Soufriere and Sugar Beach

We slept the best last night.  Thank goodness!  The first night was a wash for me.  The wilderness provides such a variety of noise that usually people can just drift to sleep with their natural sound machine in the open air suites.  Not me.  I'm the world's lightest sleeper and any noise heard, my brain fixates on and I have trouble sleeping.  So, the animals, wind and rain kept me wide awake on night 1.  But, either the ear plugs or tired body from our hike helped me stay sound asleep until the morning light and I was so well rested. We decided to take it easy this morning, then head out to the beach for a bit and explore the nearby town of Soufriere.

It was a beautiful view of our hiking accomplishment (mnt off in the distance.)

Down in the Piton bay, there were a couple boats, and the Petite Piton was, once again, displaying its beauty.

Dasheene, the restaurant at the resort, has a magnificent view.  It was a beautiful place to eat daily, especially breakfast when the bright morning sun was shining.  We enjoyed the organic breakfast each morning.....granola, yogurt, fruit bowl, and an assortment of pastries.  Each morning there was freshly squeezed juices, too!  It was always something different and unique to the island during the season.  Cherry, guava, passion fruit, mango, callaloo were the ones we had......they all were so yummy!  I might not be a coffee fan, but I sure love some juice!

Behind me are the rooms of Ladera on the edge of the mountain. 

Ladera has shuttles down to Sugar Beach, located between the Pitons.  It was a gorgeous white sandy beach.

The Gros Piton looked even bigger from the sea level view.

Yep, we climbed that.  And that's why we are sitting on the beach today.  Haha!

The waters were calm.

That afternoon, we caught a tour from the resort to see some touristy stuff that everyone says to do on the island.  The first stop was the drive in volcano.  St. Lucia has an active volcano.

If it's bubbling that's good!  That means it's release energy and not close to erupting.  Now when it stops, they said run!  :)

 The nearest town to Ladera was Soufriere about 10 minutes away. 

 It was pretty with the different colored roofs along the coast.

 We liked seeing all the boats anchored in the bay.    Then we stopped at the Botanical Gardens.

 We saw Diamond Falls and relaxed in the warm, fresh mineral baths at the Gardens.  We did not factor in the extra hour for the mud bath and had dinner plans so had to skip out on that part.  I think it would have been fun, though.

 Toraille Waterfall was next on the stop.

 This fall is not fed by the volcano so the water is cold. 

 I let Kevin brave it first.  And through his persuasion,

I got in.  Yes, it was freezing, especially since it was late in the afternoon and the sun wasn't really out.

We went in to Soufriere for dinner with our hiking friends at a local joint.  Petite Peaks was right on the bay and a neat experience.  We were the only tourists in the place, very cool.  We both ate red snapper.....they cook the whole fish and give it to ya like that!  I was not a big fan of having to pick around the bones (because I was not good at it at all!)  Definitely an experience but it was good eatin'!