The sun rose this morning at 6:20. At 7:22 I watched from the starboard as the sun rose between the dramatic peaks of the Pitons with Soufriere Bay glimmering in the immediate distance. I could not imagine a more dramatic scene. At 8:30 we boarded our tenders for the short motor into the harbor of Soufriere. The physical setting is very dramatic as the town of Soufriere (population 12,000) is actually situated at the west end of an ancient caldera, which volcano blew the western ridge of the mountain chain away about 39 thousand years ago. The name of the town means “sulphur air” which would be become very clearly evident when we drove inside the great ancient caldera.
We began our tour of the volcano with a brief interpretative film and then we walked to the caldera’s smoking edge. Once at the the caldera the fumes from the boiling cauldron bubbling with molten rock, sulfuric gases (hydrogen-sulfide), and a mud water mixture were pungent. Our guide was a life long native of the area and knows the island lore. The smell of sulfur became very strong, especially when the wind shifted. The heavy presence of sulphur in the air, however, is a good sign that the pressure from beneath is escaping and not silently building waiting to explode.
After leaving the caldera we drove to the Diamond Botanical Garden, a gift to the island by the owners, the Du Boulay family. The Du Boulays received the land from King Louis the XIV in 1713 and the present owner is a lineal descendant. The garden is a cornucopia of tropical plants of every variety from the spectacular heloconias with their blinding vivid yellows and reds to the wonderfully stately nutmeg trees. The bamboo is the national plant of St. Lucia and can grow 8 inches a day and reach 50 feet tall and 6 inches in diameter. We spent an hour in the garden and after our visit we returned to our vans for the very short drive to the center of Soufriere. The town center is being completely redone and the visuals for the finished product are very attractive.
Our next adventure was the wonderful swimming and snorkeling Hummingbird Beach. The fish were here in massive abundance and the corals were beautiful. Ian and Patti were helping the snorkelers with identifying the different species. After lunch Tom Heffernan gave a talk on the Rastafarian religion. As if this wonderfully full day was not sufficient, the kitchen staff prepared a scrumptious bar-b-cue on the Lido Deck, including a full roast pig and a large yellow-fin tuna. But perhaps the pièce de résistance of the day was the performance of traditional sea chanties by our very own Sea Cloud Chanty Gang.
We all went off to bed utterly satisfied with this wonderful day.
