The Pitons (Volcanic plugs), Saint Lucia

Rodney Bay

December 28, 2017

Hello,

My flight from Miami yesterday arrived safely and without incident.  (To be honest I was surprised, shocked is a better word, that on a four-hour international flight, American Airlines charges $25.00 for the first checked bag and charges for food!)

Captain Bill met me at the Hewanorra Airport at Vieux Fort and we drove for about two hours to Rodney Bay Marina where I boarded his boat, the SV Cajucito.   After Bill provided a brief orientation to the yacht accommodations, we enjoyed a delicious Italian dinner at Elena’s Café at the marina.

Today we took a long drive through the mountains and down to a major attraction on the island: The Pitons: Gros Piton and Petit Piton.  In French, “piton” is an alternate word for “peak.” 

Actually, the two enormous “peaks” looking out over the Caribbean Sea are not really mountain peaks.   They are volcanic plugs.

Back to Rodney Bay, we stopped for a refreshing sorrel juice.

Tomorrow we leave the marina and head south to St. Vincent and the Grenadines. 

My “Maiden Voyage” on a sailing vessel.

See you on deck.

Jan

 

PS   The answer to the Geography Quiz:  One of the Windward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, Saint Lucia was named after Saint Lucy of Syracuse by the French, who were the island's first European settlers.  It is the only country in the world named after a woman.  Legend states French sailors were shipwrecked here on 13 December, thus naming the island in honor of Sainte Lucie.