Blogs from Soufrière, Saint Lucia, Central America Caribbean

Yesterday, after the hospital, I went with the boys and the girls from Leeds to Marigot Bay. The weather wasn't great and it was quite windy. So we decided to play frisbee in the sea. It was a lot of fun, but because of the wind, it was very hard to aim the frisbee. At one point, I tried to throw the frisbee to one of the girls, but it got caught in the wind and headed straight for some rocks, where it hit a crab and sent him flying. It was a very very good shot if I had been aiming for the crab. I felt so bad, but when we went to get the frisbee, I saw the crab climb back out of the water onto the rocks, where he then hid much deeper ... read more

Today we went to Soufriere to go to the sulphur springs. People travel to these springs to bathe in the hot water and have a mud bath. You can tell when you're getting close to it, as you begin to get a strong smell of egg. They advise to wear a dark or old swim suit, because the mud stains and sometimes the smell doesn't wash out. The smell wasn't noticeable once we were actually down in the baths, or maybe we were just used to it by then. It was really busy there with coaches of people from Martinique visiting. We spent an hour or so covering ourselves in mud, waiting for it to dry and then bathing in the hot springs. The mud was so difficult to wash off though. I showered there, and ... read more

25thMarch – Soufriere St Lucia 39nm, big day sailing, had to dept early (0730) had to motor up the side of St Vincent but were able to sail once we cleared the headland. Once again, on the nose, bashing into it. Had to motor again once we got in the shadow of ST Lucia. WOW the pitons are just amazing. Soufriere is just the most amazing anchorage. A very stunning place. We took up a mooring as you must as it’s so deep and were just in awe of the Pitons. There were quite a few large cruise sailing ships there (including the one Fiona Lloyd is going to work on) Cleared in to ST Lucia here no problems. Out on the boat was just lovely, but ashore was a different story. We didn’t get a ... read more

It was very hot overnight and I had an uncomfortable sleep. To make matters worse, today was a sightseeing day (with little walking) and an early start. Before the alarm, at 06h00, I was getting up and taking a shower. Somehow, the water always got hot overnight and I always had to let it run a while until it cooled. This morning, it seemed to take for ever to become cool, but maybe that was just because I was tight for time. Fresh pineapple was again on offer, probably because this is the start of the pineapple season and these have travelled no further than the other side of the village. Watermelon too, these also having not travelled that far. For me though, there would be quite some travelling to do. My driver arrived at 08h00 ... read more

Our last evening on our balcony, watching the sun set into the Caribbean. We spend our evenings cooking in our little kitchen, which has been somewhat challenging. Many fruits and vegetables are unknown or a bit strange – “love apples” that look like plums and taste between a sweet lemon and a pear; a sweet potato that is white inside and looks like an ordinary potato; avocados the size of melons, with a stone inside to match. And can anyone tell me why they sell Waitrose semi-skimmed milk here? We have no problem with the language – everyone speaks English and signs are in English. But to each other the locals speak a Caribbean Patois that is French-based but includes English words. I guess this is the result of the island changing hands 14 times between ... read more