Enjoying my stint in de Caribbean mon! This tour explores 3 different islands: St Lucia, Dominica & Martinique.
My favourite is Dominica, known as Nature Isle. Given the Latin name for Sunday as it was discovered by Christopher Columbus on a Sunday! Rain here is known as Liquid Sunshine & there’s been plenty of it!
We spend a couple of nights in the highest village, Laudat at 600m. We trek in the Morne Trois Pitons National Park, a World Heritage Site. The most famous walk is to Boiling Lake, the 2nd largest boiling lake in the world after the one in New Zealand.
Went whale watching & saw several sperm whales. Many species of whales & dolphins can be seen if you are lucky.
Dominica is home to 3000 Carib Indians who were the original inhabitants of most of the Caribbean islands. This is the only island where they still live & have their own territory. They originally migrated from North America to South America then across to the Caribbean.
St Lucia was a British colony until independence on 22 February 1979. Queen Elizabeth is still the Head of State & a very young portrait of her can be seen on the local Eastern Caribbean Dollar banknotes.
Gros Piton & Petit Piton are two volcanic plugs & the most famous landmark for the whole of de Caribbean. The view over the whole island (on a clear day) from the top of Gros Piton is fantastic.
Martinique, named after St Martin by Columbus is an overseas department of France. ‘On parle francais’ & uses Euro!
The old capital St Pierre was destroyed by Mt Pelee, now a dormant volcano but erupted in 1902 killing the entire population, between 30 000 – 38 000 people except one prisoner who was well protected from the poisonous gases & heat in his underground cell. He became a hero when he was discovered after 4 days & toured the US with an American circus showing off his burns!
Martinique is famous for rum. Most of the sugar cane grown on the island is to produce rum. There are many rum distilleries & only one sugar factory!
The local lingo is Creole but is different on each island so the locals communicate with each other in English & French.
Dominica & St Lucia are very lush. It’s like travelling through a huge botanical garden: coconut palms, banana plantations, papaya, avocado, grapefruit, pineapple, breadfruit (introduced by Captain Blyth on board The Bounty), nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, cocoa & cashew nuts.
As they say in de Caribbean mon, Be Happy & Relax, Yeah!
If you would like to explore these varied and beautiful Caribbean islands, then try our ‘Windward Isles & French Antilles‘ tour, where you too can experience jungle trails, bird watching, snorkeling over coral reefs and relaxing on palm-fringed beaches.
