Whales and dolphins and pirates, oh my!

9 January 2012

Castries, St. Lucia

We docked in the capital of St. Lucia this morning just after 7am. You can tell we are now in the Caribbean proper as there were 2 other larger cruise ships in harbour within the hour from other companies. It makes for a crowd on any of the islands. Thankfully, our goal was not the island itself but the waters around it.

Christopher Columbus is given credit for stumbling upon St. Lucia (but then again, they give him credit for North America too – and he never set foot there). Apparently there is some argument about that but I am not inclined to join the debate. Suffice it to say, someone found it, someone else (namely the French and the British) fought for it, dragged slaves across and ocean and made them grow  sugar cane and other things.  In this instance, the French took first victory and it looked like a done deal until there was more fighting for the West Indies as a group and eventually the Treaty of Paris (1802) ceded the island to the Brits and it remained with them until 1967 when it became a protectorate and finally in 1979 – it became an independent nation within the British Commonwealth. At a brief glance they sell a lot of jewelry, tourist crap and cruise holidays here. Looking deeper there is fishing, tourism, oil and cane, cocoa and other agricultural products.

It is a beautiful island with many hills and valleys and no real rhyme or reason to its design. There are many small bays and harbours and hidden waterfalls and spectacular rock formations as you look along the coastline. Apparently people are known to get motion sick when driving across the island because of the constant curves and hills. Great views from many of the locations though.

We were off the ship and down at the docks by 8:30 to board a small fishing vessel and start the hunt for whales (well, not hunting them – just seeking them!).  It was a fun rock and roll ride as we were riding on the 2^nd level of a small boat (people prone to sea sickness ought not to read this bit) and bouncing happily through and over the waves around the island. There was some minor concern amongst the 6 of us that we had been booked on a “three hour tour” (reference to Gilligan’s Island for those of you who did not pick up on that!) but Captain and crew seemed genial enough in an island sort of way. They were happy to demonstrate they had everything we needed for a pleasurable outing – a sturdy boat, a radio, life jackets and lots of rum punch…hmmm.

The first hour progressed with no sightings of any kind and some people were getting grumpy though you are always warned on whale watching tours that nature schedules the sightings, not the people wanting to see whales. Still there are those who argue the point.  Anyway – at the hour and a half point we were rewarded for patience by a brief yet exciting view of 2 pygmy sperm whales. Sorry – no photos thanks to the whales’ speed and whatever the glitch with this stupid internet thing is all about.  Suffice it to say – we saw them and there are those who would corroborate that statement.  Shortly thereafter we ran into a large school of dolphins that were more than happy to play around our boat for the next ¾ hour or so. They leapt, they played, they raced us, they surfed in our wake and then they did it all again only this time synchronized with up to 20 of them in a row in the wave behind us. Dolphins are always a cheery sight – though they did make us think of Rupert back at home. If re-incarnation exists we are pretty sure he had a previous life as a dolphin or some such similar ridiculous creature.

Unfortunately, that was the end of the noteworthy sightings. Moby Dick declined the invitation to have his photo taken though we were assured that sperm whales had been sighted the day before. Ah well, the ride, the views of the island and the sun and surf all made for a great morning.

Back ashore we retired to a spot with table, umbrella, local refreshments and good company and swapped stories of world travels. Interestingly, 4 of the 7 of us at the table had been to Antarctica and we are pretty sure that we convinced the other 3 that they were missing out on something grand indeed.

Well there WERE quite a few of us...!!

We did not get time to explore the island itself. That will have to wait for another holiday somewhere in the future. For now we shall dream of whales, reggae music and breezes under palm trees.

Wish you were here?? 

postscript - tonight our British friends dined dressed as pirates - complete with cutlasses, hooks for hands and parrots. We laughed much and added some years to our lives.