We awoke to the bustling harbor of Castries on St Lucia. It was busy as there were no less than four ships moored in the small confined bay. After the usual breakfast meeting we headed out to find our car rental people. The town center was very busy as 2500 plus tourists flooded the small downtown core.
We had to wait a bit but were eventually picked up and driven to a remote rental location at Marigot Bay. Turns out this is one of the most photographed bays in the Caribbean and it was beautiful. Unfortunately my photos are unavailable so I hope Mark & Robyn can help me out. (And they did!!!)
Seeing as we were 30 minutes south of town we decided to continue in that direction and head down the coastline to the sulphur pools at the dormant volcano behind the Petit Peton. These huge land formations are a major attraction and jut high along the coastline. They are easily spotted as we traveled south.
Our travels took us along very windy and steep roads through several fishing villages and towns. First up was the town of L’Anse La Raye and then Cannaries before arriving into the main town of Soufriere. We bought some gas and headed towards the sulphur springs.and the inactive volcano core.
The road occasionally offered fantastic views of the towns (Soufriere here) and the Petit Peton.
The sulphur springs are part of an Earth Cache so we where going about completing the cache when we met some fellow cachers from our own ship. We had a short chat and then continued on our way. We then headed back home with several stops for pictures and some shopping.
We also stopped at a roadside stand and picked up some fresh bananas and coconut. It was very tasty and so different from what we get at home. We dropped off the rental and as the girl drove us back towards town, she gave us a little tour and some local information. She dropped us off at the shopping center by the ship and after a bit of shopping we took a small ferry across the bay to our ship.
As luck would have it Kelly’s fellow MOA at her work Maria knew our ship’s Captain’s wife and… well through some magic emails we were contacted and offered a spot on the bridge during sail away. We surprised Mark and Robyn as we waited at the 10 floor elevators. The Captain’s wife Carroll soon arrived and we were escorted to the bridge. This was a real honour for us and we soon met Captain Michel. He made us feel welcome and then proceeded to ready the ship for departure. Carroll gave us the lay of the land and explained the duties of the different crew members and the positions they occupied. Captain Michel showed us the ships controls and how they operated the three bow thrusters and the two propeller Aziopods. These swivelled 360 degrees and provided very accurate control and positioning of the ship.
We stood back as the ship's crew gently backed out of the harbour. It must have looked funny to the ATR 72 crew landing on the local air as one big RCI ship headed out of the harbor and we backed out at the same speed . Then again maybe not as the plane approached between the ships! That would be cool to see from the aircraft flight deck!
We enjoyed the departure procedure and I noticed the crew coordination during the whole process. Several similarities with our aircraft procedures were evident. I took some pictures of what would normally be an approach from a plane… except it was from the bridge as we backed out. We took lots of pictures and spent almost 90 minutes enjoying the views as we went south past the Pitons towards Grenada.
After a short walk on deck (for a liquid refreshment of course ) we headed for the 7pm show featuring the Mo-Town singing group "Spectrum". They were very good and received a well deserved standing ovation at the end of the show.
Off to bed after another exhausting day!
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