14-Jan-2002 -- Our Caribbean cruise aboard MS Braemar took us to Castries, St Lucia on 14th January. An unvisited confluence within a mile or so of the port was just too good to miss!

Although it was only a short distance away, it was 200m above sea level, and the map of local roads had lots of wiggles in it. So, at 8:30 AM local time, my wife and I set off to the taxi rank wondering just how to explain this odd request to a taxi-driver much more accustomed to showing normal cruise passengers the sights or the beaches.

In fact it was almost ridiculously easy. My printout of the Mapquest street plan did help - the taxi dispatcher was able to identify the position as near to the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College. This helped a lot, since the campus is picturesque, having a viewpoint on top of a hill and is much visited in its own right.

So, off we go, with a driver who seems to go along with the scheme - even though he's clearly baffled by these eccentric tourists - and about ten minutes later I'm asked left or right - we're about 500m away now. The left fork is uphill, so we go that way. A few bends uphill and we're within 100m of the spot!

The road is a quiet one, almost in a suburb of Castries, with houses dotted around. The actual confluence lies on rough ground just below the road. I got to within 25m to take my pictures, since beyond that the ground shelves steeply down to what appears to be a private lawn.

The local residents (ah, that explains the condition of the ground...) took a passing interest in my photographic antics.

After visiting the confluence, we indulged the taxi-driver by paying a visit to the College grounds, where there was indeed a splendid view of much of the west of the island.

St Lucia is a beautiful island, visited by many cruise ships. The day we were there, there were two 2000-passenger monsters in as well as our modest ship and at least one smaller vessel. We would have liked to have spent a longer time there.