BEAUTIFUL ST LUCIA - Part 1

I have been to many of the Caribbean islands and they have been beautiful...... each with their own personality, but I'm going to have to say that I have truly fallen in love with St Lucia.

My daughter and I only booked two excursion before our cruise, St Maarten and St Lucia.  We did not book through the cruise line but through Cosol Tours.  They met us just outside of the cruise port where they divided everyone into groups.  Each group left with our guide where we boarded an air conditioned minibus. 

This was one of the most amazing tours I have ever been on and probably why I fell so in love with St Lucia.  The whole tour lasted around 6 hours and is the best way to see the island.  

You will see a banana plantation, stop at breathtaking lookout points, eat local food, take a water taxi to the Pitons, and eat some of the best homemade bread, and play in mud.

I took more photos here than any of the other seven countries I visited on this vacation.  You have the Piton Mountains, beautiful beaches, banana plantations,  tropical rain forest, waterfalls, and a drive-in volcano.  See what I mean?  Paradise!

I have read that the Pitons are to St Lucia what the Eiffel Towel is to Paris. If you were to do a google search of St Lucia, you would see pictures of these ancient volcanoes in almost every photo.  

SUGAR BEACH  - (JALOUSIE BEACH) 





Our tour took us to the town of Soufriere where we took a water taxi to Sugar Beach which is located between the Pitons (A world heritage site). You will have time to snorkel, swim, or just walk along the beach.

My daughter snorkeled while we were there and said there was some beautiful fish.  Our guide gave her bananas to feed some of the fish.  She had an underwater camera but water got in the batteries and the camera didn't photograph well.





Even if you don't take an excursions, Sugar Beach is a must see if you are in St Lucia. Most of this beach is occupied with guests of the Sugar Beach Resort.  This beautiful resort is going to run you about $4000 a week.  You know the scenery is going to be beautiful when you have a luxury resort on the property.

Soufrière

As I mentioned above, Soufriere is where we caught the water taxi to Sugar Beach. Soufriere was very crowded. We parked and was immediately ushered to our boat. I would love to have had time to explore the area but when you are on a tour, time is limited.

We did get to see some of the town from the waterfront.  Like many towns by the sea, brightly colored homes dot the landscape in rainbow hues.

SULPHUR SPRINGS MUD BATH

One of the things that I was most looking forward to was visiting the famous Sulphur Springs mud bath at the world's only drive-in volcano.

 

It's not the typical conical shaped volcano that you would expect to see.  You would never realize you were at the volcano except for the odor of the sulphur and the steam coming from the ground.     

We all headed to the mud bath.  (It is recommended that you wear a dark swim suit since the mud will stain).  There are concrete pools filled with warm, gray water that comes straight from the volcano.  The sign stated that the water was 100 degrees Fahrenheit.  

The water is supposed to have medicinal  properties that purify and soften the skin.  Once you have thoroughly soaked your skin, you are ready for the mud. There were people standing around with white 5 gallon buckets filled with mud.  They would help you slather mud on your body adding dark and light colored mud.

BEAUTIFUL TORAILLE WATERFALL

Our guides told us not to worry about washing off all of the mud since we were headed to a nearby waterfall. We loaded back into the van and in a couple of minutes we were looking at a 50 ft waterfall cascading into a pool, all set against a backdrop of lush greenery.

It was so crowded the day were were there that there was no room to enjoy the experience.

Read the second half of this post HERE. 

In it, I cover the rest of our tour with Cosol including the food we ate and photos from around the island.  I also have tips for touring St Lucia at the end with contact information, tips, and general information.