Now, that didn't mean that the trip was over. No, more fun was right in front of us. But there was just a small sense of melancholy for me. Oh well. All good things must end sometime, right? Anyway, we all crawled out of bed and got ready for the day. Today's port was St. Lucia. And stepping on the balcony, I could tell this was going to be one of the prettiest islands we visited. There was green everywhere, with rolling hills and pointed mountains. That helped ease the sadness of a soon to be complete trip.
Once everyone was ready, we headed to....Cabanas of course! Spoiler alert - we ate at Cabanas for breakfast every day on the ship. And I must say, Sam was insanely consistent on this trip. And I don't just mean Cabanas. The kid ended up ordering macaroni and cheese at every dinner. Even Miles branched out, into chicken tenders and cheeseburgers and salads, etc. But not Sam. By the end of the trip, our server, Judy, didn't even need to ask. It was Mac and Cheese, no appetizers, and a Mickey Ice Cream Bar for dessert. As for breakfast, Sam was equally consistent. Yep, you guessed it. He wanted his daily fruit loops, a donut, and his hot chocolate. Sure, every once in awhile he would throw in a ham and cheese omelet or hash browns, but his other choices were mainstays. Hey, whatever makes you happy on a cruise!
Considering yesterday's observance of vomit fun in Cabanas, this morning we saw that the outside deck was available and headed out. And man, that was nice. Sitting in the beautiful sun while the ship came into port was calming and relaxing. It also gave peace and tranquility to us while we watched Miles, Lukas, and Sam scarf down donuts.
After breakfast, we got all of our stuff together and got ready to disembark. Today's excursion was appropriately titled "Land and Sea to Soufriere". Soufriere is a collection of mud baths at the base of an active volcano. So we'd start by taking a bus around St. Lucia until reaching the mud baths. After that experience, we would head to the water and take a catamaran back. Oh, and we'd throw in a visit to a plantation in the middle of it all.
We quickly left the boat and were greeted by a stable of vans. We were joined by our tour guide, who was awesome, but as I sit and recollect a trip from a month ago, I can't remember his name. More "sads". My memory must be failing me. Anyway, he was awesome. What was most impressive to me was how knowledgeable he was. He literally covered everything, from government to tourism, insurance to farming. Whatever you needed to know about this island, he was your guy. Sorry nameless amazing tour guide! One day, at 3AM, I'll suddenly sit up in bed, yell his name, and scare Elisa into oblivion.
And then, we were off. Our van tour started pretty simply, snaking through the small town at port. But soon enough, we started climbing hills and the road got VERY twisty. The boys all seemed to be fine, though, so I didn't worry too much about it. Sam was basically bouncing off the walls, clearly showing that the twisty turns weren't going to make him car sick. After quite a drive, we got to our first destination. This was a beautiful overlook of a little inlet of the sea below. We parked and got off the van.
Right when our feet hit the pavement, my kids were handed cute little animals (fish, birds, etc.) made from tree fronds. The man specifically said "free for you." Well, look at that wonderful St. Lucia hospitality! Sam and Miles in particular seemed to like them and we went over to enjoy the view. While we were looking out over the ocean (it really was beautiful), I heard the locals advertising banana ketchup. Ummm...what? No thanks. I never eat ketchup and say "you know, this really needs more banana!" Elisa seemed to at least be slightly interested, but I wasn't having any of it. For the record, we didn't buy banana ketchup, though later on, Elisa did try it...as did I, begrudgingly.
Soon enough, though, it was time to get back in the van. As we headed to the door, though, that same hospitable man blocked my entry. Now, he wanted money...for the little tree frond animals. But...they were free? Apparently not. It's the great switch and bait. Here, kids. Let me give you these super cute and unique items, tell you it's all free, and then force your parents to pay me money later. Not wanting to cause a scene, I gave him a little money but as I sat down, I promised to not be swindled again.
A short van ride later, we arrived at a small fish village down by the water. Thankfully, when we got out, there were no souvenir peddlers putting things in my kid's hands. But there were a variety of shops to explore. Sure enough, here was the banana ketchup! But there were other items as well. We got some banana extract, which I do love in my coffees, and a cute little St. Lucia coffee set. Miles was further entertained because one of the people had this really cool jaw of a fish. Miles, again, is our sea creature kid, and got some great pictures with his head in the fish jaw. We finished shopping with Miles getting a bag (for the seashells we collected in St. Maarten) and Sam getting some small carved turtles. As we were leaving, I went back to where the fish jaw guy was. This was someone I actually wanted to give a tip to. He was so great with Miles. But he was no where to be found.
