Snorkeling the St Lucian Caribbean

Day 4 was a rainy day from the stat. Passing showers made it almost impossible to plan any meaningful outdoor activity--so we decided to go snorkeling.

We rented a water taxi and headed off to a small cove (anse) just outside Marigot Bay.

And so a short 15 minute sail later and we were ready for an adventure. It was fun--the highlight of the trip was seeing a spotted eel swimming--but it was too fast for my camera.


The abundance of different corals-soft and hard are beautiful to look at and as always, not touch.

All told, we had a good hour and fifteen minutes of snorkeling and enjoyed a couple of rain showers. The really nice part was the boat entry into the water and subsequent exit made for a no sand experience.

The images from my camera need some color balancing so most of them aren't that good, yet. But this little guy was a lot of fun to look at and to enjoy.


And what else is there to say, but another day in paradise?

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Interesting question from the trip so far

What common food item is this?



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Location:Marigot Bay, St Lucia

The road, the village, the volcano and some rum for good measure

Today was immersion into St Lucia. We experienced life in two fishing villages, visited the former capitol of Soufriere, walked into a volcano and smelled the H2S (Hydrogen sulfide) and saw the super heated steam, visited a botanical garden, and arrived back at our villa hot sweaty, and ready to fall into the pool for some refreshment.


Where to begin--ok the roads. The roads are dangerous and I am glad we hired a driver. the roads are narrow, pot-holed, mountainous, and washed out in some places by the hurricane last year. I'm not sure I could even have navigated using the maps.

This image is of the Pitons--the national landmark of St Lucia. We had lunch in a restaurant right between them and the volcano is just to the left.


The volcano was dormant but had hot spots which are national treasures. We could smell the gas coming from the earth. It gave new meaning to the phrase my Dad always uses about hell, fire, and brimstone.


I had thought we might be able to get closer to the hot spots, but they had us restrained a safe distance away. This photo actually is of the mud being thrown into the air by the super heated steam. Still, the power of what was below our feet was amazing.

From the volcano, we headed off to lunch at a location between the Pitons. It was fabulous. The raw beauty is hard to imagine without seeing them in person. They are rugged and sit right on the coast--right down to the coast. We are going to be anchored between them on our first night of the sailing half of the vacation. And I am looking forward to swimming in the bay between them--something right out of a movie.

From lunch--it was off to a botanical garden. We were confronted by so many beautiful flowers and at the mid point of our tour through a falls which is part of the mineral laden water flowing from the volcano.



Chris took a multitude of flower pictures and I tried to get the falls--unsuccessfully the way I wanted to remember them.




To end the day we happened upon a rum distillery. Since there are no wineries, we decided to do a rum tasting. Decide for yourself if we had fun on the road to Soufriere and back.




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Sunset Last Night

We closed out day 2 with a great snorkeling adventure right in Marigot Bay. We had a great tim until the tide started to go out and the water became too murky to see much beyond about 4 feet.

I got some pictures--my underwater camera is recovered from its bd adventure last year--actually I worked with the company and they replaced it.

A nice salmon home-cooked meal topped off the evening along with the fabulous sunset from the bay.



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Location:Marigot Bay, St Lucia

Day 2 on St Lucia

Tropical paradise in the truest sense of the word. It can be a shock for those who are used to urban tourist areas or visiting a Sandal's resort, but it is truly the tropics.

We are in a villa across on the north side of Marigot Bay on the west coast and the only way to get to the side where civilization and taxis are is a water ferry.

The bay and the water are the reasons that people come here. Here I am on the water taxi with my big purchase of the day--fruit. I was a bit of a sucker.


The bay and the water are definitely worth it.




Everyone seems so nice even though we essentially have no internet connection and only sporadic service with the rest of the world--who cares?

Are we having fun and relaxing? You bet.

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Location:Oasis Marigot, Marigot Bay, St Lucia

Lunch at Marigot Bay