Our position today is shown by the circle on these maps. We are docked at Castries on the island of St Lucia. Our itinerary shows us tendering today but we are actually docked. We have a great view of the pier from our balcony. Thank you Captain Ubaldo!
Historical/Background Info:
St Lucia is
an island country in the West Indies with a population of
185,000. This volcanic formed island is 27 miles long and 14 miles
wide and is more mountainous than most Caribbean islands. The highest
mountain is 3,120 feet with forest covering 77% of the land. Castries,
where we are docked, is its capital with 60,000 (32%) living in the city.
Most of the other citizens live along the coast because of the dense forests
inland. The French and English have ruled St Lucia but it is now an
independent state since 1979.
The economy’s service sector
is its biggest driver followed by industry and agriculture. Tourism is
also vital to its economy. The island is popular due to its tropical
weather, scenery, beaches, and resorts. A majority of its tourists are
cruise ship folks. Pre-covid there were around 330 ships calling here per
year.
This is
probably my favorite Caribbean island (although I am not an island kind of
guy). We were here in 2012, two times on
our 2022 world cruise, and probably more times that I cannot remember.
LAST EVENING
Our cruise director, Natalie, joined us for dinner in Compass Rose. It was a great evening.
Kas presenting our Rombauer chardonnay.
I also ordered this Trilogy Flora Springs red blend for Napa valley.
I started with this pear and roquefort salad. Rebecca had the vegetable soup.
We both had this veal osso buco on top of polenta as our entree. I had ordered it special for us.
Natalie had this miso-glazed salmon. It looked to be very good.
I had to try a little of both desserts. Very yummy!
We decide to go to Isaac Rico's show. I was mistaken saying in yesterday's post that he was the orchestra pianist. He is actually a guest entertainer. We sat in the balcony on deck 5 and did leave his show early.
TODAY
Anna made my plate of caviar for Sunday breakfast. I forgot to take a photo so I had to order as second one. OINK!
I had just half of an eggs benedict with hash browns.
I returned to our suite right after breakfast and looked out and saw the trolley still loading for the morning tour. I was booked for the 1:20pm "St Lucia Trolley Train" but ran down to see if I could do the morning tour. As they are calling for rain showers in the afternoon, I jumped on the morning tour.
There were plenty of open seats and I was last to board.
Above are photos of a large handicrafts market with fruit stands out front.
A park.
We stopped at this Catholic church which was built in 1890. There was a service going on so I did not get off to see the inside.
Interesting tree.
Rowers monument again
Soccer field
Houses on the hillside.
Cemetery
We stopped at one of many beaches on the island for a half hour. Complimentary small glass of rum punch.
The international airport was across from the beach.
Control tower for the airport
Trees along the beach were almond trees. This is one that fell off the tree. Of course, it must be shelled.
Heading back to the port.
We were dropped off here and had to walk through lots of shops.
Back home two hours later!
These are the shops at the pier taken from our balcony.
Potato soup
I had a tasting of what was on the buffet in La Veranda. Starting on the left is beef ale & dumpling stew. Next going clockwise is fisherman's pie. Then cooked cabbage. Then creamy chicken & leek.
I really did not care for any of this. So I got a couple pieces of pizza at the pool grill.
Photo of the downtown area from upper deck. It is a very nice day with sunny skies and some scattered clouds. It is a warm 85 degrees but humidity is not too bad and the is a 20 knot wind to keep you cool.
We spent another relaxing afternoon in the suite. Plus we both walked the deck 7 hallways. I spent 35 minutes and Rebecca spent a total of 40 minutes.
Same plan for this evening. Cocktail hour in the Meridian Lounge followed by dinner in Compass Rose. That menu is above. We made a special order for some black mussels in a wine sauce for our starters. Last night Nimesh killed the second bottle of my Makers Mark. He said there was another down in provisions that I had ordered. I told him not to open it and keep for our next cruise on Splendor. He can make my manhattans with either Woodford Reserve or Elijah Craig for the final days of this cruise.
Tonight at 9:15 in the atrium is an ABBA dance party. The production company singers will be singing ABBA hits to dance by. There is also a movie in the theater at 9:15 but I have watched that movie already on our tv.
We will be sailing at 8pm again. Late departure as our next port of call, Roseau, Dominica, is not that far away. We will be arriving there tomorrow at 7am.
