Mystic Man Tour

Day 7

This morning, like every other, we woke up between 6 and 6:30am.  This morning, though, because we have chartered a boat to go up to Rodney Bay area we told the staff that they didn't need to come to cook breakfast, and then because we weren't here for lunch either we told them not to bother with dinner.  I spoke to them about it yesterday and when I told them that we didn't need them at all I could tell by the look on their faces that they wouldn't be paid for the day if they didn't come at all.  I told them that we wouldn't tell the Management company that they weren't here, but they said that they would come in the day and clean the washrooms and make the beds and then go if we were ok with that.

We were out of the house by just before 8:45am to go to the Mystic Man office in Soufriere. 

We chartered a boat for $1500USD for the day and we weren't sure what to expect so were SUPER happy when we found out that it was a Catamaran.  

A couple of the reasons we booked a boat was because the drive from our place to Reduit Beach, where we are headed first, it almost 2 hours and both Anthony and Maddy get car sick, Sophie too a little bit depending on the day and Jeff and Sarah didn't want to take their little Diahtsu Terios car on a drive all the way to the top of the island because they were concerned it wouldn't make it!  The reason we're going up to Reduit Beach at all is because Ellie did some research on St Lucia and found a floating water park online.  

I was also interested in seeing another part of the Island to see if St Lucia would be somewhere I'd be interested in coming back to but staying somewhere a little more lively - I would come back if a group were coming, but I wouldn't book another trip with just us I don't think.  I'm really glad we came and enjoyed being here though.

Sophie was a little nervous to get on the boat.  I had to call Jay over and get him to pick her up and physically take her onto the boat.  Once she got on though she was great.

The boat got underway at about 9:30am (beer time)

Soufriere from the harbour. 

The trip up the coast was stunning, it reminded me of the Napali Coast of Kuai'i with the lush hills and valleys.

A distant view of our house with a close up below. Ours is the white one in the middle. 

Andrew was showing us the sights and giving us info on St Lucia. Education is free including Community College, which is the highest level available on the Island. If you get a scholarship to go to University off Island then you have to come back and work for the government for 5 years. English is the language they speak in school. I asked why English when everything is French. He said that St Lucia was part of the British Commonwealth and for 150 years England and France had fought over it and it changed hands 7-9 times. In 1979 they got their independence from England and they celebrated on Feb 2nd which is why we have seen some flags hanging in the streets. Heathcare is free if you are over 65. You can buy insurance but the Dr wants to be paid in cash and you have to apply to be reimbursed. St Vincent and Martinique are both 24 miles off the coast of St Lucia. Busy season is Nov to May but busiest is Dec and Jan. The boat we chartered has a capacity of 50 passengers!!  Hurricane season is Oct to Nov but they haven’t seen a bad one since Tomas in 2010. 

Sophie was fine until about half way up the coast where we started to experience rolling waves that rocked the catamaran front to back.  I told her the trick that Andrew, one of the crew, had outlined in the beginning of the trip, to look out at a point that is stationary on the shore - so I had her focus on the tip of Pigeon Island in the distance and it really helped her to calm down and not have flip flops in her tummy.

Jonathan, the captain, brought the boat right up to shore and dropped some stairs between the hulls at the front.  

Avery, Sophie, Paige, Ellie, Jackson and Ty got off and the boat started to pull backwards, as we pulled further back I said "Where are we going?"  

Andrew said we were going to the Marina around the corner and down a canal because the rudder was touching.  I said "We can't go and leave just the kids on the shore!".  So Jay stripped off his shirt and sunglasses and dove off the front of the boat and swam to shore and at the same time a guy came to the boat on a Seadoo saying we needed an adult on shore, so Sarah C got on the back of the Seadoo and got a ride to shore as well.  As the Seadoo left a water taxi pulled up to the boat and charged $20USD to take the rest of us on shore.

