St. Bart’s, St. Lucia, Tobago

Gustavia, St. Bart’s

Finally, our first stop and it felt wonderful to put our feet on solid ground, especially when the skies were sunny and the temperature was in the mid 80’s. This island has only one town, Gustavia, and this is where we docked.  Actually we were out in the harbour and tendered into town. It is a very small and shallow harbour, but did contain many beautiful yachts and boats.  We were warned not to shop on this island because items are highly priced, but we did walk past all the high-end shops.  They speak French and very little English.

Our shore excursion was scheduled for the afternoon, so we walked through the town and swam at a lovely shell beach near town. All the beaches are public and free of charge. Animals are forbidden and nudism is prohibited.  Apparently the locals don’t abide by the rules!  I nearly lost Eric a few times when he almost walked into a tree and a large rock.

Our shore excursion was called “trekking in St. Bart’s” and we, along with another couple were picked up by the tour guide and driven to the opposite side of the island to begin our trek to “Anse de Colombier”, a beautiful secluded beach on the north eastern end of the island.  We were about half way along the lovely trail when I tripped on a small rock and fell. I scraped the side of my leg and seriously wounded by pride! I could not continue the hike, but did find a nice shady spot to sit and wait for the rest of them. I am okay now, but my leg has a nasty scab. I have never fallen while hiking and was not impressed.

Our trekking pathway

The injury ... very swollen

Airport runway ... over the ocean

St. Bart’s was a pretty island, but really doesn’t have much tourist appeal. We did start to see some nice shore birds though.

                                                                                      Castries, St. Lucia

Magnificent St. Lucia – with towering mountains, dense rain forest, fertile green valleys and acres of banana plantations – lies in the middle of the Windward islands. Downtown Castries was within walking district of the pier and the produce market and adjacent crafts and vendors’ markets were the main attractions. There were 4 ships in the harbour; Carnival, Regent, Danish and another European ship.

Castries Harbour

This was the day that Judi did the 4 x 4 Beach Safari Adventure and Eric went zip-lining.

The beach adventure was wonderful. We were seated in the back of an open 4 x 4 (14 of us) and driven across the island. Of course, the roads were narrow and wound all over the place. We then went off road to the beach. This road made the road to our wood lot look like a 4-lane expressway. The beach was beautiful and it was so nice to sit in the shade and relax. They served spiced rum, but I knew to stay clear of it.

4 x 4 Beach Safari Beach

The zipline was interesting to say the least.  All 14 of the group piled into a bus for the hour long drive to the rainforest site.  Along the way I noted that the islanders have not thrown away any corrugated metal since the product was invented .  It would not be possible to imagine any other uses for the material.

The rainforest was as dense as can be imagined in a climate that would overgrow any open area in a very few months. We were outfitted with a helmit , gloves , a safety lanyard, a secondary shoulder harness and a main seat (mountain climbing) harness. The instructor showed the method for sitting in the harness and controlling the experience. The zipline was constructed  in 12 segments with walkways between the sections. The shortest line was a couple of hundred feet long and the others varied from 500 to 1000 feet each. The walkways were trails with stairs  ,the trek between line 11 and line 12 was several hundred feet in length with 104 stairs  in  various places as well as inclined ramps.  Some of the lines ended 30 to 50 feet up in a tree and you transferred from one zip line to the next by the local youth that were employed to ensure our safety. One tree in particular had a zipline attached near the base . Another 30 feet above it . The low ziplines went through narrow trenches cut between the trees, others were through circular openings trimmed through the passage and some were above all. The highest was 150 feet above the valley. Not recommended for the faint of heart.

Scarborough, Tobago

Another beautiful, hot day!  We docked at 8:30, but only had 6 hours in port. We were the only cruise ship. We were looking forward to this island because Alan and Lydia had spent quite a lot of time there. Our shore excursion was to the rainforest and this was a major undertaking for such a short stop.

We were loaded into two busses and started out on the 90 minute drive to the rainforest. It was a wonderful drive along the coastline and then 1,600 feet up into the rainforest. We drove through the area where Alan and Lydia had volunteered, some of the names I remember are Goodwill, Pembroke and Argyle.

Once we arrived at the hiking trail, those who had worn sandels were outfitted in rubber boots or running shoes. They passed out walking sticks and I was very thankful that I had brought mine along. Eric was busy running around taking bird pictures … this was the first time we had seen colourful birds.

We hiked in the trail for about 45 minutes and it was quite rugged and wet, making it a challenge at times. But it was so beautiful to stand there, look up and down and marvel at all the types of vegetation. The beauty was overwhelming!  We wished we could have hung out there a lot longer.

Trekking through the rainforest

 Our trip back once again hugged the coastline and we were very impressed with the beaches. We got back to the ship 10 minutes before it set sail, so we did not get a chance to shop. This island was far nicer than the other two stops and we wished we could have stayed longer.

Relaxing after a hard day!

Today we are still heading south and we must be very close to the equator, as sunrise and sunset are at exactly the same time.

We are enjoying life on board and have met more lovely people. Today’s temperature was 91 and the water temperature was 86.

All for now ….. love to everyone.