Capt. Shane’s Top 10 St. Lucia Spots for Cruisers

St Lucia is an island nation in the middle of the Windward Islands of the Eastern Caribbean. I’ve had the good fortune of visiting here several times to explore and this was my home during the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic. The island is fully navigable along the west coast and has some nice harbors, amazing geological features, and a beautiful rain forest to hike in. Follow me as I take you on a tour of my top ten spots in St Lucia. 

10. Castries

While the towns of the Eastern Caribbean are not typically the highlights of those islands, Castries has some interesting things to see. I found the Minor Basilica of the Immaculate Conception to be a beautiful church. In fact, it is one of my favorites in the Eastern Caribbean. The La Toc Battery is a gun emplacement protecting the harbor back in the day and the market is a delight to walk through and see the various fruits, vegetables, handicrafts, and other items (the market is kind of hit or miss depending upon the day).

9. Diamond Falls Botanical Garden

Many of the items on this list are going to be located around the town of Soufrière, in the southern third of the island, and this botanical garden is no different. Here you have an opportunity to walk among the rain forest and see many of the beautiful flowers without having to do much of a hike and the waterfall is a very popular place to hang out.

8. Rodney Bay

At the north end of St. Lucia is a large bay surrounded by a beautiful beach where many of the island resorts are located. From a boater’s point of view this bay is very nice due to its large size, the marina that can handle many aspects of cruising life, and easy access to Customs & Immigrations. In my opinion the biggest highlight of Rodney Bay is Gregory “The Fruit Guy”. This gentleman is a ray of sunshine that comes around in his interestingly decorated small boat to sell all kinds of fruits and veggies to the cruisers. He will easily become a highlight of the day for you.

7. Snorkeling

I have had the opportunity to snorkel all along the west coast of St Lucia, from Pigeon Island all the way down to Vieux Fort, and have loved everywhere I’ve gone. One of my favorite spots, due to a shipwreck in the middle of the bay and beautiful coral formations, is Anse Cochon. Just so you know snorkeling will come up again in later entries on this list.

6. Hiking & Waterfalls

As with many of the Eastern Caribbean islands, St Lucia is volcanic in origin and therefore is mountainous. This captures a lot of the moisture that comes down in rain and makes it a very luscious and dense rain forest filled with many waterfalls. You can almost pick anywhere on the island to start a hike into the interior and you will see beautiful flowers, a thick rain forest, and a waterfall or two. One of my favorite waterfalls was Anse la Raye Waterfall, which was easy for me to start hiking from my anchored boat.

5. Marigot Bay

This bay is quite interesting because it is geographically isolated due to the surrounding hills and the bay itself is actually split into two by a sand spit that has become a popular beach. The inner bay offers protection during hurricanes with a nice marina there willing to help with anything you need. My favorite part of this bay was the snorkeling and specifically lionfish hunting that I did along the coast north and south of the bay. Lots of fun and environmentally helpful as it helps reduce this invasive species.

4. Bat Cave

Three of the final four spots on this list are around the town of Soufrière. The first is the Bat Cave located on the north side of the harbor along a cliff at the base of a hill. There’s a tall slit in the cliff that you can snorkel into and it is filled with bats. While the bats were really cool, what I loved the most is snorkeling into and out of the cave with all the amazing coral around it. This is one of those places that you are going to enjoy much more if you take your own dinghy versus taking a tour boat since they just spend a moment to go into and then come out of the cave with their speed boat and then leave for other locations.

3. Pigeon Island National Park

Let’s jump to the north end of the island where you will find Pigeon Island, which is no longer an island since a causeway has been built connecting it to the main island. The British used this strategic location to build Fort Rodney to keep an eye on the French over in Martinique to the north, which can be seen from Signal Hill. Many of the buildings from the fort are in ruin, but still visible and this is a great spot to visit for history buffs.

2. Qualibou Volcano (Sulphur Springs)

Back down in Soufrière we go in order to visit the only drive-in volcano in the Caribbean. The ability to drive down into a volcano is interesting and quite the experience. Once in you will visit the caldera and see a bubbling sulphur spring with several steam vents. One of the highlights of this tour is stopping at the mud baths where you can paint yourself with both light and dark color mud in the stream of warm water coming from the above-mentioned sulphur spring.

1. The Pitons

Geologically speaking this World Heritage site is amazing. These two volcanic plugs rise straight up from the water. In fact, you’re able to moor so close to them that one morning I did not realize how late it was due to it still being dawn-like lighting even though it was 10am. Turns out I was still in the shadow of the piton. Both of the Pitons (French for peak) are hikeable with Gros Piton being 200 ft taller (2619 feet) and the easier gentler hike while Petit Piton (2438 feet) is so steep that most of the hike is more of a rope climb and is not officially sanctioned without a guide. Of course, I took the more strenuous course of Petit Piton. From the top you can see many of the neighboring islands. Once you are done with the 4–5-hour hike you will want to cool off in the water, which also offers good snorkeling. The Pitons are quite the site and easily the number one spot in St Lucia.

Shane McClellan has written for ALL AT SEA since 2016.