at 6:00pm.

Supper was Cream of Broccoli Soup, a green bean, tomato and mixed green salad, Chateaubriand with Bernaise Sauce and Baked Alaska for dessert. We made a tour of the ship and checked out some of the activities going on and headed to bed in good time.

It was an action-packed and totally memorable day on the gorgeous island of St. Lucia!  If you would like more details on what is available on St. Lucia, please check out my St. Lucia blog posting on this blog under 2010 posts.