I had always heard about the beauty of St. Lucia, and as we flew into the airport I could see that the island would live up to its reputation. St. Lucia is a mountainous country, with lush foliage and rain forests. The mountains run down to the water, with small beaches scattered around the island. The two Pitons are the signature mountains of St. Lucia. The view of them from the water takes your breath away. No matter where you stay, you must eventually climb steep stairs to get where you are going. We stayed at the Ti Kaye Village resort. We counted 162 stairs down from the hotel area to the beach, where the dive boat picked us up every day. Of course, the same staircase had 400 steps going back up.

The resort was wonderful. We each had our own little casita, which had a veranda, complete with hammock, rocking chairs and table; a large bedroom with a king-sized canopied bed, a walk-in closet(actually a room); and a bathroom. The bathroom had a door which led to the outdoor shower, with hot and cold running water. It was the most wonderful surprise. I think I took 6 showers the first day. It was glorious.

The food was excellent, and we enjoyed the pool every afternoon, along with the Happy Hour. I must congratulate Joe and Cheryl Cherubini from International Scuba Diving for the terrific trip they put together.

Of course, the diving is the most important part of the trip. We used Scuba St. Lucia as our dive operators and we had a boat for ourselves. As I said earlier the mountains run down to the sea, so visability is limited(20-25 feet, sometimes), due to runoff.

Contributing to low visibility are the currents that run continually. Currents in St. Lucia can be tricky, as the current can suddenly change direction in the middle of your dive. Sometimes, since I am a photographer and I bring up the rear in the group, I would see the group coming back at me, due to the change in current. I would then reverse my direction and follow them, only to see them once more coming at me. Most currents were easy to deal with, however, there were a few 1 1/2 knot to 3 knot currents on some dives. I asked and was told that the currents run all year.

The corals and sponges were beautiful and prolific. Alot of the diving is in a marine sanctuary, so the coral and sponges were in pristine condition. We saw seahorses, scorpionfish, many, many spotted drums, and the other usual denizens of the deep. However, there were no rays, nurse sharks(or sharks of any kind), few parrotfish and angels. This was very unusual for the Caribbean. I am not sure if the currents had anything to do with this.

I had a great time on St. Lucia. We spent our no diving day touring the volcano, the mineral baths, a rum plantation and the botanical gardens. The island is indeed beautiful and the people very friendly.

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