We got the kids (and Jeff) all situated with life jackets and tickets for the floating splash park.  For an hour it was $13USDpp.   The lady who was taking payment stopped Sarah and talked to her about something she can use for Jackson's heat rash - she told her to pick leaves off the sour sop tree, soak them in warm water and then rub the leaves on his arms so Sarah messaged Jason, the property manager, to see if the staff could bring some leaves in the morning. We went to sit in a restaurant overlooking the water right in front and ordered lunch.  Several of us got the jerk chicken which was really good, with dirty rice and a salad.  Sarah ordered the whole grouper, grilled and we ordered for the kids and Jeff so that it would be ready when they came out of the water.

We had arranged for the water taxi to pick us up at 1:25pm and take us back to the boat but we weren't quite ready so I walked over to the launch and asked him to come back at 1:45pm.  Then, as we left the restaurant our crew must have seen us because as we walked up to the launch area our boat docked and picked us all up.  We saw the water taxi guy, from a distance, but he had passengers - if he had been on his way to us we would have given him $20 for his trouble.

When we got back on the catamaran Jonathan said that we didn't have time to stop in Castries for shopping because it would take 3 hours to get back to Soufriere.  I couldn't believe that it was going to take 3 hours to get back so he showed me his GPS based on water conditions.  I think that he could see the disappointment, especially in a couple of the kids faces, that we couldn't stop for souvenirs so he made a special trip into Castries after all and gave us 30 minutes to shop in a little market area that sold tourist junk.  The kids were in heaven!  

Everyone was wiped out from being in the sun, a few of the kids were sleeping covered in blankets in the boat to stay in the shade.  The conditions were fairly calm for the first half of the trip and then we had the rolling waves again - a bunch of us sat on the front of the catamaran in the hammocks ohhhhing and awwwwing as we rolled up and over the waves.  It was still a fun ride and Sophie never came out of the back of the boat so she must have been ok.

When we docked at around 5pm we got to the car and a local had washed our cars and asked for 'whatever you have for the bird man' in a creepy, druggy way.  I gave him $5 and Jeff gave him $2, the Corey's shut their doors, locked them and drove away - lol.

We drove up to the house and the Acorns immediately turned back into town to go to dinner while the rest of us decided to order pizza from Ruby's - Jay, Trev and Anthony went into town to pick it up.  I was SO hot that immediately I had to go into the pool to cool off.  We were in with Myah and Avery at the end and Avery was being goofy and trying to get us to guess what she was when she changed her hairstyle, starting with a front bun and then some actions and a neigh so we finally figured out that she was a unicorn.  By the end she was blowing air into her bikini top to puff up her chest and then mooned us!  Juls said "You are so like your father" haha.

Sarah texted me and she said we have a sour sop tree on the property and if I could check because its by the house, so I googled the tree - but all trees look the same to me!  So I asked the kids if Paul, the caretaker, had shown them a sour sop tree and Paige said she knew which one it was and took me right to it (I knew it was the right one because when I googled it the sour sop fruit is green and spiky).
So when Jeff got back from dinner I went down and showed him the tree and they made the concoction and put it on Jackson's arms (and this morning the bumps are all gone).

Jay and the guys got back with the pizza and it was SO good - we were all starving too so I'm sure that was part of it.  We had a cheese pizza for the kids, 2 hawaiino (I had asked for Hawaiian and she said we don't have Hawaiian we have Hawaiino but it has tomato sauce, mozzarella, ham and pineapple on it - ok, that's fine we'll have 2 hawaiino), we had 2 con carne (meat lovers) and 1 Ruby's which is like a meat lovers but with roasted corn, mushrooms and onions on it as well.

We ate and I went to bed.  Par for the course.  I came back up for some water shortly after and it was just Jeff, Anthony and Trevor watching YouTube.

I rarely blog on the travel day (which is today but tomorrow for you), so this is likely it.  We check out at noon and our flight leaves at 3:40pm.  The airport is about an hour away and we have to stop for gas to top up the tank as well tomorrow. 

We had a great trip!   Talking about Hawaii for next March as a group :)

Anse Chastenet

Day 6

Not much of a blog today!  No notes, few photos.

