Honeymoon - Day 3 "volcano, botanical garden, and snorkeling"

Today we woke up early once again to go on our first excursion. We met up with our new friends Brent and Jamie to take our tour of the city of Soufriere, a drive-in volcano, a waterfall and botanical garden, snorkeling, boat ride, and a restaurant with authentic St. Lucian food. We began our day by having a wonderful breakfast in the main lobby and then packed up some towels and water for the trip.

The ride to the boat was bumpy - of course, but once we got onto the boat it was smooth sailing from then on out! The water was beautiful and so clear. I definitely could get used to being in St. Lucia and living in such a paradise. Throughout the trip we kept seeing a "pirate ship" - we later found out that the ship was the one used in Pirates of the Caribbean. It never occurred to me that the movie would be filmed there - crazy.

We made it to the town of Soufriere and when we were making our approach to the dock little boys were swimming towards to boat and jumping on - it was crazy! They were the cutest little boys - they would dance to the music and do flips off the boat. Once we ported we got off and into vans to headed towards the sulfuric volcano. We got to the volcano and all I could picture was this thing erupting and us running from the hot lava. Of course the thing smelt horrible - like rotten eggs. It was fun to visit though.

We got back into our vans and headed towards the botanical gardens and waterfall. The flowers were beautiful and there were so many colors and fragrances. The waterfall was perfect and of course a great spot for picture taking. After the waterfall and garden we headed towards the authentic St. Lucian restaurant. I was nervous that I wouldn't like the food since I am such a picky eater, but they had chicken and mac-n-cheese so I was set! We left the restaurant (that had a beautiful view!) and then went back to the boat to go and snorkel. Before casting off the same little boys that greeted us came back and were jumping off the boat with little flips and swimming back and forth.

John and I loved snorkeling - we watched all the bright and colorful fish swimming around. The water was so clear and fun to swim in - I would love to go back and snorkel for longer! We got back on the boat and then the party started.

The bar was stocked with run punch and the music was blasting. It was such a great time heading back - we were entertained by the captain's great dancing abilities and enjoyed the wind as the boat headed back towards home.

When we got back to Sandals John and I had dinner reservations at the French restaurant La Toc. The restaurant featured authentic French cuisine and was an okay place to eat. After eating we went to the main meeting place - where breakfast was each day - to watch the entertainment for the night. Afterwards we headed up to bed - another long and FUN day!