CASTRIES, ST. LUCIA

Last modified date

Comments: 0

Today we arrived at our final Caribbean port-of-call for this trip; Castries on the island of St. Lucia.

We’ve been here many times before, but the final stop was always going to be a beach day, so that’s what we did. The walk to Vigie Beach takes about 30 minutes, tops; it’s an easy walk from the cruise terminal, along the main road, past the airport, and turning right down a short dusty road to the beach. It isn’t the greatest of locations, with the beach backing onto a large cemetery and the occasional sound of planes taking off, but is long and there are a limited supply of loungers and parasols – we hired two, which cost us $20.

The beach is quite narrow (but very long), so access to the sea from where we were situated was easy. A notable dip in the sand as we entered added a bit of a challenge to the process (not to mention getting out again), but once in the water, we enjoyed ourselves. This would be our last Caribbean dip for a while.

A smattering of rocks along the edge of the water provided us with additional entertainment. They were home to a few crabs that crawled over their surface, and after we’d done swimming, I spent some time filming them.

Later, after we’d left St Lucia, and started on our 6-day trek back across the Atlantic Ocean, a message came over the PA system informing us that all cabins at the front of the ship, and the Britannia Lounge, would have to be evacuated immediately, as we were waiting for the arrival – for the second time on this cruise – of a helicopter, to carry a seriously ill guest away. This was in the relatively early evening, after dinner, and we had been planning on simply going back to the cabin. Instead, since we would not be allowed back into our cabin, we went into the theatre to watch the Christmas Show.

When we came out, they were still awaiting arrival of the helicopter (apparently there was some issue over whether it had set out with enough fuel and had had to turn back, which seems a little odd). With continued denial of access to our cabin, we sat and waited it out on the North Cape Bar, where we enjoyed a drink… it is Christmas Eve, after all…

Peter Woolley

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Post comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.