As you approach St. Lucia from the south two large cone shaped volcanic plugs rise from the azure and emerald sea. These spectacular features, Gros Piton and Petit Piton, are often used as an icon for St. Lucia; even the national beer is named Piton. The Pitons are part of a World Heritage site that also includes a coral reef and several other volcanic features. The Pitons begged to be hiked. Okay, for some of us the 2, 619" Gros Ption and the 2,461" Petit Piton were too much to resist.
On Saturday we (ourselves and Ann and Steve on Receta) engaged a guide (necessary because of the protected status) to join us in a hike of the Gros Piton. The hike starts at 600 feet in elevation and in two hours we climbed to 2,619 feet. The four mile trail gets a lot of use and is in very good condition. The rapid ascent is made by steep trail and in some places, very large steps. The climb was defiantly an aerobic workout. As we climbed the vegetation became luxuriant; the trees were festooned with epiphytes and vines. The views were magnificent. The Petit Piton beckoned us.
By the end of the walk downhill our quads were a bit quivery and knees a bit achy, but a few Advil and the fresh tuna that Chuck and Barb on Tusen Takk caught on the way north to St. Lucia gave us the fortitude to hike the Petit Piton on Sunday.
Petit Piton is the shorter than it larger sister by 158 feet but defiantly a more challenging hike. The trail is steep and much of two miles is done in "four wheel drive", hands grabbing on to roots and in places hanging onto the ropes that are setup to help the climber. This is not a hike for the fearful of heights. There are narrow ledges and places were you grab a rope to ascend a nearly vertical piece of rock. The views from the top were even more spectacular than the Gros Piton. This Photo is taken on the south side of Petit Piton with Gros Piton in the foreground and St. Vincent barely visible in the distance.

I am sitting in the cockpit trying to write this and have had four major interruptions. A ship with cargo bound to Haiti sunk somewhere in the south end of St. Lucia and one of the containers was towed ashore in the Harmony Beach area, where we are lying on a mooring. The fishing boats towed the container towards shore but after an hour of looting the container started floating right at us. We dropped the mooring, moved, and picked up another mooring... well the story goes on for a while, so I thin I will just end here and post the saga of cargo container later.