Jalousie and the Pitons

The Pitons, St. Lucia

Just before dusk, we were accosted by an aggressive fisherman, demanding $80EC for use of the mooring and offering no receipt. We opted to move and try between the Pitons – two majestic, volcanic peaks jutting from the south-eastern coast. The pilot says this is a very popular mooring area and yachts are advise to arrive in the morning to assure a spot (anchoring is prohibited all along this coast due to it being a Marine Reserve). We were lucky, and picked up the last mooring, far from the resort and under Gros Piton. We had a wonderful view of a German brigantine next to us in the sunset and listened to the chorus of the rainforest.

The German brig under sail

The next day we spent reliving the wonderful days we spent at Jalousie Plantation in 2008. The resort has been sold on and is now “Sugar Beach”. The renovation has pput it firmly in the up-market end of resorts with burly security teams at the dinghy dock to ensure we didn’t disturb the guests. We were going to try for a day pass but this still would not allow the kids to use the pool, so we opted for another boat day.

Christmas tree worms

The mooring was only metres from the reef – even Elizabeth was able to snorkel out from the boat and almost at once was in a tropical aquarium, filled with huge and healthy corals, sponges and fishes. The reef has been well protected in the last five years and there is very little damage. I chose to dive the Jalousie house reef with the school for old times sake – you are not permitted to dive the Marine Management Area without a local guide to ensure the coral is not damaged. The dive staff had not changed since our last visit and Vitus Joyeaux took me on an exclusive shore dive. We saw spotted morays, cleaner shrimp, a cave bursting with lobster, large snappers, a golden-spotted snake eel and even a sea horse. It’s worth having a guide for moments like those. We also saw plenty of lion fish – these are a recent arrival and a nuisance on the reef as they are highly predatory. The divers have a licence to cull them to protect the reefs here.

Seahorse

All the dive guides I had in my logbook were still diving five years’ on. On our last visit, I had made good friends with one guide, Fern, as she also had a son Matthew’s age. We’d left her some bits and bobs for him. Her sister was diving at Jalousie so we again made up a small parcel of goodies for Fern’s little lad.

Sea slug

In the afternoon, we went ashore again in a small area of pasture used to graze cattle under the palm trees. The area was rich in birds and insects (including more dreaded midges) and there were many monarch butterflies among the flowers. The children collected shells until they found that some were occupied by hermit crabs. Elizabeth found a particularly feisty one living in a large land-snail shell.

Tiny gobies

As the sun set, I explored the reed again, hoping for lobster but only finding squirrel fish and spiny sea urchins. James and I then watched the stars between the mountains in our idyllic setting.