A nearby woman asked if I was looking for him and I told her that yes, I had a tip for him. She looked at me and said "he's my husband. You can give it to me and I'll get it to him." Yet, as I handed the money over, I couldn't help but wonder if I had just been swindled again. I'll never know, but I did have my doubts that this man and woman were truly husband and wife.
Back into the van we went, and back onto twisty roads. It was during this part of the drive, though, that I realized that Sam wasn't really bouncing off the walls again. He looked a little green around the gills. The car sickness was clearly coming around. Thankfully, just as I started wondering where to put the coming vomit, we arrived at our third stop. This one was overlooking the Pitons, large mountains that St. Lucia is famous for. I, however, didn't look at them. I pulled Sam out, ready to focus on calming his stomach. Yet, as I exited, here were more of those damn tree frond animals. Yeah, under no terms were we going to accept these and be swindled. I told the kids to not take them. I refused. Yeah, that didn't go over well.
But I had Sam to worry about. We headed over to the deck and I sat with him as his stomach calmed down. Sure enough, Sam came around and we avoided any throw up. Whew. Once he was settled, we did enjoy the amazing view, ignored buying any more souvenirs, and I got into the van. On this stop, one of the men had given Connie a cool tree frond flower thing, but like me before, she got swindled. Upon entering the van, the guy wanted payment. Poor Connie. She dug through her purse, found some coins, and headed back. Soon enough, though, she came back with those coins still in her hand. Apparently, they don't take American coins on St. Lucia. Only cash. So Connie got her flower for free. I'm sure the guy was thrilled.
On this part of the van trip, I tried my best to keep Sam watching the scenery outside to avoid the car sickness, but I could still tell he was struggling. Luckily, we didn't have that far to go to get to the mud baths. You knew you were close when you could smell the sulfur. I was sure that would help Sam's stomach...not.
We parked at the mud baths and got out, and Sam said he needed to use the bathroom. And poor kid...sure enough, the car ride had finally gotten to him. A few throw ups later, though, he seemed a bit better. Still, not the ideal way to enjoy an excursion. When that was over, we reconvened with the group and got ready to do these mud baths. We all stripped to our swim suits and headed over. Before us was a small but deep pool full of dark grey water. And it was spicy hot. We waded through it and got out at the other side. We walked through a small muddy river and looked up to see steam rising from the Earth. Just above us, the sulfur enriched air was letting out pockets from the clear magma underneath. That is what was warming the water. Strewn around us were big buckets of the mud as well, and they encouraged us to load our bodies.
There were two types of mud. One was a white grey, which went on easily and came off easily. The other was a dark grey almost tar like mud. This, we all learned, did not come off so easily. Sure enough, I'd find little black marks on me all the way back to the ship. If I had known this tar like stuff was so hard to remove, I would have just skipped it. As such, we didn't know, so our entire group loaded up on the stuff and looked like walking mud puddles. After allowing it to dry, we went back into the small but deep pool and then headed over to some very rudimentary showers. Boy, these were fun. By the time you were ready to get the sulfur smell off you, the "showers" produced a very light and inconsistent drizzle. I think I stayed under the shower for 10 minutes. We all got as much of the mud as we could off and then got dressed. Needless to say, visiting a mud bath sounded cooler in the excursion description. Now, we just all smelled like rotten eggs and had little black dots all over our bodies.
We piled back into the van and had a VERY short drive over to a nearby plantation. We would eat lunch here and then explore before heading to the catamaran. We entered an outdoor eating area and walked through the buffet. The food was fine...well, I'm not telling the truth. It was mostly fine. But they did have some fried fish that was AMAZING. Everything else was okay to me, but man this fish. And I'm not a huge fried fish fan. Sam, however, wasn't enjoying lunch. So then I got an idea. The fried fish...well, it looked like a flat chicken tender, right? So I patiently sat and told the boys that this was fried chicken. And sure enough, all the kids not only ate it, but they all wanted seconds. Yep, my kids tore through fried fish. All it took was a little white lie. And don't judge me. Every parent reading this knows that you must sometimes go to great lengths to get your kids to eat.
After lunch, we got a tour from our fabulous still unnamed tour guide. It was pretty informative. This used to house slaves and you saw the terrible conditions they lived in. You also saw the various plants that they used to treat various ailments, and then we saw and learned how coffee beans are extracted and prepared for use. It's a much more involved and fascinating experience than you'd think. Then, we learned about coconuts and watched a master husk and break into one. They extracted pieces for us to taste, and I must say, I wasn't a fan of that center piece of the coconut. It tasted...weird.
We picked up a few souvenirs, though not the one we needed. You see, during the trip to the mud baths, Sam had somehow broken a leg off one of his turtles. Prior to lunch, I saw those damn turtles EVERYWHERE. Now, at the plantation, they were nowhere to be found. But Sam was pretty upset. In fact, while driving down to the catamaran, he managed to break off a second leg. Lay off the turtle, Sam! What has it ever done to you? But I added turtles to my search and hoped we would indeed find another before we got back to port.
