St Lucia east coast video

I compiled my Dennery,  Laborie and Vieux Fort media into a video to finish off my stay here in St Lucia before I head north to my next destination of Martinique.  Hope you enjoy.

Dennery, St Lucia

Dennery,  is a fishing port on the eastern side of St Lucia about in the middle of the island.  The church is the only conspicuous building in town.

The local fishermen had just finished selling their catch when I arrived. 

The streets were not very wide, with no room to park your car (not that any could afford one) and the houses were quite small.

The town square was empty but very well groomed.

The graveyard looked as though it had run out of room.

People in town were quite friendly but busy getting ready for Saturday night's event of the week (besides church that is.) The local fish fry.

Laborie, St Lucia

Laborie is about a 10 minute bus ride north west of Vieux Fort. It has a wonderful little downtown area next to a beautiful beach and get this......It even has a library.

Of course the church is front and center of every community here in St Lucia.

This one was gorgeous inside.

I stopped and had a delicious lunch and a drink for $10.

This is the center of town with a small market where you can buy locally produced fruits and vegetables.

Rents are around US$200 a month for a nice 2 bedroom place close to the beach and bars that sell the local "Piton" beer for $1. Whenever I discover these little gems I notice that Canadians holiday makers can be found stretching the value of their dollars and so it was here.

More than anywhere else that I have been in St Lucia so far, and I haven't been everywhere yet, I felt not just safe but actually welcome here. This place gets my thumbs up as the best place on St Lucia for a vacation .

Vieux Fort, St Lucia

Today I wanted to travel to the southern most town on the island so I first caught a bus to Castries and then across the center of the island to the east coast.

The middle of St Lucia is very hilly, lush and reportedly full of snakes.

The east coast faces the constant trade winds so it is windy, less populated and has fewer tourist attractions than the west coast.  These winds help planes land and takeoff though and with the only real flat land on the island next to Vieux Fort, it makes for the ideal location for the Hewanorra International Airport.

Vieux Fort has a very busy main street. 

Most of the trade is done on the street by these small business owners selling locally sourced produce.

There is a new Plaza in town however with a good sized supermarket.

Here is the park in the center of town called Independence Square.

Opposite St Paul's Church which surprise, surprise is an Anglican Church. BTW, this is also known as the Church of England or Episcopalian.

Even though the town lies right on the water's edge, there is not much of a waterfront.

Marigot Bay Village, St Lucia

There is a small town at the top of the hill above my marina that has a small grocery store, souvenir shop, bar and restaurant that I walk by on my way to the main road to catch a bus.

There are some quite nice, cosy, little retreats, with great views around the bay.

Colorful, less expensive houses nearer to the main road.

And some with boat only access on the northern shore.

But as with the world all over, this is where all the action is.

Distillery Tour

The rum distillery is just a few miles from my marina in the beautiful Roseau Valley.

They have tours Monday to Friday in the morning for $10.

Originally they grew sugar cane on the island but nowadays the molasses is imported from Guyana in Africa.  They still grow some sugar cane out the back of the distillery for experimental purposes.

The molasses is a byproduct of the sugar crushing process and it is combined with water in the ratio of 1 to 3 and then fermented in these 400 gallon concrete vats.

That creates an 8% alcohol liquid that is then distilled in these pots.

They distill it one more time before being stored in these oak whiskey barrels imported from Kentucky.

After several years,  the rum is bottled and I got a chance to sample some of their products.

Rodney Bay and Gros Islet

Today I caught a bus up to the north side of the island to Rodney Bay and Gros Iset and wow, what a difference. Fedex, 2 lane roads, shopping malls and even traffic jams. I had found the affluent part of St Lucia.

Whereas all the locals down near Marigot Bay speak Patois, all the locals up in the north speak English. The houses are much nicer as well.

There is a huge marina in Rodney Bay that can accommodate 253 boats in slips.

And lots of marine stores nearby and a boat yard next to the marina.

There is a small community on the other side of Rodney Bay called Gros Islet, that is famous for it's Friday night Jump up party.

But it was definitely on the quiet side when I was there. Even the church was deserted.

One of the few stores that was open was a stand where Maria sold me one of these fried lentil fritters along with a golden sugar apple drink.