Adventures in the Caribbean: St. Lucia

Because of COVID, St. Lucia does not require ship excursions, but does require "government-approved" excursions for cruise passengers. The kiddo stayed onboard to enjoy Adventure Ocean, and Diana and I arranged a hiking excursion. Before we left the ship, we had to queue for our free COVID antigen tests which would allow us to re-enter Barbados tomorrow. That was a long queue and we had to eat breakfast while standing in line, but we managed to get our tests and meet our tour organizer in port by 10:30.

We drove about 20 minutes north of Castries to Rodney Bay, a ritzy part of St. Lucia, and where colonization first took place. Here we met up with the young man who led us on our hike up Mt. Pimard.

During World War 2 a base at Rodney Bay was leased for ninety-nine years to the US in the "destroyers-for-bases" deal, and there are several places on Mt. Pimard where you can see remnants of bunkers, anti-aircraft gun mounts, and so on. 

Of course, the flora and fauna also make it an interesting hike.

And best of all there are several places with good views.

After the hike we enjoyed drinks at a cafe. St. Lucia's most popular beer is "Piton," after their famous, UNESCO heritage mountains. 

I would have liked to hike one of the pitons, but that would be pretty much impossible on a shore excursion. Petit Piton is basically unclimbable by amateurs and Gros Piton takes something like 6-12 hours round trip to climb, never mind transportation to and from the trailhead! Hence, why we settled for two hours on Mount Pimard!

We were back at the port at 14:30, where we shopped for some souvenirs, and sat down to enjoy some St. Lucian rum.

Back on board Grandeur of the Seas, we enjoyed views of Castries and the island as the sun set and we sailed away.