I hope you have enjoyed walking around Castries, St Lucia with me these last couple weeks. I really enjoyed my day and saw some amazing things, but the icing on…
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Arawak Indians first arrived on St Lucia around 200-400AD and the Caribs gradually replaced them around 800-1000AD.
The British failed in their first attempts at colonization so St Lucia was settled by the French by signing a treaty with the local Caribs in 1660. Over the next two centuries St Lucia changed hands a dozen or so times between the French and British, as both wanted the fertile land for sugar plantations. The British gained final control over St Lucia in 1814 with the end of the Napoleonic Wars and slavery was abolished in 1836.
St Lucia followed the path to independence that all the former British East Caribbean colonies did and achieved it on February 22, 1979.
Helpful Info
Population – 178,000
Money – shares the Eastern Caribbean dollar with 5 other countries and 2 British islands (pegged at $1 = EC$2.70)
Language – English
Religion – 89.3% Christian (61.5% Catholic from the French)
When to go – Dec-June is most popular. Summer is nice also, but a little hotter and more humid. Hurricanes most active Aug-Oct.
World Heritage Sites – 1 – Pitons Management Area
Country formed – Independence from United Kingdom on 22 Feb 1979
My Visit
I first sailed to St Lucia in the summer of 2018 where I met a friend from Britain (very good flights into St Lucia). We spent a week sailing down the leeward coast and loved ever minute of it. I will be returning in 2019 and 20 since it is a great place for a week long charter.
Likes, Dislikes, and Recommendations
St Lucia has just about everything you want in a week long charter or cruise down its coast. In the north, Rodney Bay is a great bay with beaches, protected lagoon, and services. Plus, there is an awesome historic fort out on Pigeon Island. Make sure to have Gregory “The Fruit Guy” stop by with his produce. As you move down the island you will find wonderful fishing villages you can anchor off off that provide great snorkeling and amazing hikes into the interior with waterfall galore. But the highlight of any trip to St Lucia is the town of Soufriere and the Pitons. You will find a World Heritage Site here, a wonderful town, several anchorages, and unbelievable vistas as you look up the impossibly steep mountains.
I would remiss if I did not warn you that you definitely want to lock your dinghy up and don’t sleep with an open companion way due to security issues. The other bit of advice I have for you is to simply check out at Soufriere when heading south. You can cruise the lower third of the island, but I did not find much to do and it is to windward. Plus, once I got to Vieux Fort to check out I had to go between the airport and the port, making the process complex.
To get even more helpful hints check out my blog posts for St Lucia below. Also, I will be working on a travel video for St Lucia soon.
All Blogs From St Lucia
I have been telling you about the day I walked around the capital of St Lucia, which is called Castries these last several blogs. As with many Caribbean capitals, Castries…
I have been telling you about the day I spent walking around Castries, the capital of St Lucia, and last time I told you all about the Cathedral of the…
The next stop I want to take you to around Castries, St Lucia is the most amazing in the entire capitol. The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception is located…
Before I left St Lucia to sail to Grenada I want to make sure I spent a little time in the capital called Castries, since before this time I had…
Every year, since I have been in the Caribbean, I have noticed the skies have gone hazy every now and then. I found out years ago this was caused by…
I really hope you join me in two hours (at 11am eastern time on 6/17/20) for my latest YouTube Live video. All you have to do is click on the…
Check out these two guys. Every morning I have been in Marigot Bay, St Lucia I have woken to them chirping away. They are about the size of my fist…
Back at the beginning of the pandemic I was anchored next to a family of four on a catamaran. We had waved back and forth a few times, but one…
Is there anything better than being the only boat in an anchorage as the sun goes down? My friend Diane on Tiki Tour took this photo of the Guiding Light…
When I was in Soufrière, St Lucia last week I went snorkeling with another boat over at the Bat Cave, which is a slit in the cliff with a bat…
Today I will be doing my bi-weekly YouTube Live video at 11am EDT. I hope you will join me as I talk about hiking up the Pitons and also about…
Last week I wrote about the customs issues me and several other boats had by picking up moorings between the Pitons here in St Lucia. I also told you that…
Last weekend 7-9 boats that I have been hanging out with decided to sail down to the town of Soufriere, in St Lucia, in order to enjoy the Pitons (which…
St Lucia is an island nation in the middle of the Eastern Caribbean. There have been 15 cases of Covid-19 within a population of 190,000. Which I think is really…
I know everyone around the world is dealing with the corona virus in one way or another and we each have stories to share. With that said let me tell…
Back on March 17th I was at the end of a wonderful 11 day charter where we spent 5 days on St Lucia and then sailed 20 miles north and…