We did all the things we do every day (got up, hung out, had breakfast). We were supposed to head to the beach before breakfast today but it was raining a little so we didn’t go until after. Sarah and I went into town before breakfast and went grocery shopping for snacks for the day and bread. There was no bread at the grocery store so she went into the bakery down the road and got some more. 

Jay and Trev went diving this morning. 

When the rest of us got to the beach we rented beach chairs. Julia and I shared a set for $33USD and an umbrella. We parked under the umbrella while the kids played in the water. Then a few of them went snorkeling and came back and said it was amazing so Sarah and I  went over and snorkeled for half an hour or so, we saw lots of fish in the roped off area just to the side of the beach that has coral and sand. 

Around noon Juls, Anthony and Sarah went into the restaurant to get a drink and that ended up turning into all of us having lunch at the restaurant. Jay and Trev ended up skipping their second dive and came down to meet us. I ordered a burger with grilled pineapple, jalapeño and banana ketchup (which was a banana sauce). It was delicious. The girls shared a burger and Jay had cheesecake since he and Trev has eaten in town. 

This is the view out of the restaurant where we were sitting. 

Trev had been trying to take a photo of the bird that was flying in the restaurant. When he left it landed in his spot. 

The kids went snorkeling after lunch again and Ellie came back and said she saw a cool fish and she named it. What did she name it?  Nardy. Anthony said “Salty Nardy?”  Jeff says he’ll have to get her a book for slang words for mans junk. 

When we got back to the house we went straight in the pool. Jay, Sarah A and I came up first so I made a pitcher of sours to have when Trev and Juls got back. I had to resort to lime juice in a bottle which is NOT even close to fresh squeezed limes but better than not having the tequila at all!  I made a pitcher of Pina coladas to drink in the meantime and left a pitcher of virgin Pina coladas for the kids when they got back as well. 

We discussed again going on a river cruise on a small ship and renting out the entire ship. Some have only 32 passengers and one that Sarah looked up had rooms all the same with balconies, as opposed to one with several tiers of rooms so some are better than others and priced accordingly. Jeff had said if we go on one of those that we should still set a flat rate per room and have a contest day where the winners get the ‘master suite’. I explained that two things would happen -1- Whoever won Jay would just pay them to take that room and -2- he would only agree to this format if he didn’t have to have me as his partner. So true.  We’re thinking 2020, no kids, Cambodia and Vietnam, 7 days and then do your own thing to extend your trip - and have about 11 staterooms left if anyone is interested in coming!

Dinner was stewed chicken or fish, rice and veggies. Again it was delicious. 

I don’t know what happened after that because I went to bed!  It was 7:30pm. I read my book for a bit and was asleep before Jay and the girls came down. 

Diamond Waterfall

Day 5
 

I woke up at 6am this morning and did a little of the blog in bed before saying to Jay “I’m going to go up and be social”. He turned over and looked at his iPad and said “it’s 7am”. Yeah. “Why do you have to be social at 7am?”  Because I’m usually social at 6am, social writing my blog on the phone and then social reading my book. Lol. 

First thing when I got up Ty told me I missed my chocolate covered almond, which was served sometime after 7pm last night. Lol. And said he saved it for me in the freezer. 

It does look like a turd.

Jackson caught a small frog inside this morning. 

The boys all being social together.






 

Anthony asked me if I would come back here. To St Lucia, maybe if we see what Rodney Bay and Castries are like, but this area I think we have exhausted a lot of the activities here and the town of Soufriere isn’t worth coming to again and because it’s hard to get to (down the long, steep road to town) and then the restaurants aren’t open or super expensive or look sketchy, which explains why the house is staffed. The consensus is that we are all enjoying it here but no one would come back here. The beaches are also an issue that you have to rent chairs, like in Barbados but more expensive, and so far weren’t a good entry for the kids.

Finally finished the blog, there were so many photos it took forever!

Julia texted Steve this morning to say she missed him and he texted back “you only miss me because of the bats and cockroaches”. Then later sent a photo of porcupine quills he had pulled from Ozzy’s side after a walk. 

