Happy Weekend all! We had pondered going on several tours as a way of seeing everything that St. Lucia has to offer. After researching a few ideas to see the Volcano, Waterfalls, Marigot Bay, etc., we figured the BEST way to see the island and to be able to stop to take pictures whenever we wanted to was to rent a taxi for the day.
Most Taxi Drivers are willing to show you all around the island and explain the history around everything you see for a flat rate for everyone in the cab.
Half the fun is being on the roller coaster ride as they “navigate” the roads and the other half is seeing all the interesting things along the way as you drive.
We left the Windjammer and started our tour in the direction of Castries.
I LOVE all of the artwork you see along the walls and buildings in every town.
Of course there always seems to be an interesting street vendor or two.
The Husband’s Favorite store back home!!! Something tells me based on what we saw in Rodney Bay, this is probably not the same store 
People will tie up their animals and let them “mow” the grass along the side of the road.
Then again, you often see chickens and goats everywhere you go…..
Plus people walking their goats 
The top of Castries and the bay.
An old British Armory located right next to the junior college and not far from the Governor’s House.
CHEESEEEEE!!! We snapped this at the top of the mountain near Soufriere.
The cool thing about this stop is that you can take a picture of Soufriere & the Soufriere Bay….
The famous “twin” Piton Mountains and…..
The Sulfur Springs Volcano.
After about an hour drive, we reached the Diamond Botanical Gardens which also has the Diamond Waterfalls.
You walk down these paths that are abundant with beautiful trees, flowers and bushes.
This is the Bread Nut Tree. People actually pick these “fruit”, scoop out the bread nuts and boil them in salt water. After that, you can eat them as is or serve them in soups, side dishes, etc.
The flowers are absolutely amazing….I tried to pick just a few of my favorite shots to show you all.
The Upside Down Tree……
The Husband called this the Curly Q plant
Dreadlocks!
Gigantic leaves that doubled as umbrellas for us
The garden is actually a bird sanctuary and you will also find a bunch of these caterpillars too.
You can find all of the tropical fruits and vegetable plants that are grown on the island with several varieties of bananas being one of the main exports.
It only takes about 10 minutes to walk to see the Diamond Falls River and Falls….
One crazy, fun, fact for those who love The Bachelor ~ these are the falls that they went to when they took mud baths Anyone can pay to do it.
I cannot remember the name of the bay, but, we stopped just to take pictures.
I think the two colors in the water are actually pretty, but, I learned that it isn’t the sand that causes that.
This river runs into the ocean during the rainy season and causes the two colors that you see from the top of the mountain.
Our driver took us to lunch at one of his favorite places called Dasheene.
Once we walked inside, we knew exactly why. The restaurant sits in the middle of the mountains with open views of the two Pitons.
They pretty much won my heart when they started off by serving us that delicious Creole Bread.
I ordered the Bacon Cheeseburger to share with my Mom and it came out as two burgers representing the Pitons.
The burgers were amazing ~ totally juicy with a curry type seasoning, caramelized onions, tons of cheddar cheese and bacon…..After one bite, I kinda wished I hadn’t shared LOL.
Plus Sweet Potato Fries and Salad. The fries had cinnamon and salt on them, but were absolutely delicious.
After lunch we headed over to visit the Sulfur Springs Volcano ~ it is the volcano that created the island and you can drive right into it.
As we walked up the stairs we were greeted by another goat who stopped to say hi….
Can I just say ~ this might just be the smelliest place on earth?! The sulfur is so strong that you smell it from miles away.
The cool part of the volcano is seeing the bubbling mud baths that are 340 degrees hot.
The last stop of the day was to visit Marigot Bay.
We managed to make it back just in time to watch another sunset ~ Beautiful!
We had dinner at Papa Don’s ~ located in the middle of the Windjammer hills.
When you sit down, you are greeted with a plate of olives, an assortment of breads and hummus that reminded me of a taco bean dip.
I started with a garden salad ~ almost everywhere you go on the island, they, use romaine lettuce with several crunchy veggies in their salads. I LOVE that!
My entrée was their Sun Dried Tomato Chicken Special and it totally hit the spot. It was deliciously rich with garlic, olive oil and pretty much melted in your mouth with each bite.
