Soufriere and mooring off the Bat Cave
ULA
John & Jackie Richards
Thu 5 Feb 2009 14:25
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Position 013:51.40N 061:04.10W
Fantastic weather and we set sail for
Soufriere further south on St Lucia. We had a good sail down and as we
approached Soufriere we radioed Bennie at Harmony Beach to see if he had a
mooring for us and to book up for dinner in his restaurant (as recommended in
the sailing guide we have) Unfortunately he had noavailable moorings but we were able to book a table for later. Soufriere
and the surrounding area is part of a marine conservation area and one of the
park rangers came out in his pirogue to help us on to a mooring in a group known
as the 'bat cave moorings'. The views are spectacular across the bay towards
Petit Piton and we had a good spot.
Later, Benny Junior came to pick us
up by pirogue to go across to dinner and to drop off a guard for our boat (there
is occaisonally a problem with security at night on these moorings so they put
someone in the cockpit while you are away having dinner). Harmony Beach is
approx -1-2 miles across the bay and we were delivered there at top speed (so
glad I hadnt spent ages doing my hair!). We were also slightly surprised
when Benny Jnr ran the boat up the beach for us to get out and a guy appeared
waist deep in the water holding the boat steady in to the waves as we jumped
out! Fortunately my white linen trousers roll up pretty quickly and flip flops
are easy to take off!! Our dinner was very good. Benny Snr and his wife have a
lovely spot right under Petit Piton and dinner on their balcony (very simple but
lovely Creole food) was excellent. Another trip back to the boat at high speed
with the other guests certainly blew away the rum cocktails pretty
quickly.
On Wednesday we went ashore
and went to Customs and Immigration to get our leaving papers stamped
for exiting St Lucia the following day (the usual polite but frustratingly slow
process!).Soufriere is nice and they have done a lot of work making the
front look quite pretty. As is typical in the Caribbean the infrastructure is
relatively poor but once inside many of the buildings these are quite well
fitted out. We had a browse and then took a taxi to the Fond Doux
plantation and did the tour - well worth the visit. Our tour guide was
excellent and we had lunch in their bar afterwards with a Canadian girl,
Celine who came round with us. My favourite species around the plantation
were the lobster claw bushes- their leaves are spectacular in colour and are
like little scooped dishes which hold water and we saw several hummingbirds come
to drink from them as we went round.
We shared a taxi with Celine to the
Sulphur Springs, a volcanic area of bubbling hot, steaming pools full of the
minerals and deposits from volcanic activity. Quite a stark landscape but very
spectacular. There is an area where you can bathe in a mud bath - looks
revolting but apparently great for the skin! We walked back in to Soufriere -
not a great idea in the heat but we did have some amazing views. A meal on
board, Mamma Mia DVD and an early night!
Jackie
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