3-01-2022 St. Lucia

 Rather than taking the standard tour today. we booked a tour called "St Lucia by Sea".  We walked a short distance from the ship tanother pier where our Catamaran awaited us.  We cruised along the West coast of St Lucia to the Town of Soufriere.  There we took a tour bus up to a working Plantation, that grows Cocoa, Bananas, Mangos and Coconuts.  The majority of the Cocoa goes directly from here to Hershey Pennsylvania to end up in Hershey's chocolate. 





As soon as we pulled out of the port the captain threw out his lines for some game fish

Our Captain, this guy really knew how to handle this boat



Relaxing


Lots of sail boats out


The Symbol of St Lucia, the Pitons which are volcanic peaks created about 65,000 years ago. They refer to the larger one is referred to as Piton and the smaller at Petite Piton. approximately 2900 feet tall.



Entering the port of Soufriere


Cocoa trees, notice that the pods grow directly out of the trunk or branch.


We had a Creole Buffet lunch at the plantation


Spider Orchids


Heliconia (but the locals call these Bird of Paradise)


In the old plantation days, this was the Drinking house for the workers AKA Pub


The Plantation House, still owned by a French family that comes there about twice a year


Bromeliads growing on the trees


The Evolution of Chocolate


This was an old sugar cane press, the whole roof of the building would turn (normally driven by horses or donkeys) and it is connected to gears that drive three big steel cylinders that would crush and press the cane.


This guy was impressive, he took the husks off of about 20 coconuts in the 10 minutes  while we were standing watching.


Green Cocoa pods


We stopped at a beach on the way back to the ship for a swim, very refreshing. There was a  guy selling conch shells, but our guide warned us that they would be confiscated at the port  because it is illegal to export them from the island.



Cheers



The crew really got into the caribbean music that was playing, great fun.

Heading back to the ship. Three other cruise ships in port with us today

Panoramic Barbados


Comments

  1. Debbie T.March 4, 2022 at 2:59 AM

    St. Lucia by sea....what a GREAT way to see the area!!
    So how many TONS of CHOCOLATE are you bringing back to the states??!!! ;-) Do they have any chocolate tasting there? (nope....only Rum Punch!!) Amazing that it goes directly to Hershey's. Love the Plantation House -- I wonder if they ever rent it out.... I've never seen anybody with such amazing biceps as the guy husking the coconuts....WOW!!

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