Trip to St. Lucia - December 17-20, 2002

As a birthday present to Kelly and a congratulations to Ian for his first semester in medical school, we made a trip to St. Lucia to relax for a few days before going home for the holidays. Although taxis were way over priced, mosquitos were nasty, and Caribbean Star Airline lost one of our bags (the one with Kelly's swimsuit!), we did have a great time exploring the island, known best for the Two Pitons on the southwest coast. St. Lucia is also in the Lesser Antillies -- located two islands south of Dominica.

We stayed at Marigot Beach Club Resort in Marigot Bay, a breathtaking natural harbor and secluded cove on the west side of the island. St. Lucia is a much more developed island than Dominica - we even saw stoplights! We arrived late the first night and had a nice dinner at Doolittle's - a hotel restaurant overlooking the moonlit harbor. Below are pictures of our room, the hotel, us at Doolittle's, and Marigot Bay in the sunlight.

   
   

We spent Day 2 in the capital city of Castries shopping. For the most part, we weren't able to find the best shopping here, but Ian was able to find a beautifully carved walking stick. We spent another relaxing night in Marigot Bay and even found a foosball table. Day 3 we took a catamaran day sail down the coast to Soufriere with Barefoot Tours. Once there, we visited the Sulphur Springs and drive in volcano on Mount Soufriere. When the volcano last erupted, it blew the top off the mountain and created a crater which tourist can actually drive into. The volcano is dormant, but you can still see steam rising and bubbling gases coming from cracks in the crater. After touring the drive in volcano, we visited the botanical gardens and diamond waterfall, followed by lunch overlooking the town of Soufriere and the Pitons. We sailed back towards Marigot Bay, stopping briefly for some snorkling. Below are pictures from the trip.

 
    

St. Lucia is a great island for nature-enthusiasts and people who love water. Overall, the island looked a lot like Dominica, with some economical improvements. We didn't get to see nearly all that we wanted to see, but we had a great little getaway. If you are planning to go to St. Lucia, be prepared to spend some money. Everything here is expensive. Below are a few resources that we found helpful in planning our vacation: