Monday, March 15, 2010

Azamara Cruise Day 7 - St. Lucia

The Azamara Journey made its way into the harbor at St. Lucia Island under clear skies and very warm temperatures. The harbor is located right next to the runway for the islands international airport and we could watch two or three planes landing and taking off while the ship was docking.
St. Lucia has been experiencing something of a draught and it wasn’t as lush and green as several of the islands we had already visited. Like several of our other stops the dock had its own contained shopping plaza with the usual array of t-shirt stores, jewelry stores and other tourist oriented businesses. Unfortunately, the shop keepers decided to close their stores early, so ship passengers returning from shore excursions were not able to pick up that last minute souvenirs.
We decided to take a taxi to a local beach. They have kind of a racket at the pier where if you go with eight or ten other people in a van it’s $6 each to ride, but if you went by yourselves, the minimum fare was $25 per person each way. And, because the port was located in a secure area it was difficult to walk into town on your own. So we packed ourselves into a van and went to Reduit Beach on the Island’s Robinson’s cove area.
It was a nice beach with warm clear water. We rented beach lounges and an umbrella, which was mandatory under the 90 degree sun at the beach. Unfortunately Linda managed to burn the tops of her feet—we guess while she was floating in the water. Even with aloe vera and some other post-sun cream, Linda was uncomfortable for the rest of the evening.
The ship departed around 5:30 PM, and we were able to catch a sunset view of the Grand Piton mountains at the south end of the island. These are two 1500 foot volcanic plugs, the remainder of a rather large volcano from thousands of years ago. A very impressive sight!
Last night we again opted to dine under the stars on the deck outside the Windows buffet. Once again the fantastic sushi chef prepared excellent sushi, and Linda tried the stir fry with lots of fresh veggies. I even tried the venison chili, which was quite tasty. We did witness a near cat fight when the table next to ours was claimed by two different ladies. Near disaster was prevented when we invited one of the ladies and her husband to join us at our table.
Linda and I have found the Cova Milano CafĂ©, midship on the fifth deck to be a great spot for a cappuccino and a viewing platform to watch the passing parade of passengers going to the ship’s show lounge or to and from the casino. And, the piano player who hales from the Bay area, usually plays a nice medley of piano songs both pop and semi-classical.
Tomorrow we dock in Guadelope on the island of Dominica.

No comments:

Post a Comment