Sarah came over and asked Juls if the pizza got sorted out. Kobe had called Julia to get her to order pizza for him and have it delivered to the house (because he doesn’t have a credit card). So she did but when it was delivered Kobe and his buddies were in the basement and didn’t hear the knocking so the delivery guy called Juls but she missed the calls. So, yes, finally the pizza got sorted out - all the way from St Lucia. 

Sarah A laid down and asked what was up in the corner. I thought it was a piece of roofing or plastic but then it started moving and squeaking. It was a bat, and it had wedged its wing in the roof seam and was stuck. 

All the kids decided to watch Jay try to rescue it with a broom from the safety of the loft. 

Ellie shouted to Sarah “where are the chefs!?” It’s 8:57am, her stomach must have told her it was breakfast time!

The staff arrived shortly after 9am and started cooking bacon, eggs, pancakes and toast. The dishwasher doesn’t work, but Margaret and Georgiana said they would do the dishes from the night before.   Breakfast is typically ready around 10am. 

We eat lunch (today is tacos) at 2pm and then dinner when we’re hungry (tonight is Roti!  4 people independently asked if we could have roti so they bought roti in town and left it for us for dinner). 

Anthony lost his sunglasses yesterday by the pool so told the kids whoever found them could have $5USD. After an exhaustive search Ty finally put on goggles and checked the pool and found them on the bottom. The kids had looked EVERYWHERE, including down below the house. 

We left the house around 11:30am to go to Diamond Waterfall and botanical gardens. It takes a long time sometimes to get 16 people up and going. 

When we arrived we parked, paid and were met by Alexander a guide who works on tips.  He said they call him Mr Internet, that he has 5000 hits on YouTube. Very impressive. He knew a lot about the flora and spoke in a very aggressive cadence. 

Jackson caught a small lizard, which jumped from his hand onto my back. I was like “of course it did” as he recovered it off my shirt. Later it scurried out of his hand again towards Sarah A who screamed, almost fell and ran away. Lol. 

After Alexander had told us where about 7 trees and flowers originated from Sophie turned to me and mouthed “what. ever.”  She didn’t appreciate the tour. 

I tried to get Avery in the photo touching the flower (which Alexander had told them all to touch) with the sign in the bottom corner. 

Alexander had long, thick fingernails and at one point broke open a nutmeg nut and gave us all a little piece explaining that if rum punch doesn’t have nutmeg in it it’s not rum punch. Everyone casually dropped the nutmeg to the ground as we whispered “don’t eat anything from his hands”. 

After the waterfall the kids can go in the warm mineral baths. 

 From here we decided to go to another waterfall that the kids can go into the pool at the base. It wasn’t a far drive from where we were. The trade off was the water was COLD. 

From here we went home because there wasn’t time to hit the beach before lunch would be ready. So we promised the kids a beach day tomorrow, even if we went early before breakfast. Jay and I stopped for ice on the way home and the Corey’s with Trev and Julia and the girls went grocery shopping only the store closed at 1pm because it’s Sunday. But they stopped at a gas station and variety store and were able to pick up snacks and a few other things. 

I had thought we were out of rum but found another bottle. Yippee!

I came upstairs and said to Ty, who was the only one in the house “Ty, you have to tell your Mom how safe your trip here has been or she won’t let you back”. He said “Oh yeah, now where did I put my fur coat..” “Your fur coat?”  “My. Fruit. Cup.” Oh, lol, that makes more sense. 

Later, in the pool, we had a Mom Handstand Competition and then Sarah thought it would be a good idea to do a somersault contest too. Bad. Idea.

It was a long afternoon in the pool today and when we came up for Roti dinner it was almost 7pm. After eating I looked over at Juls beside me in a nice top and polka dot shorts and said “did iou dress for dinner?”  I was still in my swim suit and towel. Lol. 

After dinner I went to bed, surprise surprise but everyone had a dance party, as Anthony had predicted and as fun as it sounded I went to sleep.