St. Lucia

Our morning started off the polar opposite of yesterday.  We set the alarm.  Check to make sure it's set AND on.  What we DIDN'T factor in was that for just a brief moment my phone somehow went out of airplane mode, allowing for the time to be current as to ship time (we moved forward an hour our last day at sea or so).  So.... we were up and at the Windjammer for breakfast before the doors even opened!  I swear we will get this right.

So today we booked a tour of the island called The Island's Delights.  It was wonderful.  We had large van full of folks and a wonderful tour guide and driver and we went all over the island.  We saw many gorgeous views of Marigot Bay.  

She pointed out the home of the current governor (not sure that is what she called him) of the island along the way.

We learned a lot about bananas, a prime crop of St. Lucia.  Here are baby bananas.

A bit further up the mountain there was an opportunity to view the beautiful bay again.

Panning the camera to the right if you wanted wine with a view there was this.

We visited a little fishing village with vendors and views.  Here's Bill doing what he loves to do.

Matter of fact the head waiter from the ship was on our excursion and he was a photographer type too.  They bonded and it increased Bill's fun on the excursion to share shots and info with him.

We continued on to our next destination - lunch spot with a view of the Pitons.  

Lunch was very good - local food.  Chicken, rice and beans, a dish of sweet potatoes and yucca, and a really good potato salad made with green bananas instead of potatoes!  The view was wonderful, food was great, but the restrooms left a lot to be desired.  But they DID have these lovely faucets!

Note I did NOT turn the camera to the stalls themselves.  You're welcome!

Next it was off to Sulpher Springs - a park that is volcanic in nature.  As we walked to the steam vents we saw a pretty waterfall.  The water at the top was cool runoff from the mountain.  The middle part began being heated and the final part was about 212 degrees from the thermal heat.  

Then on to the boiling mud pots.  The smell of sulphur was strong - so strong they said there were no snakes here because I guess snakes don't like the smell?  People can take mineral baths and then slather themselves with this mud and then when it dries and cakes they wash it off.  It's supposed to be very good for you.  I didn't book that excursion!

Next on to a working 17th century plantation - Morne Coubaril Estate.  There were beautiful flowers here.  

They also process cocoa beans here.  Our guide cut open a cocoa bud and let us taste the raw beans which are covered with a kind of slimy but sweetish coating.  We were warned not to bite into the raw bean. 

They demonstrated the crushing of the beans by donkey power.

This was a representation of a van that used to carry goods to market.

And more gorgeous views!

We were absolutely exhausted but happy after we returned to the ship.  We broke our normal pattern and went to the buffet for dinner, which was good enough and we didn't have to change out of our shorts and T's.  Then I hit the casino slots until I lost the $20 I put in.  That took only about 10 minutes.  And we then closed the book on another day in paradise!