Day 2 of our trip - Saturday, August 18 2012
Another day in paradise!
We woke up on the second day of our trip and headed to breakfast. I took some pictures along the way.
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| Pathway on the property |
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| Fruits growing throughout the property |
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| interesting flower |
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| I like to call this one the strawberry shortcake flower |
Our plan was to take it easy and relax by the
pool today. Breakfast was good, it was
buffet style and there were a few other couples already there when we got
there. We tried their local cherry
juice, which tasted like a combination of oranges and mangos, toast with butter
and their homemade mango banana jam, coffee, and eggs.
After breakfast, Brian and I were hanging out by the front office
where they have Wi-Fi. We were checking
out e-mails as I overheard a guest wanting to do a sail and snorkel trip but
she needed a minimum of four people.
When she saw us outside the office, she asked if we’d be interested in
doing the sail and snorkel with her and her boyfriend, it was only $60 a
person. They introduced themselves,
Christiana and Aidin from Southern California.
We said sure! They seem really
nice. The office was able to set up the
trip for today. Brian and I were both excited
to meet other people here. They are staying
at the hotel until Thursday, so maybe we will do other excursions with them!
The four of us met the taxi driver around noon and we headed
into town. Our driver, Marcus, was
really nice and stopped the car to point out the beautiful views
along the way.
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| view of one of the pitons |
As we drove closer to the
port of Soufriere, you could tell it was a poor area. We met up with one of the guys who would be
taking us out on the boat, Shae, who led us to a small shop to pick up the
snorkel gear. Once we got our masks and
fins, he took us to the boat. It was so
nice and big and all ours for the entire day!
The views as we were pulling away from the island were absolutely
gorgeous. Shae offered us drinks and we
all enjoyed the local piton beer as we sailed our way north of the island.
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| Town of Soufriere |
The captain of the boat was an older man
named Andrew. After about 45 minutes of
sailing, we arrived at the area we would be snorkeling, called Anse Cochon.
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| view of the petit piton |
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| Brian and Aidin enjoying the ride |
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| about to jump in! |
As soon as we anchored the boat, we could see bright yellow fish
in the water right away! We all jumped
off the back of the boat and into the water.
It felt nice and refreshing. I’ve
never really snorkeled before so this was a cool experience. We spotted an eel, a turtle, sea urchins,
coral, and lots of colorful fish. It was
so peaceful and relaxing being in the water among all the sea life. A few local vendors approached us while we
were snorkeling on their kayaks trying to sell us mangoes and shells and other
island items. Christiana was pretty good
at fending them off. We snorkeled for
about an hour or so, and then got back on the boat. Aidin bought four mangoes from one of the
Kayak salesman and gave Brian and me two of them. We bit into the fresh and juicy mangoes while
we were still dripping wet from the ocean.
I felt like such a true islander at that moment!
The four of us moved to the front of the boat on the way
back to enjoy the views and take pictures.
Christiana and Aidin were telling us about their long trip from California
to St. Lucia and their long trip and layovers planned for the trip back
home. In total, it took them nearly 24
hours to get to the island. That made
Brian and me very appreciative of our direct flight!
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| a cave where there is a large population of bats |
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| St. Lucia flag |
When our boat docked, there were three or four young boys
helping us step off the boat. They
immediately started asking for money. We
told them that we were sorry, and that we had none, but they made us feel
pretty uncomfortable. They wouldn’t leave
us alone. When we got off the dock, we
spotted our taxi driver – good timing.
Marcus took us to a local supermarket so we could buy snacks, wine, and
beer.
When we got back to the plantation and settled back into our
room, we realized Brian’s back was completely sunburned from snorkeling.
Oops. We’ll have to remember to put more
sunblock on next time.
We showered and got ready for dinner. By the time we walked over to the main
restaurant on the property, we were starving.
The waitress brought warm garlic bread to our table. To start, I ordered a salad and Brian got the
black eyed pea soup (really good) and we ordered a bottle of wine. For the main course I got the Red Snapper
which came with a fruit salsa and rice.
Brian had a sirloin steak with mashed potatoes. For desert we ordered cocoa fondues -the
frozen cocktail that we tried on the first night and tasted like red velvet,
and a crepe flambe.
Well, the sun completely tired us out for today, but we
still have lots of things we want to do this week: the plantation tour, climb the Gros Piton,
maybe zipline, go to Jalousie beach, relax by the pool, and the surprise I have
planned for Brian’s birthday on Tuesday.
I’m excited that his birthday is tomorrow! It’ll be a nice relaxing day.
Day 3 of our trip - Sunday, August 19 2012 
After walking around and taking pictures, we went back to the beach and cooled off in the water. Jeff and Lara mentioned to us that a water taxi guy offered to take them snorkeling tomorrow for a total of $60, and if we were interested in coming, it would only be $50 a couple. Since we enjoyed snorkeling so much on our first day, we said sure. We headed to the bar for a margarita and a Piton beer. The shuttle picked us up at 4 PM to take us back to Fond Doux. 
