St. Lucia Day Six

"Hurry to wait" was the motto for the first part of the day. The plan was to meet my mom and grandmother at the bus station in the city market. Since we'd previously kept my mom waiting for nearly an hour I was determined not to let hat happen that day. We arrived 15 minutes early just to end up waiting around for them. Things got even worse when the bus driver refused to leave until the bus was completely full. This amounted to another 2 hour wait before leaving, essentially making the early wake up and departure from the hotel null and void.

When we finally got on the road we all came to regret the choice to take the local route. This particular bus driver was determined to break all land speeds even if it meant flying off the side of a mountain while doing it. His insane actions included but certainly were not limited to:

1. passing a car into oncoming traffic
2. passing 2 cars into oncoming traffic
3. breaking the sound barrier around a hairpin turn
4. nudging another car out the way
5. defying the laws of physics and not crashing

Lbo determined that we would not ride the bus back from Soufriere no matter what. It was fairly difficult to argue the point so I did not even bother. Instead I turned my eye to finding a reasonable way back. I found that there were two viable ways back up north; the water taxi or the catamaran. Each would cost roughly the same amount but there was definitely potential to do much more on the latter. Reasonably convinced that we had a way back "home," we headed off the to the diamond falls and botanic gardens.

The Botanic Gardens were breathtaking, unfortunately we were on a time limit. I tried to soak up as much as I could with the time allotted. What I was struck by most was all the color from top to bottom. The grounds crew also setup some displays that were very informative. I was actually able to see the insides of a cocoa pod; there was also information on how everything in the garden is used to do everything from landscaping to making compose. After making quick work of the gardens I went over to the falls to take some pictures. It was pretty cool but would have been much better if they allowed people to bathe in it. The water from was a light grey color from the mineral deposits, it would have been like a spa treatment.

The sulfur springs stink, however, I eventually got used to the smell. I was really looking forward to the hot spring bath so as soon as the guide got to that point I jumped in. A few guys were already in the bath, from what I could tell they were some sort of springs gurus. They were quite "happy to see a black man on vacation." The hot springs were a very hot 98 degrees according to the gurus. It was absolutely delightful being in there. Everyone was so at ease that we were no longer concerned about rushing to meet the catamaran.

There were several boats docked at the pier when were arrived back at the port of Soufriere. As I walked along the pier I noticed that one of the ships with a familiar name. Before I left New York my cousin had given me the name of a ship and a person to talk to. The name wasn't exactly right but close enough. After a cryptic conversation with the gentleman on the boat and a short cell phone call we had passage on the catamaran.

The catamaran ride was an absolute blast. The view of the island from the sea was gorgeous, I feel lucky that I was able to get a view from so many different angles. Besides the views the actual ride was really great; it reminded of the batboat cruising just over the waves and spraying water everywhere. Awesome.

The ship stopped for snorkeling at a bay called Anse Concho. The waters were a light green/blue
and there were fish of all sorts of pretty colors everywhere. The only problem was that the bay is almost filled to the brim with snorkelers, this was apparently a big stop for the tours. I didn't really want to do many tourist-like things but snorkeling is just plain fun.

After Anse Concho we took a quick pass through Marigot Bay. The "tour guide" mentioned something important/unique about it but I don't recall/didn't pay attention. I also saw a fantastic pirate ship as we rode up the coastline. As the ship got closer to Rodney Bay the guide forced the lot of tourists to pretend that they had been dancing and having a good time the entire trip. I took a principled stand and refused to join the charade.

If they actually played charades I would have joined in...