Beautiful sail in this morning to St. Lucia. Definitely the most ravishing island we’ve visited so far. It will take a lot to beat it but we have some contenders yet to visit. It is very lovely though. Incredibly green with great peaks rising from the sea, covered in lush growth with golden beaches and bays running along the coast. Of course the most famous sites are The Pitons, the two great volcanic pillars that rise to the SW of the island.
I spent a week here in 1978 and absolutely loved it. I have no idea how it has taken us so long to come back. But better late than never as they say. And this time we come as divers….. so we had booked to dive here having read such great reports about the marine park and the standards of the dives. We booked with Dive Fair Helen St Lucia Diving – St Lucia Snorkeling – Dive Fair Helen and they were outstanding from the word go.
We docked in Castries, the capital, and the dive shop came to pick us up in a van and they took us to the boat which was moored in gorgeous Marigot Bay. Marigot Bay is a famous hurricane hole here, the film location for Dr. Doolittle, and a favourite hiding place for both the British and French fleets in the years of war in the 1800s. The weather was perfect, 29C and little wind, hardly a cloud.
Nice dive boat – dory sort – and there were 9 divers including us. 2 were qualifying and they dived with a different dive master. Anyway, both dives were outstanding. You can tell hat this is a protected underwater environment. Huge sponges everywhere in every colour. Great vase ones, ones shaped like giant fans, others like elephant’s ears. Soft and hard corals. Many fish and sea creatures – moray eels, cream coloured sea snakes, lion fish, schools of trevally, lobsters, crabs, a huge grey stingray….. It was all just lovely. We had 55 minute dives on each dive and still had a lot of air. I didn’t wear a wet suit, the water was warm. The second dive was off Anse Cochon and if anything it was better than the first.
In between dives they fed us!!!! It had been advertised as a snack but it was crispy coated chicken, baked cheese macaroni, rice pilaf and a spicy gravy made with lentils. The staff were very nice and couldn’t do enough for us and the other divers were congenial and friendly. We very much envied the fact that they were staying on the island and diving multiple days.
They brought us back at around 4pm and after a cup of tea, a cake and a hot shower, we went up on deck for the sailaway. Oh….. there was a lovely little cruise ship next to us, the only other one in port. I admired it until I googled the name Freewinds and found it was the ship owned by the Church of Scientology as a retreat for high ranking members and also for the highest level of training for such members. Don’t think we’ll be cruising on that then.
The sailaway was very nice tonight. A good sunset and it was lovely to see the beautiful island lit by the setting sun. We definitely mustn’t leave it 47 years till we come back again. I really recommend a visit to St Lucia whether you are a diver or not. Gorgeous place. We’ve had a lovely day!
