VOLCANOES AND BANANAS IN ST. LUCIA!

Wednesday, January 21, 2026
Enchanted Princess/Castries, St. Lucia
82F, sunny

St. Lucia is an island country in the eastern Caribbean Sea, part of the Windward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, between the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea. It is known for its volcanic peaks, rainforests, and beaches. The Enchanted Princess docked in Castries today, its main port.  

Our group of 12 disembarked early for a COSOL tour arranged by Donna (https://www.cosol-tours.com/our-tours/). We actually toured with COSOL before in 2009.  We also visited St. Lucia in 2014, but we did not remember it well and the blog did not provide much info.

Cassi’s air-conditioned van (COSOL tour guide) provided enough room for all 12 of us and off we went. We stopped at lookout points for great photos and drove through two fishing villages but did not stop.  Cassi told us about the island. The population of St. Lucia is around 180,000 people, mostly Catholics. English and Creole are spoken here. He also told us that the French and English fought over the island—the French owned it 7 times and the British owned it 7 times. The first country to be named after a woman, St. Lucia gained independence in 1979.  I wonder what other countries are named after a woman. Google later!

Fishing Village down below

One of our scenic stops

The Pitons in the background

 We learned that houses with a seascape view are in the $250,000 range, but electricity, gas, tires, and brakes are expensive. He said that gas is around $7/gallon.

Along the way, we saw the lush landscape, mango trees, cassava shrubs (substantial quantities are processed to extract cassava starch, called tapioca, which is used for food, animal feed, and industrial purposes.  It is the third-largest source of carbohydrates in food in the tropics, after rice and maize, making it an important staple.

The flowering trees along the road were amazing, reds, blues, yellows, whites—one kind was surely bougainvillea, but I don’t know the others.

I will say the roads with hairpin curves, up mountains and down mountains aren’t for the faint of heart. People drive on the opposite side of road than we do, there is construction, some roads are very bumpy, guide rails are mostly non-existent, up the mountains, down the mountains, and the word “cliffhanger” comes to mind in a different context than any book or movie.   

Bananas are a main export, mostly to Great Britain. We stopped at a banana plantation and learned that a banana tree only produces one bunch of bananas.  A banana tree can grow 6-10 feet in a summer but shoots from the tree grow (called suckers).  The tree dies after producing fruit, replaced by suckers.   The banana cluster, protected from weather and insects by a blue plastic bag, is picked when green. Then they are sent on a 2 week voyage to Great Britain while ripening.  Each of us was given a fresh banana to eat and wow!! Delicious, although I do like bananas anyway.

Part of the tour included a boat ride to a resort where others swam. The Sugar Beach was beautiful. The resort costs about $6000 a night so we won’t be staying there soon.  The boat ride was interesting because I am significantly older than when we owned our 21 ft. Sportcraft from 1984-1999, the dock was steeper (no walking right on), and the ladder was a different design. All of us made it to the resort, thank goodness.

This beautiful 3 masted tall ship 

was docked near Soufriere today

The boat that took us to Sugar Beach

Sugar Beach resort

After the return boat ride, we headed to a buffet lunch at The Seashell Beach Restaurant in Soufriere.   The food was a nod to the Caribbean, rice, a cassava flour doughy “bread,” chicken with a Creole seasoning but not hot, and a slaw salad.    I am not an adventurous eater.

Seashell Beach Restaurant

The highlight was a visit to Qualibou, a dormant volcanic caldera in St. Lucia, famous for its geothermal activity at Sulphur Springs, where visitors can experience therapeutic mud baths and hot springs. This large depression, formed by ancient eruptions, is a major geological feature on the island, home to the iconic Pitons, and remains active with potential for future eruptions, despite its dormancy, according to UWI Seismic.  We all opted out of the mud bath, but people were walking around with mud on their faces and bodies. I am imagining they left it on for therapeutic reasons??  The Sulphur smell in the air was significant.  My hair and clothing smelled like Sulphur until I washed them. The last eruption was in 1766.

The gang of 12 at the dormant, 

but steaming volcano

The return to the ship was a little queasy, up mountains, down mountains, hairpin turns. After a million hours of this I asked how long to get back to the ship. One hour. Oh my. We all made it. Donna did a great job of arranging this tour.

 Note to Friend Donna and myself:  I am so mad at myself. I brought my "big" camera and took fabulous photos. BUT I left my card reader in the car in Fort Lauderdale in my computer bag. I am not happy about this and I have disappointed Donna and my two dear sons who gave the card reader to me for Christmas.  I guess I could spend the next few days teaching myself how to send the images to my computer--it has Wi-Fi.  hahaha--it would be easier to send for B1 back in Erie, she knows how to do it.

WHAT FOOD IS THIS??

We had some great guesses! 

·                Friend Julie was the closest with torte with cream filling, crushed nuts on top, with dots of strawberry sauce and strawberry on the side.

·            Friend Ann was a close second with caramel strawberry shortcake.

·            Friend Jim started off with ginger pie, some other stuff, and topped with sugar sand.

THE ANSWER, according to Princess Cruises, was:

HAZELNUT MOUSSE CAKE, and the plate is decorated with strawberry sauce and a strawberry.

TK's Takes:  Lots of twists and turns along the roads/mountains. Yesterday it rained the most of any of cruises. Today the rain was only a little in the morning while we were in the van, and then it cleared. The banana ketchup (yellow) we tasted at the banana plantation was excellent and tasted just like regular ketchup.

We ran a little long in this blog today...