We arrived and did board our third (and final) catamaran of the trip. As we left, we got amazing views of the Pitons before the disappeared as we headed around the island. Prior to getting back to port, we would have one more stop at a beach for some swimming. I was pretty happy about it too, as I wanted the chance to get more of the sulfur stink off of me. As we pulled up to the beach, though, about 5 people crowded the sides of our catamaran. Talk about entrepreneurs. They rowed up to the catamaran and were setting their souvenirs on the side of it before we even had a chance to get off the catamaran. However, one of them had...those turtles! This was my chance. When we got Sam his two previous ones, we paid $5 for a pair. So I figured this would be the same. I asked how much for 2 (Miles wanted one as well).
$25. HAHAHAHAHA. Oh, and yes, I laughed. You know, I might get swindled when you put tree frond animals in my hand unknowingly, but if you're going to actively try to sell something to me, be prepared to lose this negotiation. I counter offered. $5 for both. He laughed. Okay, this was fun! Though, I think less fun for him once we began bartering. He went to $20, I stayed at $5. He went to $15. I stayed at $5. We went to $10, I stayed at $5. But when he said he wouldn't go below $10, I said "okay, I'll just wait until we get back to port and get them for $5. Shockingly, he said okay to the $5. Master barterer right here, folks!
After that was done, we did get off the catamaran and Lukas and Elisa went off to snorkel (apparently there were a ton of fish to see!). Even Miles did a little bit of it, albeit closer to shore. I, on the other hand, wanted to try some more sand art. This time, the boys wanted a sea turtle, and I had wanted to make one, since I had fond memories of Elisa and I making one on the beach in Seaside, Oregon, the day we got engaged. And I must say, my sea turtle ended up being righteous (does anyone get that reference?). It was awesome. I was very proud of it...maybe a bit more proud than I should have been. I'm surprised I didn't pull the excursion folks off the catamaran for a closer look. While I was building the sea turtle, though, I sat and watched a few of the souvenir people that had rowed to the catamaran getting in an argument. Apparently, they were getting each other's ways. Thankfully, it was only a war of words though.
Before long, they called us back on the catamaran, and we headed back to the port, stopping only briefly to see where the rich people stay while on St. Lucia.
And then, we were back on the ship. There was no time to swim (this was another full day excursion), but we did to our customary ice cream run. Well, the kids did their ice cream run with Elisa. I got pizza again. Hey, I'm as consistent as Sam! We all headed back to get showers as well, but sadly, even despite a good scrubbing, I still felt like I smelled like sulfur and my skin still had little black dots. Oh well, I tried my best. After everyone was clean, it was time to head to dinner.
As we had now visited every restaurant, it was time to start the circuit again, so we were back to Tiana's Place, this time with a Mardi Gras menu and parade! The kids had a ball. I had great fun too...eating way more than I should have!
I started with only one appetizer (sausage fritters), but apparently the shrimp and grits were the star appetizers of the meal. I couldn't resist two soup/salads though. I started with a Cajun Pepper Pot and added an Iceberg Salad. Thankfully for everyone, though, I only got one entree - prime rib. It was all delicious. However, the real star of the show (and this is saying something, since I don't like desserts) was...the dessert! I ended up getting two. First, we got some fresh beignets. WOW. Incredible and I love me some of those. Second, they had a Bananas Foster sundae, which was just to die for. Honestly, so good. This was one of my favorite meals of the cruise, matching the earlier French one with the escargot.
After dinner, Elisa headed back to the room for her nightly rest while the rest of the crew were off to tonight's show...A Frozen Musical! And it wasn't half bad. It was pretty impressive to see them put that on, and Sam especially loved the music. Kudos to Elsa, who belted out Let It Go like a champ. Yeah, she was really good. After Frozen, we headed into the gift shops and very quickly, I realized that they were starting to run low on souvenirs. Captain Mickey, one of the key stuffed animals Miles had wanted, was sold out. Not taking chances, He got Pluto, Goofy, and Donald, so we wouldn't lose out on those. Sam was still pining for a Golden Mickey, but I didn't buy one just yet. I mean, they were running out of souvenirs but they still had 1,268 Golden Mickeys left so I wasn't feeling the pressure.
And with that, we headed back to the room for another good night's sleep. One more day of wonderful fun, but still one day closer to the end of the trip. Again, sad.
For next time, we head to our last port, watch terrible parenting, our tour loses a hard hat, we literally lose Miles on the ship, dress like pirates, and see fireworks on the ocean.
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