We spent our last day at the resort hanging out on the beach, swimming and relaxing before we started out trek home today.
I have a giveaway coming up for you all tomorrow as we get settled in and get ready to head back to work.
Thanks for taking the journey with us these past few weeks. I actually cannot wait to get back on track with a renewed Weight Watcher’s Focus…..sometimes we all just need a little “vacation” from it all.
Night all!
Are you paid by weight watchers to post about them on Facebook? I am a fan of WW, but you posted you are jazzed by the changes- you have not even been to a meeting
Hi P,
Actually, no I am not paid by Weight Watchers. I posted my Facebook post this morning after checking everything out online about the new program. I LOVE the new layout of the site, the fact that they have 3 weeks worth of menus, the improve tools and more importantly all the changes that Weight Watchers made to the program. They really listened to the suggestions everyone had and questions we all answered often relating to people who gained points+ and such by adjusting the daily allowance. I personally LOVE that they have the Simply Filling for a day now versus committing to it for a week and that you can set activity goals. I could go on with all the things I LOVE but I know you didn’t ask that. If you want to check out what I was reading this morning, it’s now on their home page.
The website really does have all the details of the new program, but, I know I will be even more excited after I see the new materials. It’s like a renewed motivation for me each year when they make improvements….not all are good, but, I honestly know people who have been working the new program for over 2 months now and have successfully lost their last 10 lbs or more.
Danica
Thank you so much for sharing your adventures…it gives me hope that life doesn’t always have to be a struggle when I to see others enjoying it…best wishes for a safe trip home for your and yours…:) ** I was the one who explained how to cut the oranges a while back…I am down 82.4 pounds as of Saturday…still a half of a kazillion to go, but I will get there! Your blog has made a world of difference throughout my journey. I finally started my own…I hope someday it will be half as good as yours!
HI Becky,
Of course I remember you!!! That is awesome about your loss – you are totally rocking it and I am so proud of you ~ you are definitely motivational. I’d love to look at your site if you ever feel comfortable sharing. I have no doubt it will be awesome. If you already shared, please forgive my forgetfulness, I am getting old LOL.
Danica
🙂 Thanks! It has been hard at times, but the results are definitely worth the struggles! My blog is http://along-the-weigh.blogspot.com…I’m still getting the hang of doing it and remembering to takes pictures of food before I eat it…but I hope someday it will be worthy!
Enjoy the rest of your travels…I cannot believe how colorful St.Lucia is…from the food to the scenery…absolutely beautiful!
WE went to St. Lucia for our 25th and saw many of the same places you did! The day we were at the Botanical gardens, it POURED rain the entire day; we were drenched. Still beautiful, nonetheless. How on Earth do you get so much vacation time? You are always going somewhere! Jealous, but happy for you!
Hi Laurie,
I know it seems like we have been gone forever, but, it was just 3 weeks 🙂 I made sure I negotiated the time off with my new employer before they hired me because we already had our vacation planned and I had been saving my vacation up for it. We both are not being paid for it, but, you know what – it was all totally worth it. We really try to plan our vacation around holidays so it uses less – it’s one reason our anniversary is Thanksgiving Week ~ it only takes 3 days of vacation to get the entire week off! 🙂
Danica
Thank you for sharing your vacation experience and especially the beautiful pictures. I “almost” feel like I was there. I am definitely putting in on my places to visit list.
Thanks so much for sharing your vacation with us. I’ve been showing your pics of St. Lucia to my hubby and we have decided that we must go!
It looks like you had a wonderful vacation! It’s hard coming back to work after a nice long vacation!
Hey woman!! WOW!! Paradise right?? Looks like you guys are having fun!! ANd you food looks sooo good. Hope your doing great, and Happy Late Anniversary!! We celebrated ours on Nov 18th! ( 5yrs ) and went to the Great Smoky Mountians!! Excited about the new WW’s, might try simply filling!!
St. Lucia is a great island to spend a tranquil vacation, even better if you’re not looking to do much of the things you do at home everyday.
Tour the island’s west coast with your private, air-conditioned car at your pace, it can be customized as well.