Almost halfway between Rodney Bay and Soufriere is the perfectly sheltered Marigot Bay. Even when you are not looking for protection for the swells or wind it is worth visiting…
Last month I had a charter with a wonderful group that has been aboard three other times. They love to snorkel and sail and we were seeing some great reefs…
The Pitons are two prominent peaks about two thirds of the way down the west coast of St Lucia. They are less than 3000 feet tall, but the fact that…
Down in Soufriere on St Lucia there is a lot of great stuff to do including hiking the Pitons and taking a tour into the only drive in volcano in…
The answer may surprise you. It is bamboo. Now I bet you are wondering why I am talking about bamboo, which is part of the Asian culture, when I have…
In the second episode of the Guiding Light podcast I am going to chat with Steve Thorn, who spent two months with me this summer. We sat down during our…
I had a wonderful time on this amazing Caribbean island and can not wait to visit again. Even better, take guest here and show them the amazing sights. Next week…
When moored up in Rodney Bay, why bother going to shore to buy fresh fruit and vegetables? Better still, just have them delivered straight to your boat at 7 in…
Last Thursday I wrote about my visit to the Diamond Botantical Garden and how much I enjoyed it and why. Well today I want to share my favorite flower as…
As you have been reading we loved checking out all there was to do in Soufriere and the Piton Management Area, but it was time to move south and get…
I took this scene while snorkeling the Bat Cave at Soufriere on St Lucia. Of course if you read my blog yesterday you know the issues we had snorkeling into…
The Bat Cave is exactly what it sounds like…. A cave with bats in it. In fact, there are a lot of bats. The Bat Cave is a long crack…
Petit Piton is one of the two famous peaks in the Piton Management Area on St Lucia. The entire area is a World Heritage site and you can hike either…
Yesterday I wrote about our time in the Diamond Botantical Garden and how we saw a waterfall and I even had a bird eat out of my hand. Well today’s…
On Sunday I started writing about a half day tour my friend Steve and I took with Murry (phone: 1 758 488 1357) from the town of Soufriere Into the…
Yesterday I wrote about part of tour through the Piton Management Area and how it was a World Heritage Site. During that tour we saw the sulphur springs that sit…
The drive-in volcano is the only such place in the entire Caribbean and the Sulphur Springs sits in the middle of it. Both are part of the Piton Management Area,…
Yesterday I told you about some of the waterfalls we saw while taking a tour from Soufriere. Well the evening before I was walking along the boardwalk in this town…
The Piton Management Area is a World Heritage Site and is the epitome of cruising in St Lucia. It all starts with the town of Soufriere, which is a wonderful…
This whole week I have been telling you about our adventure since leaving Rodney Bay and the day ended in spectacular fashion with a waterfall outside Canaries. We started off…
My friend Steve and I hiked inland from the fishing town of Canaries to see a waterfall, which turned out to be my favorite on St Lucia. To get there…
On Tuesday I told you about a hike we did to a waterfall near Anse la Raye, so today I am going to tell you about the snorkel stop we…
Anse Cochon is a fantastic snorkel site with lots of reefs, sea creatures, and even a shipwreck. I am going to tell you all about it tomorrow, but I wanted…
The next three blogs I am going to write are about bays that are all within a two mile stretch of St Lucia coast line. We are going to start…
What do you think of today’s photo of the day? It is the southern waterfall outside of Anse La Raye in St Lucia. My friend Steve and I walked there…
So last week I wrote how much we enjoyed Rodney Bay at the north end of St Lucia. Well we finally started sailing south passing inside of Barrel of Beef…
Did you enjoy the Israel travel video I shared yesterday? Well on Sunday we will finally leave the awesome bay of Rodney Bay and start sailing down the St Lucian…
This is the fruit guy in Rodney Bay and it was a treat having him stop by. You will have to wait until the end of my St Lucia blogs,…
Last time I left you we had just moved the boat to Pigeon Island at the north end of Rodney Bay in St Lucia. We got here a lunch time…
Last week I wrote about sailing to St Lucia and yesterday I gave you all the info on Rodney Bay at the north end of the island. Tomorrow I will…
I sailed into Rodney Bay, in the north part of St Lucia, at lunch time on Friday after hammering out a 40-mile sail from the north part of Martinique. The…
This is Rodney Fort on Pigeon Island, which is now attached to St Lucia. It has a fantastic little fort on it and some great hiking within this national park….
This is Reduit Beach on Rodney Bay. The town sits right behind this beach….how lucky are they? In the background you can see Pigeon Island, which is a fantastic national park…
Remember last year how Melek and I did a six-week cruise through the Leeward Islands? Well this year I will be cruising the Windward Islands partly on my own and…
This is a question you will ask a lot in the eight countries that use the East Caribbean dollar (EC$). All eight of these countries are former British territories, except…