St. Lucia part 2

Our boat tour stopped in Soufriere where we changed to a taxi. Whoa! For those of you who have been to Puerto Rico, driving here on our island is a piece of flan compared to St. Lucia. That was crazy!

 But our driver was great. He got us "there" in one slightly shaky piece.

"There" was the caldera of semi-active volcano. Steam from deep underground constantly escapes through cracks and fissures in the rock that caps the volcano. There is a pervasive smell of sulfur from the sulfur dioxide dissolved in the steam. Our guide told us as long as we can smell the sulfur the concentrations are relatively low and not harmful over a short run. She said if you see steam but don't smell sulfur, then the concentrations are toxic and lethal. That's also one indicator the volcano is getting ready to blow. The last time this volcano erupted was over two hundred years ago. Some think it's about due to erupt again.

Then back in the taxi for quick ride from the volcano to a rain-forest waterfall.

The forest lived up to it's name; it started raining just as it was about time to leave. Back in Soufriere (safely) we got back on our tour boat for a pounding 10-minute ride in the rain. But....

Literally just as we reached our next stop, a small sandy cove where we stopped to snorkel, the rain stopped.

Most of the cove was sand bottom so not much interesting to see (the cool stuff is at the edges). The rocks at one end looked much more promising.

  

Sure enough - 

This area is a marine preserve. Apparently there are a number of them around the island. They don't make a big deal out of it. There are no big signs, just one old rusted sign on shore that tells you you are leaving the preserve area. For the Lucians it appears to be enough just to say "this is a protected area." It that way they are light-years ahead of us. 

St. Lucia is my/our next go-back-to island. I really want to explore much more of it. And I want to dive there. Not to get too far ahead of the story, but a couple we dove with in St. Kitts told us the best dive they've ever done was in St. Lucia. This couple has been diving all over, including more than one trip to Bonaire, the dive mecca. And the Pitons in St. Lucia was their best dive ever? Definitely gotta go back there!