Pigeon Island, St. Lucia
20.03.2023
28 °C
Pigeon Island is not an island anymore. In the 1970s a causeway was built to link the islet to St.Lucia and the wide sandy beaches on the causeway became the home of some fancy resorts.
But there is still plenty of room for us to enjoy some time on the shore under the palm trees…
With a bit of beach lounging and some kayaking out of the way we took off into the highlands to explore the rainforest by aerial tram...
We were accompanied by Christine Von Blockland, the award winning travel writer and host of the American PBS travel show – Curious Traveler - who just happened to be a fellow guest aboard Star Pride…
We had some great views of St. Lucia from the top of the mountain...
The flowers were exotic but, like much of the vegetation, they are not indigenous. 
With their perpetually warm tropical climate, the Caribbean islands have been used for the commercial production of many exotic fruits and spices. Sugar seems to have been the main crop on many of the islands until the Europeans discovered that sugar could be more economically produced from sugar beets in the 1970s and 80s. While some sugar production was switched to making rum, many farmers simply gave up and became tour guides.
The islands of the Caribbean are the tops of an undersea mountain chain, and some are still volcanic, so there is not a lot of flat land. That’s particularly true of St. Lucia where two volcanoes, The Pitons, can be seen for many miles.
Before St. Lucia became independent in 1979 it had changed hands 14 times between the British and the French. However, it remained in British hands until independence and the lifestyle and education of the residents is still very much in the British tradition.
Cricket is the national sport of the West Indies and it is difficult to believe that these few small islands have produced some of the finest cricketers of all time. The West Indies cricket team won the world cup twice and have won many other trophies.
Posted by Hawkson 18:41 Archived in Saint Lucia
Your post from Pigeon Island brings back happy memories for me. I stayed on Sainte-Lucia with an Anglo-French family for a few days before going to Martinique and then Barbados. The father had used Tricolore at school and I used a photo of his house and garden in another French book for Caribbean schools.
Pigeon Island was really special and not touristy at that time (2011).
Look forward to reading more about the other islands.
Where next?
H xx
by Heather MT