After some investigation (and a generous donation from my brother and sister-in-law) we decided on a catamaran boat ride around St. Lucia. For you non-boaters, a catamaran boat is basically a sailboat with an engine that also has netting on the front of the boat you can sit on as you ride along the water:
The weather was a little cloudy, the one not-so great day all week. It was perfect because we were going to be outside all day and didn't want to roast! It started out with an hour ride to one of the villages, during which we saw some amazing scenery:
We pulled into the port of the village and were SWARMED by merchants on boats. I was legitimately terrified and may have asked Mike if we were being taken over by pirates. Men shouting about conch shells and women trying to sell their necklaces - we were chased into our van by some old man screaming "Would you like to buy a banana hat?!" No sir, I do NOT want a banana hat.
The first stop of the tour was a waterfall, which was beautiful:
We both dove in; how often do you have the chance to swim in a waterfall in the Caribbeans? Well, it was freezing. And we both almost lost our suits under the rush of the water. But it was totally worth it!
Next stop was the sulfur volcanoes. The whole placed smelled like rotten eggs and we had to climb like 4 miles worth of steps to get there, but it was still really amazing to see:
(YUCK!)
(Of course we took a picture at Stink Point)
After that we had a delicious lunch at the cocoa plantation. Chocolate is a really big export for St. Lucia, and I am a big importer of chocolate (zing!) so I had high hopes for this stop. Unfortunately, there wasn't much to see, except a tiny shack that also stunk:
They wheel the cocoa out on those rails to let it dry, and then wheel it back in when it rains. We had chocolate later in the week and it was so much stronger than it is in the US!
We rounded out the trip with a stop in Monetego Bay (like the Beach Boys song) -
And a stop for a snorkel on a private beach:
It was an exhausting day! We got home around 5:00 and ate at an Italian restaurant at the resort. While waiting to order, the manager asked us if we would mind posing for some pictures. We assumed it was a wedding photographer, staging the lighting for a wedding party that was about to arrive. We sat through 15 minutes of posed shots (exactly what we wanted to do after a weekend full of picture taking!) Turns out, it was the photographer for the hotel - he wanted to take pictures of Mike and I for the hotel website!
What can I say; we're gorgeous. If only I had worn my banana hat.
They wheel the cocoa out on those rails to let it dry, and then wheel it back in when it rains. We had chocolate later in the week and it was so much stronger than it is in the US!
We rounded out the trip with a stop in Monetego Bay (like the Beach Boys song) -
And a stop for a snorkel on a private beach:
It was an exhausting day! We got home around 5:00 and ate at an Italian restaurant at the resort. While waiting to order, the manager asked us if we would mind posing for some pictures. We assumed it was a wedding photographer, staging the lighting for a wedding party that was about to arrive. We sat through 15 minutes of posed shots (exactly what we wanted to do after a weekend full of picture taking!) Turns out, it was the photographer for the hotel - he wanted to take pictures of Mike and I for the hotel website!
What can I say; we're gorgeous. If only I had worn my banana hat.
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