Caribbean on the Britannia

Knowing we don't particularly enjoy Castries, we booked a shore excursion determined to see a bit more of St Lucia. Jumping on a bus, the roads out of Castries wove through hairpin bends out of the port, south towards Soufriere. The views across the island as we went were stunning, but the roads and bends were a little alarming! We stopped briefly at a couple of lookout points, over Marigot Bay and the twin peaks of the Pitons, before descending into Soufriere to start our hike which was auspiciously urban but quickly gave way to rainforest. Our guide pointed out local plants including frankincense, cinnamon, coriander and more. As we walked, rain storms blew through bringing heavy showers followed by glorious sunshine on repeat.

The waterfall was apparently suffused with mineral laden mud. Unsurprisingly I did not care and simply wanted to get in the water, so whilst others coated themselves in mud, we jumped into the waterfall and had a fabulous time.

The trek away from the waterfall seemed to be endlessly upwards along makeshift muddy stairs. But the rainforest was beautiful and the trek was fun. At the end, we bussed to a local plantation for lunch and a tour which included trying raw sugar cane and cocoa beans.

After a long day, we dozed on the journey back as it was an identical route with roads and drop offs just as concerning as the way out.

As we're in port over night, we grabbed a drink on the back deck as the sunset , where we were treated to a show of music and fire breathers taking on the port side, before dinner and bed.Weiterlesen