Today we went on a shore excursion, which consisted of a bus tour, lunch, and a boat ride with some snorkeling.

The bus ride took us through town and then up and over a couple hills to a little a fishing village called Canaries. It was pretty stereotypical, with the cool tiny fishermen’s boats and a little market with ALL the trinkets for the tourists. It was the first time we saw banana ketchup – which ended up being so intriguing that we came home with a bottle.

Then back on the bus to the Diamond Botanic Gardens, where we saw a bunch of awesome tropical flowers and took a hike to a little waterfall.

Lunch was at an old sugar mill (which I think was on the same grounds as the botanical gardens) and, then into Soufriere, which had a great view of the Pitons, the two giant volcanic peaks that St. Lucia is known for.

Then onto the catamaran that “sailed” us back to port – they put the sail up, but we were motoring, so I’m not sure what the point was… We pulled right up to a beach, where we got to swim and snorkel for a little bit.

When everyone was finished playing in the water and was back on board, the rum 🍹 punch started flowing (sadly, it was terrible – tasted like a glass of bad rum with a few drops of juice – but the bananas were awesome!), and the music started blasting. Everyone was dancing around – it was SO much fun!

When we got back to the port, we just had to walk around the corner to get back to the ship. We got ready for dinner and a show. We even managed to get to the Sky Lounge for a nightcap. I stayed up past 11:00!