Castries, St. Lucia - January 12

Bad news - cruise was half over, good news - today was St. Lucia, my favorite island in the Caribbean.  I have been fortunate to have had two land vacations there, back in 2011 and 2012, and fell in love with the country and its people.  

I knew exactly what I wanted to do that day, spend my day at Reduit beach and the town of Rodney Bay.  The ship did not offer and excursion, so I joined a group in a taxi - for $14 per person, we got a round trip to the beach. For another $15 I got a chair and an umbrella, and because we were early the spot was great, close to the water, and a short walk to the nearby washrooms.  

But I'm getting a little ahead of myself.  This is not a photo of the beach, but the airport in Castries.  Before we were able to disembark, I spent some time out on my balcony.  It was a beautiful morning!





After a quick breakfast, I headed off the ship, and into the taxi. Hooray!

This was my view from the chair (before the beach go busy).  About 12:30 (3.5 hours after I arrived), I decided I'd had enough sun.  It was time to go to Rituals, my favorite coffee shop for a bite of lunch and good cup of coffee.  Side note: this is one of the things I did not like about the cruise ship - the coffee was awful, so bad I switched to tea.

I walked up the street to the corner where Rituals was located, and....it was gone.  In its place was a bar!  Undeterred, I decided to continue to downtown Rodney Bay - if I couldn't go to Rituals, I knew I'd find another restaurant.  

Just before I reached the restaurants, I stopped to chat with a young man selling trinkets by the side of the road.  When I asked about Rituals, he advised me that they had moved to the mall.  Yes!!!

A few minutes later, I had placed my order and was sitting out on the patio with my coffee, enjoying people watching and the shade!

My tuna panini arrived soon after, and I devoured it.  The sandwich was as good as I had remembered it.  Another side note: The cafe's patrons were mostly local, I have to wonder if the tourists just hadn't found it yet.

After my meal, I continued into the mall a gift shop where I bought a t-shirt for Eli, Caribbean coffee for my son, and a set of dolphin salt and pepper shakers for my daughter.  Then it was back to the beach to catch a taxi to Castries.  I must say the walk back to the beach seemed much shorter!

Back at the ship, I exchanged my beach towel, changed into clean clothing, and made the decision to have a piece of Sorrento's pizza...since I'd done all that walking I deserved a piece, right?  I also needed to re-hydrate, since I'd finished my bottle of water early in the morning.  

I decided not to go for dinner that night, to attempt to get a photo of the sunset, but it turned not to be spectacular.  I did get this shot (with my finger in it) as we passed by the airport runway. 

I had a wonderful time in St. Lucia!  It felt a bit like coming home, even though things had changed since my last visit, it was all familiar.  The weather was terrific and I spent the day in one of the most beautiful places in the world.

Next post - Barbados

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Eli is busy being a toddler, chattering up the storm, climbing on everything, scattering his toys, spilling his cheerios and cookie crumbs, and being as lovable as ever.  He and his mom went to bed early last evening, and about 20 minutes later, the bedroom door opened and out popped a little boy.  He spent the next hour racing around the house, visiting with me and his uncle.  At one point, he walked up to Saku, who was lying on the couch, and gave him a kiss.  Eventually I put him back to bed and he settled down soon after.  He was wide awake by 5:30 this morning, so we all got an early start to the day.  At the moment he's watching Paw Patrol in my bedroom and being quiet...I best go check and see what he is up to!  

Have a great day everyone!