Broken sleep from 4am. Hurrah.
St Lucia flag on Queen Mary 2
Seabourn Odyssey arriving at St Lucia
Had to leave early so just got some takeway breakfast and had it in the room while doing all the things.
The sweetie was feeling worse than ever, so he decided to stay in the room and I went on the shore excursion alone.
A few months ago I did a jigsaw of the Pitons in St Lucia, and so that decided the shore excursion for us. Well the "cruise" on a big catamaran was nice enough, but it was first thing on the morning, off the west coast of the island. So our view of the island was looking straight into the sun.
Queen Mary 2 tender boarding area
Queen Mary 2 off St Lucia
Top of the tender
Carnival Sailing catamaran that we took a tour on
The sails on the catamaran were just for show
Queen Mary 2 and St Lucia
St Lucia from the catamaran tour
Pod of dolphins off St Lucia
When we got to the Pitons we just had a brief look and then turned around and came back.
St Lucia and the Pitons from the catamaran tour
My view of the Pitons - lots of people in the way
St Lucia from the catamaran tour
Sea bird nesting cliffs on St Lucia
Soufriere, St Lucia from the catamaran tour
The Pitons from the catamaran tour
The Pitons from the catamaran tour
The Pitons from the catamaran tour
Passion catamaran and the Pitons off St Lucia
Passion catamaran and the Pitons off St Lucia
On the way back I got chatting to a dude from Fife in Scotland whose wife hadn't really felt like coming on the trip so he was alone too.
When we got to the swimming spot we pulled up on the beach which was all very pleasant, but when I asked where the snorkels were they were like oh no you don't get snorkels, it's just a swim (after telling us we couldn't have any rum punch til "after the snorkel"). So that was all quite disappointing. But then this dude in a kayak sourced me and Scottish dude (John) a facemask, and then dragged us out to deeper water where we could see all sorts of fish swimming around, so that was lovely. John gave him $20USD and I told him I owed him haha.
Anse Cochon Beach
Fish at Anse Cochon Beach
Fish at Anse Cochon Beach
Fish at Anse Cochon Beach
Fish at Anse Cochon Beach
Carnival Sailing catamaran at Anse Cochon Beach
Anse Cochon Beach
Scuba St Lucia boat at Anse Cochon Beach
Deeper water and fish that we saw when the paddleboarder took us around
Deeper water and fish that we saw when the paddleboarder took us around
Deeper water and fish that we saw when the paddleboarder took us around
Deeper water and fish that we saw when the paddleboarder took us around
Paddleboarder that took us for a quick trip around the rocks
We made the most of our lack of snorkels by drinking up the rum punch. So the rest of the trip passed by very pleasantly. ;)
Star Clippers' Royal Clipper and Queen Mary 2 off St Lucia
Star Clippers' Royal Clipper off St Lucia
St Lucia from the catamaran
St Lucia from the catamaran
Oh, except for when a towel blew off a big blue drum on the back of the boat and the drum was full of face masks and snorkels!! WTF!?!?! Apparently they were for the "snorkel" trip for one of the hotels (the stoopidly expensive one - Sandals or something) not for our "cruise". Was actually pretty annoyed with the whole thing.
Snorkelling equipment we didn't get to use
But did I mention there was rum punch?
Sandals resort from the catamaran
Queen Mary 2 off St Lucia
St Lucia from the catamaran
John from Fife on the catamaran
Tapion Shoal, at the entrance to Castries harbour
John and I made the most of it, and we were discussing how it's too expensive to drink on Queen Mary 2, and I said you can bring one bottle of wine per person per port, so after we got back we went looking for wine. There was a couple of duty free places near the wharf, but we also had a wander through the local markets. That was quite fun.
At one point someone called us to sit down and have some lunch, so we did! Way way way too much food for me and I'm not sure if the price they quoted us was for one or both of us, but I gave them $20USD for the both of and they didn't complain, so I guess it was ok. Reminded me a lot of something Anthony Bourdain would have done hehe.
Lunch at Castries Central Market
Went back to one of the duty free places and John picked up some wine and I saw some local spiced rum for $10USD for a litre bottle. I was so in.
Then to the tender. It started raining, and it was hot and stuffy and it was all a bit miserable, until we asked to sit in the front row, which was empty, and then they opened the front window to let some air through so that was quite nice. Well except for sitting around waiting for the "storm" to pass the ship. And waited. Eventually got to go back. Getting off was slightly rough but it was fine.
Queen Mary 2 from the tender
I was fully expecting them to take my bottle of rum off me, but they didn't! Win!
Came back to the room and had a shower and washed my hair.
St Lucia from Queen Mary 2
Rainbow off St Lucia
I think I'm sunburnt. Hrmmmm.
Had a "life planning meeting" with the sweetie where we talked about work and health and the house and friends and such things. Was nice to have some nice quiet time with the sweetie.
Went down to the pub for a drink to see if that would help the sweetie feel any better, but it didn't really.
Then I went upstairs to dinner alone. Got there a bit before 19:00 I think, but was the only one there for a while heh. I ordered caesar salad and salmon scallopini off the static a la carte menu. Once again I was too full for dessert so just had a few of the chocolates.
Table 51 in the Princess Grill
Classic caesar salad from the a la carte menu that I had for entrée
Pan-seared salmon scaloppini, roasted almond and haricot vert orzo, roasted shitake mushrooms, cherry tomate etuvee from the a la carte menu that I had for dinner
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