Our Summer Vacation - Day 5 (St. Lucia)

Meaning of the Flag

Cerulean Blue represents fidelity. This blue reflects their tropical sky and also their emerald surrounding waters— the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.


Gold represents the prevailing sunshine in the Caribbean and prosperity.


Black and white stand for the cultural influences - the white part, the white culture; the black part, the black culture -the two races living and working in unity.


The design impresses the dominance of the Negro culture vis-à-vis that of Europe, against a background of sun­shine and ever-blue sea. This is represented by the three triangles in the centre of the flag, symbolising three pitons.


The Triangle, the shape of which is an isosceles triangle, is reminiscent of the island’s famous twin Pitons at Soufriere, rising sheer out of the sea, towards the sky -themselves, a symbol of the hope and aspirations of the people.

Arriving at St Lucia

On day five, we arrive in St. Lucia, were we have booked another shore excursion.  We are excited for the adventure that awaits us. 

'Kodac Moment'

First we stop to take in the scenery and have a 'Kodac Moment,' as our guide calls it.  That is our ship in the background in the port of St. Lucia. 

The Carnival Victory

The Governor's Mansion

Across the street from our panoramic view is the Governor's Mansion.  Very beautiful. 

Chuck Norris and George Foreman's Summer Home Neighborhood

Our tour guide told us a lot about the island, explaining what their flag symbolizes (see top) and showing us the summer home neighborhood of Chuck Norris and George Foreman.  What a hard life they must have.  She also showed us some of their school that are painted green and named after the owner of the New York Jetts, because a hurricane had come in there and destroyed their schools, and he came in and helped rebuild them. 

One of the Locals

St. Lucia is an island country in the eastern Caribbean Sea on the boundary with the Atlantic Ocean. Part of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent, and northwest of Barbados and south of Martinique. It covers a land area of 238 square miles and has an estimated population of 173,765. Its capital is Castries. Because it switched so often between British and French control, St. Lucia has adopted many French customs and many British customs. They drive on the left side of the road like they did in St. Thomas.

Banana Trees

We drove past a banana plantation. It was the first time I had seen banana trees. N8 had seen them before when he lived in Brazil. At one of our stops, we were able to taste one of the locals favorite foods: Banana Ketchup. They also let us try Banana Bar-B-Que Sauce. It wasn't half bad. While at this stop, we had people trying to sell us stuff. That happened a lot on these islands; however, N8 had someone try to sell him weed. That was a first.

Fish Leaves

Instead of buying weed, we bought these leaves that they had made to look like little fish.

The Smelly Volcano

We finally got to the volcano. It smelled just like rotten eggs. The smell was strong and made our eyes water.

Mud Bath

We hiked down a trail for a bit and stopped to take a mud bath. We were told that this mud bath was the cure to almost all ailments. It would help sun burns, cure bug bites, and even help us look 10 years younger. We even heard a tour guide from another group tell us it was a natural aphrodisiac. (Almost everything in St. Lucia was, we learned. They even had an alcoholic beverage that they used as their "Viagra." Our tour guide told us that is why they have so many people living on such a small island.)

Do I have anything on my face?

I'm just trying to blend in

Did I get it all?

It was hard to get all the mud off of our bodies. They had little showers that helped a little, but the stream was so low, it made our progress slow.

Do we look 10 years younger?

I don't know if we looked any younger, but the mud bath did do one thing that was promised. It sure kept the bugs away, and anything else that was within smelling distance. We stunk!  We smelled like a book of matches. Once back on the ship, we threw our bathing suits in the wash, then brought them up to the deck to sit in chlorinated water. We even washed them more when we got home and swam in the pool at our apartment, but even today, two weeks later, they still smell.

The Pitons

The volcanic island of St Lucia is more mountainous than many other Caribbean islands, with the highest point being 3,120 ft above sea level. This picture is of the Pitons. They form the island’s most famous landmark. They are located between Soufriere and Choiseul on the western side of the island.

N8 and JME with our tour guide Jayan

We really enjoyed ourselves in St. Lucia and really enjoyed our tour guide. At one point, she had the bus stop close to her house. She ran inside and brought out some hot homemade bread she had just cooked that morning. It was the best bread I have ever tasted. It was warm and buttery and chewy on the inside, and then was flaky like pie crust on the outside. It was delicious.