On the southern part of St. Lucia lies the only known active volcanic spot in the island - Soufriere. The volcano last erupted in the mid 1800s but did not cause a lot of damage. However, since then the crater has been active, with sulfur springs and smoke. The sulfur gave the entire area the "rotten eggs" smell and reminded us of the Valley of Desolation in Dominica. Our tour guide explained that scientists are constantly monitoring the volcano which has not given indication of erupting any time soon. The volcano is vast, and it includes the entire set of mountains and the town of Soufriere that surround it. It appears that the volcano's crater is the only one to which one can drive. To view pictures of it click on the "Gallery of Pictures" button and view the St Lucia album.

The anchorage off the town of Soufriere is a marine park with restricted fishing and anchorage. We picked up one of 8 buoys after being helped by a local guy in a piragua name "Equal Rights". Our anchorage was wonderful, filled with coral reef fish that swam under our boat constantly for the 5 days we spent in it. We snorkeled twice and found the fish and, particularly the coral reefs, to be superior to most of what we have seen so far. But the winds started dying down and by Sunday we had had a couple of restless nights battling not so much the heat but the mosquitoes that came inside our boat.