Shortly after our arrival in St Lucia a huge P & O ship (we figure about 2500 passengers) docked on the other side of the small harbor. Unfortunately we had similar excursions and at one stop there were 10 to 12 small buses at the same store. The shop was on a narrow, hilly road and it made quite a challenge for the drivers. Our tour was just an overview of St. Lucia and other than the nice natural harbor there is nothing particularly noteworthy. One thing of note however was a restored battery on the hill above the harbor. When the property was bought by an American woman it was completely overgrown and buried under trees and brush. She did a complete search of the history of the battery when she began to restore the property. It took ten men three months just the uncover everything. It is now open free to the public and has some nice displays of artifacts including a large collection of antique bottles that the American woman (who is a diver) had recovered from the harbor. St Lucia is part of the British Commonwealth so it was nice to be in a country where the signs are in English and it is the official language. Unemployment is about 25% with tourism and the export of bananas the main industries. There are some nice areas but also a great deal of poverty.
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| Just a few of the antique bottle on display at the battery |
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| The Mariner on the right and the huge P&O in the small harbor at St Lucia |
We have never done a cruise of this length before but it sure seems like we have had a large number of illnesses and injuries that required treatment ashore. Just before departing St Lucia there was an ambulance at our gangway, not sure what this one was for. Then this morning when we arrived in St Barts there was a call for a medical emergency and the stretcher team. We later heard that a passenger had fallen and broken a hip and was evacuated on the first tender to shore. Then again this afternoon just as were just leaving St Barts there was another call for a medical emergency in a cabin on deck 8.
We decided to turn in our tour tickets as it was just a short one hour drive around the island of St Barts in a small van. We took the tender to the pier which is right in the center of the small town. It is beautiful and clean with public restrroms and showers right on the pier. There were hundreds of boats either docked or anchored off shore, they ranged from small power boats and sailboats to huge 200 ft yachts. There was a nice small beach near the harbor, many cafes and bars and lots of high end shops like Gucci, Cartier, etc.
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| View along the waterfront with some of the large yachts |
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| Just a few of the boats in the harbor |
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| Beautiful water at "Shell Beach" |
In the evening we had a birthday dinner for our trivia partner Dorothy. Michael suggested making up some trivia questions for her so the three of us made up 15 questions and after dinner we held our "birthday trivia" contest for her, she did quite well and was rewarded with a pretty necklace we had purchased in the gift shop on board. We now will have two sea days before reaching Ft Lauderdale on Sunday morning. Plenty of time to start packing!
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