Caribbean Cruise St Lucia

Posted on February 10, 2013 by CruiseMiss — Leave a comment

St Lucia was our second Caribbean port and it gave off a very pretty first impression. Lots of hills and greenery and a few other nice ships in port to look at too, what more could you want!?

Here we had booked the Aerial Tram excursion, I couldn’t wait, and even though I had been tested to my limit in the cable car in Madeira I was ready for another adventure.

We boarded a small bus and made our way up the winding roads to our destination. Our driver was very good, always telling us what we were passing. He drove pretty fast though I must admit so you really had to be on your toes sometimes to take in what he was trying to show you.

The drive was wonderful, some of the views were very pretty and you could see for miles.

Banana tree just starting to produce the fruit.

We passed all kinds of buildings, tree’s including Banana trees, smiley happy people…..you name it we passed it and then a bit more.

Finally we arrived at our destination, the Rainforest Sky Rides Park. As well as the aerial tram you could also do zip lining here and nature treks, some of which we were told are 6 hours long!

We waited our turn to board the tram and then off we went. The appeal of this trip was to just do something a little more relaxed and a little different. The tram moved incredibly slowly so you could take everything in, you missed nothing. It also occasionally stopped whilst other people boarded trams behind so again it wasn’t rushed, you got the chance to just sit for a minute, in the rainforest and appreciate the smells, sounds and sights. It was very very calming and something I would do again in a heartbeat.

The guide on the tram was very good, she spoke about the different types of trees, that Rastafarian’s had been the first people to live in the rainforest in St Lucia, explained all about the different birds we were seeing and anything else we wanted to know, she had the answer. She really was like a human encyclopaedia for the rainforest.

This was the tree I liked the most. The shape of it was amazing

We were very lucky too, apparently it had rained a lot the previous few weeks but on our visit there was not a drop, in fact it was very muggy and humid.

Some of the trees really were incredible! My favourite looked like an umbrella from above and there was one that creepily resembled a very large spider. Some of the tree’s had vine’s of leaves growing up them, they almost looked like some kind of natural tattoo….it was amazing.

When the tram reached the top and you turned back the views across St Lucia were out of this world. If I remember correctly our guide said on one side was the Caribbean sea and on the other the Atlantic Ocean. You could see literally for miles and I definitely appreciated the fact the weather on this day was nothing short of perfect.

After the tram ride we opted for the short walk that is also part of the trip but is optional. The ground was very un-even but again a great little thing to take part in. There were lizards, termite nests full to bursting with the little critters. A tree that had grown around a huge rock, it almost looked like a giant claw holding on to it and numerous colourful flowers and plants to see. It lasted about 15 minutes and out of our group there were only 5 of us that decided to do it.

I thoroughly enjoyed the trip and it had nothing to do with the fact it ended with a free rum punch! I did think it was quite expensive when we booked it but I dread to think what it would have cost in taxi fare’s alone to get there if we had decided to just go and do it ourselves so definitely a little tip there for anyone that wants to do the same thing. Book it through either the cruise line or another tour company because it is a pretty long drive there and back.

Once back at the port we stopped for a shrimp roti and a drink, before heading back out of Pointe Seraphine and down towards Castries.

Before we left I had done some research and found most people said that on a Sunday Castries was closed, this was not the case. Not all stalls were open by the time we got there but there were a good 2 or 3 dozen still trading. Castries didn’t feel like the best of areas, especially by the time we went there were very few other tourists there so we didn’t stay long. We had a brief walk through all the craft stalls, most sold wooden crafts and a few souvenir type things, that was about it really, then we made our way back along towards the port.

The walk back was nice and we met some nice local people who asked about our vacation, how we liked St Lucia and when we would be visiting again. It was quite a relaxed place and the port area itself was very nice.

St Lucia had left a very nice impression on me and I would definitely like to visit again one day.

I really wanted to share more pictures with you from the rainforest excursion so I have added a nice full album to the CruiseMiss facebook page – St Lucia Rainforest Photographs

Author: Danielle