Day 2 - St. Lucia

By the time we woke up this morning, Star Pride was anchored off the coast of Pigeon Island National Park in St. Lucia. A buffet breakfast is already being served (7 am) in Veranda which is where I decide to have my morning coffee and do my daily blog.

Pigeon Island National Park, St. Lucia

The breakfast buffet has every item you could possibly want for a morning meal. Waiters circulate through the dining area (inside and outside) with pots of hot coffee. This is a great location if you want to enjoy breakfast 'al fresco' on the outer deck. Even though the WiFi signal is good in Veranda, with the morning sun it is a little too bright for me to use this location to create the daily blog. I have another spot in mind to try tomorrow.

Breakfast buffet in Veranda

I return to our suite (308) to finish my work. It is a good time to mention that the WiFi Internet service so far has been pretty good for a cruise ship. The connection seems reliable enough and the speeds are tolerable. So far, I have been able to connect from everywhere on the ship.

At 10:00am, the ship's marina on Deck 3 opens for business. Guests have access to kayaks, paddle boards, water skiing, wakeboards, water mats/trampoline. You can also swim off the watersports platform.

Watersports platform on Deck 3 aft

For lunch this afternoon, we decided to try a lighter option in the Yacht Club on Deck 8 forward. The Yacht Club serves light bites from 6am until 5pm each day. In the mornings, you will find a selection of pastries, fruit, yogurt, coffee, orange juice, etc. At lunchtime, a variety of small sandwiches, wraps, cupcakes and cookies are available. Rickee and I had the egg salad pita and Oriental Chicken wrap, both delicious. The peanut butter cookie was my favorite.

Lunch fare at the Yacht Club

After our light lunch, we walked around the outer decks to get a look at Pigeon Island. The sun is shining at the moment, but rain clouds loom in the distance.

Rickee looks out over the (windy) bow at Pigeon Island

The ship has been providing tender operations all morning between the ship and Pigeon Island for guests on shore excursions. At 3:00pm, we take one of the ship's tenders to go to Pigeon Island to meet our tour guide from Lucian Style, a local Segway tour provider. We arranged a Sunset Segway Tour with "dinner on the beach" directly through the Lucian Style website weeks before the cruise. As it turns out, Windstar also offers a Segway tour conducted by Lucian Style, so you could also book through the cruise line.

Chad with Lucian Style greets us on Pigeon Island

After arriving at Lucian Style's offices in Rodney Bay, we filled out the necessary paperwork, were fitted with safety helmets, and escorted to the practice/training track for Segway orientation.

Rickee adjusts her helmet in preparation for the Segway tour

After a brief orientation on the safe operation of the Segway, the group of eight guests were zipping around the test track like seasoned pros. We have ridden Segways in cities all over the world, but this is the first time we have ridden them off-road. The tour took us up and down dirt roads, some muddy from the recent rain, and up some pretty steep inclines. We stopped at several overlooks for photo ops.

A high-five on our Segways with Star Pride in the background

By the time we arrived at the beach, it was getting dark. Our guide directed us to have a seat at Marie's, a local open-air beach restaurant. Soon, we were each served a plate of true local Caribbean cuisine. Fresh Blue Marlin, rice, beans, a fish cake and some vinaigrette for the fish. The meal was rustic, to say the least, but everything was delicious. After the meal, our guide led us back to Lucian Style offices. It was the first time we have ever ridden Segways in the dark! But, we never felt as if it were unsafe and there was enough light to see where we were going.

Chad drove us to the Rodney Bay Marina where Windstar was conducting tender operations until 10:30 pm. We said goodbye, promising to visit Lucian Style on a future visit to St. Lucia! We boarded the ship's tender for a night ride back to Star Pride.

Star Pride at night anchored in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

Tomorrow, Star Pride will be anchored off the coast of Bequia, the second largest island in the Grenadines.