Cruise - St. Lucia #10

We docked at Castries, the capital of St. Lucia, home to more than half the island's population. St Lucia has dramatic volcanoes, flower-filled rainforests, crashing waterfalls and idyllic beaches and after breakfast we met 'G' (Gavin) who took us to our jeep for our ride into the rain forest.    After a short, wild, ride up a winding road we stopped to take in the views.

Our boat in the harbour

Castries and some of our fellow travellers

After this quick stop our driver threw the jeep round even more steep curves to another photo stop.

Eventually we reached the rainforest which was truly amazing.  We were surprised just how much the temperature dropped, (15 degrees) you would expect a rainforest to be warmer not colder wouldn't you?   There was an old guy in the clearing where we eventually stopped who had inherited a tract of land from his grandfather, he had turned it into a 'green' tourist attraction.   He grew cashew nuts and fruit and employed local boys as guides to the two waterfalls in the area, the first one of which was quite close down an easily traversed path.

Some of our companions went for a swim in the pool there but the guide said the other waterfall was nicer and he would take those who wanted to see it.   The majority of us decided we'd like to see more so we set off, little did we know that it was what seemed like a 20 mile hike over treacherous terrain through deepest jungle.   Our guide very kindly found me a tree trunk to use as a walking stick, which saved my life on more than one occasion really helped me! 

Me with my lifesaving tree trunk and fellow explorers!

By the time we arrived at the waterfall most of us were in a state of collapse but the place was just beautiful and the good thing was we were breathing pure oxygen.  

Well that was until some of the local youths decided to roll some spliffs and filled the air with something other than oxygen!

After a not long enough rest it was time to set off back to the jeep.  We thought the trek to this waterfall was hard but believe me it was a walk in the park compared to the journey back which was all uphill!    By the time we got back we were exhausted, red in the face and sweating like P.I.G.s!     I left my tree trunk walking stick at the end of the path for the next unwary traveller to pick up on their journey.    Thankfully there was somewhere to sit and 'G' broke out the rum punch - just what we needed.   We also had some of the locally grown cashews roasted which were delicious and local beer.     I have to say it was definitely worth the trek and we soon recovered on the journey back which took a different route with another photo stop, so I've made a slide show with the photos we took there.

All the ladies on the trip thought that 'G' could get a job as a double for Will Smith and told him so - he was really chuffed.  We got a photo of him so I could show you just how much he looked like the film star.

OK, ok, with hindsight he doesn't look much like him at all I know but we'd had a lot of Rum punch!

By the time we got back to the boat we were starving so we went straight to the buffet for some lunch then took a beer back to our cabin to sleep sunbathe on the balcony.    By the time we'd had a shower and changed we were totally refreshed and MWM managed to set the camera on top of the TV and snap us both before we went for dinner.

He also managed to get a lovely shot of the sunset as we set sail.

A lovely end to a tiring perfect day!

Join me next time for Grenada.