Pirates of the Caribbean

Pirates, Pirates, Pirates, they are all over the news.  However, those are bad pirates, my story today is about good pirates.  Me to be exact!  My story begins with a trip to St. Lucia in the Caribbean.  We have been to St. Marrten and St. Barths (briefly) and decided it would be good to try another island.  Now don’t get me wrong, this is a very nice Island to visit.  But from my perspective St. Lucia might be more for those people who are really looking for peace and quiet and not so much activity.  There are a couple of  Sandal’s resorts there, and I suspect that these two resorts are where most of the tourists activities take place.  This Island may also be good if your trying to hide out after some serious Plastic Surgery, don’t worry no one will see you.

Now don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful island.  If your looking for lots of activities to do  every day, may I suggest St. Marrten, St. Croix or St. Thomas.  If your traveling by Cruise Ship and stop in port for half a day, you’ll have a blast.

I don’t want you to think we didn’t enjoy ourselves, because we did.  We did a Zip Line through the forest, which was very cool.  And had one of the weirdest and I mean weirdest dinner’s I have ever had at a resort called The Body Spa.  I am not saying this is a swinger’s club, but WOW the sexual vibe during dinner in the restaurant was palpable.  Besides people looking fabulous and trying each others dinner, I was expecting a full on, throw down, sex romp at any moment.  I’m no prude, but I remember that night vividly.  The two guys at dinner together watching me.  The two Ladies, one is a skin tight red dress, eyeing every man that walked in and nodding at them with a come hither look.  Wow, it was crazy.  Come to think of it, maybe that is reason enough to visit St. Lucia.  Wait, wait, back to my real story for the day…..

We rented a beautiful, very large home tucked away in the hillside along the coast over looking Fort Rodney and Pigeon Island.  The Island was fought over for 150 years between British and French forces before officially being ceded to the British Empire in 1814.  From atop Fort Rodney it is easy to imagine the Canons firing at French Warships.  The Pigeon Island National Park is a good hike to take, then just sit back and watch the beautiful water on the beach when your done.

My story brings us to the Pirates, well the Pirate Ship.  We opted to take a day long cruise around the island with stops along the way to swim and check out the St. Lucia Volcano and Sulfur Springs, they call it the only World’s Drive In Volcano and Sulfur Springs.

Then around the tip of the Island to view the Grand Piton and Petite Piton Mountains.  The Pirate ship we sailed on, was actually used in the filming of The Pirates of the Caribbean movies,  and a number of the crew were in the movies, so there was some fun with that.  We arrived early in the morning to get set up and ready to go on our fun filled day.  We packed snorkel’s, fin’s, everything needed to swim the beautiful Caribbean Waters.  Naturally the very first thing to do once aboard, was find a place to park ourselves, so we choose directly in front of the Bar, Yipee!

Back on The Black Pearl, we set out to sea matey, kids and all.  As we round the southern tip of the Island around the Grand Piton and Petite Piton Mountains, which are pretty darn majestic and beautiful.  We are sailing, drinking, sailing, swimming, sailing, drinking, sailing, you get the picture.  I am having fun with the kids playing around, swinging off the ship on a rope into the water.  Was a very nice day up to this point.

Then it happened…… The bad Pirate came out, me!  Maybe it was the Rum Punch’s or the sun and fun, or who knows what.  We are heading back late into the afternoon, the beautiful day was coming to an end.  Like watching a old lover slowly walking away from you and wondering, what comes next?  What will I do?  Naturally, I had another Rum Punch, after all I’m not steering this ship.  As we are sailing back, another boat comes along side of us, a party boat for sure.  This boat was filled with guys having a great time, and for the record, clearly way more Rum Punch than I had had all day.  They had music blaring, lots of screaming and laughing.  I was  a bit jealous.

As we are sailing along side of them, I was beginning to enjoy the music and watching these boneheads having fun without me.  So I naturally joined in, well the best I could from my ship.  I began to do the YMCA. I know, I know you don’t have to say it.  Then all of a sudden darn near every guy on that other boat comes up on deck and drops their shorts and moons us.  And to make matters worse, then they turn around.

Holy Cow, you would have thought I called Satan himself.  Every Parent on that ship stared at me in unison, and gave me “THE LOOK”.  I thought they were going to make me walk the plank while we were moving.  Next thing you know, all their lovely children come up to me and start shooting me with their water guns.  All the while their chimney smoking, over weight parents were chatting it up what a bad Pirate I was.  Ay matey, they don’t even know the half of it.

Good Pirate, Bad Pirate, were all Pirates and Piracy can be a nasty business with promises of great bounty and lasting historical significance, however mutiny can be just a moon away….

Happy Travels

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