It's Tuesday and we are in St. Lucia

Tuesday, September 23 - St. Lucia

Docking time: 7:15-4:45

Evening Attire: Pirate – Carioca’s (Pirate menu)
Evening Entertainment: Guardians of the Galaxy in 3-D
Drink of the day: Sunken Treasure

We were scheduled to meet with the Son of Man Sea tour at 8:15 am so H and I got up early and had the buffet and brought back plates for the kids and woke them up.  We disembarked around 8 am.  There wasn’t much around the port area except for the usual vendor people trying to sell you a tour.

A security personnel stopped us at the info desk because we were waiting there for our rep.  She didn’t know who Son of Man Sea Tours.  She asked some local tour operators about it.  They didn’t know either.  One big guy, named Mango, said he was calling the tour operator but I highly suspect he was lying.

He then got off the phone and said we were to go with him.  So we did.  He took us to another dock and we waited for about 15 minutes while he went to look for another couple.  He said that we were touring with him today.  Personally, I think he just saw us as an opportunity to get more business and jumped on it.  But it was the same tour we were doing anyway and we got to name our own price, lol.

Mango left us at the dock for a few minutes with some other random guys and boats who chatted pleasantly while we waited.  He returned empty handed and told us to get in his boat, so we did, still not sure what was happening, lol!

DD9 was a bit tired so she rested on the seats:

We boated over to one of the resorts and waited about 20 minutes and he told us the history of the island.  Eventually, we picked up 3 other couples and he took us on a 30 minute boat ride to Soufrieres.

As we approached this gorgeous harbor, he showed us the bat cave, where thousands of bats slept until night.

Mango then turned us over to a set of 3 taxi vans and a larger group of about 20 people went in 2 of the vans while our boat used the 3^rd van.  Mango said he would return for us when it was time to head back to the ship.  I was sorry to see him go, he was a very nice man, even though I didn’t know who had kidnapped us.  We were joined by another  young man who FINALLY had a name and it turns out, we had been kidnapped by Joy Cruises – a family run business.

For some reason, I felt more secure knowing the name of the company (I don’t know how that would help in a bad situation) and relaxed in the crappy old van for our tour.  We winded our way up and around St. Lucia and stopped at a pretty viewing area of the Pitons:

We then headed to our first stop: Sulpher Springs and the volcano.  There was definitely a rotton egg smell to the area.

The springs was also the location of the mud baths.  H and DD12 declined this part of the journey but DD9 made it part way and found the water to be too hot and left me alone with the strangers to smear mud on my body alone and sit in the water.

The mud was an interesting experience and I think it may have ruined my bathing suit so make sure you wear an old one.  By the time our group was done, it started to rain so we piled into the vans and went to the next stop.  I forgot my sunglasses at the baths but the older (young) guide brought them to me.

20 minutes later, we went to a waterfall.  It was ok, quite a hike to get there up and down steps so I would hesitate to do it if I was in poor health.  The waterfall fell into a concrete pool (seriously) and on the other side, another concrete pool was pumped with hot water for a hot tub experience.

We stayed there for a bit and then piled back in for lunch.  Again, I forgot my sunglasses at the waterfall and the same guide brought them back to me. . . 

They took us to the harbor and then we ALL crammed into a new boat (the boat that held the 20 other people).  This was very crowded, I felt there were too many people in the boat but it was only a 5 minute ride to a secluded beach area for lunch.

Joy cruises had set up the meal there and we had jerked chicken, fish, plantains, sweet potatoes, salads, mashed potatoes and a few other things.  Plus a coconut sweet candy.  It was very good.  I tried the native foods with interest.

H talked to the young guide and discovered his cousin, sister and uncle were among those who were guiding us.  It truly was a family business.

After our lunch, we crammed back into the boat and went to the beach between the Pitons.  This was absolute paradise.  There was a resort between the pitons that took up most of the beach area and we were not allowed to use the chairs there but we could swim and sit on the sand there.  I could have stayed here forever.

The left-hand side of the beach was the snorkeling trail and public beach access.  There were a few chairs there but not many.  We were handed snorkeling gear and waved away for about 1 hour.  The girls had a great time snorkeling.  DD9 got a life jacket to use.  The guides kept checking with our family, as we were the only ones with kids (the rest were couples from the resort and were young to older couples).

Eventually Mango returned and said he would bring us back to the ship.  About 20 minutes before we left, this huge ferry-type boat docked and disengorged all the Disney Excursion guests.  It must have held over 100 people.  The little public area got crowded after that so we were happy to leave.

Mango took us and the other 3 couples on his boat again.  He offered us beer (Piton, ick) and soda and water.  We enjoyed watching the coastline as we boated back to the harbor for about 30-45 minutes.  We also stopped to check out some celebrity houses like Oprah, Mick Jagger, etc. . .  We took a quick peek at the harbor where Dr. Doolittle was filmed (the older version).  I think we also passed the beach in which the Bachelor was filmed when Don Pablo walked down the beach but I really don't care about that. . .  We made it back to the port at around 2:30-3:00 pm.

The kids ordered mickey bars from room service and we just hung around the room until it was time to dress for dinner.  We did not dress in pirate gear but many people did and they all looked great.  The menu was Pirate in Carioca’s.  The wait staff did a limbo line for the mini-show in the dining room.

After our dinner, DD9, H and I went to Guardians of the Galaxy in 3-D as our main show.  DD12 went back to the room.  I fell asleep during the show, sad to say.

H wanted to go to the pirate show, buffet and fireworks but once we got back to our stateroom, we all crashed hard.  We had to be up early the next day anyway.

*** St. Lucia was our favorite port out of all 5 of them.  We will definitely stay here for an extended stay sometime in the future.