Today we had decided to go to Pigeon Island where there was supposed to be the best beach in St Lucia - or so one of our drivers had told us.  I heard Marleen and Grace were up so I got up around 7:30 am or was it 8:30 am?  They may have already been up for a while.  They were settled at the table on the patio with their cups of coffee and their computers while they were working on their teaching assignments.  I can't remember whan time Marleen arranged for a driver for us to go to Pigeon Island but maybe we went there around 10 or 10:30 am.  I was expecting that we would have to pass Gros Inlet and the Rodney Bay Harbor, but we went there more directly somehow and it seemed a very short ride.  I thought our driver's name was Tony and he let us off at the gate of the National Monument - Pigeon Island.  Grace and Marleen got lounge chairs and Marleen added an umbrella but I elected to be cheap and sat on my towel.

Grace and I left Marleen on the beach after the attendant put up her umbrella and broought out the chairs.   We went for a walk to Fort Rodney on the top of the hill.  It was hot and I was winded by the time I got to the top but it was not a bad walk up   We took some photos of the views out to the Caribbean and Atlantic sides because this is the point at which the two waters meet.  We were going to take a selfie but I couldn't see the screen to know whether it was on selfie mode or not.  I had a lot of problems up there.  Because I wasn't sure about where to keep stuff, I had not brought my better camera with the viewfinder.  Back down on the beach, we sat for awhile.  I snuck into some of Marleen's shade because I had gotten a little bit too much sun yesterday.  After a short time, I thought I had better try my snorkeling if I wanted to fit it in.  I swam out toward where they were supposed to have seeded some coral around a wreck and some tables and chairs but I did not make it that far before my mask started filling up with water.  I got back to shore and tried to test the mask after readjusting it, but it immediately started filling weith water.  I gave up.  How disappointing.  At some point the umbrella overturned and the attendant came over to fix it.  I asked about the snorkeling activity and how muc it cost, but they had packed up for the day so I couldn't get a mask fitted or any help so that I could get out there and snorkel..  But Grace and Marleen said I might be able to come back on one of our free days.  With that thought, I relaxed a bit.

I think it was about 2 pm when we went to the Jambe De Bois restaurant in the park to get some lunch.  Grace had already bought a bucket of 6 beers which we had drunk - or maybe two were left.  These beers are only 250 ml so they go fast.  We ordered some water and I had an iced coffee with lots of whipped cream and we had some hummus with pita bread as an appetizer before ordering our main lunch.  I went for the crab cakes and they were good - maybe not as good as last night's coconut shrimp though.  Marleen's garden salad was too slow in getting to her so she rejected it.  The waitress left in a huff and we thought it took an awfully long time to get the check.  We went back to sit by the water on the beach and talked and looked out.  We decided to leave at 5:30 pm and called for our taxi driver to come and pick us up. Shortly after, we were told that the park closes at 5 pm and we only had 10 minutes left so we packed up and left.  We still had time before being picked up and so checked out some souvenir shops on the public beach.   Grace bought a pink printed cover-up dress.  We waited and waited for our taxi and he called and said he had hit traffic.  Grace was getting concerned because the area was emptying and it would be dark at 6:30  Marleen called our driver and he said he was 3 minutes away.  We didn't inquire too much but did believe that the roads could be quickly jammed up by traffic since they were only two lanes and sometimes quite .winding.  I think we all found the day pretty relaxing and worthwhile.  I had been tempted to take the hike up Sentinel Hill (which is steeper and higher than the Fort hike - a pointy looking mountain on the coast within the park) but kind of lost incentive after climbing to the fort and then never regained it again.

When we got back to the villa, Marleen gave me some of her leftovers from yesterday which I had with my remaining olives.  I wasn't that hungry until it was 10 pm and Grace and Marleen were ready for bed because they get up so early.  I had a piece of cheese - cheddar cheese - that we had bought at the store since I have already finished all of my Brie from home. 

We had gone over our plans for tomorrow because Marleen had gotten some texts from the villa renter Simone giving us some of her recommendations.  We debated the mud baths vs some other things.  We added the black sand beach and specific lunch and dinner restaurants to our itinerary that we had discussed with the driver Kirtland  I think we decided to postpone the rum distillery and the banana plantation until our Castries tour day..  It has been good so far.  After it stopped raining this morning , it was beautiful even if the skies were sometimes overcast.

Looking forward to our big day tomorrow - must organize my camera and bathing suit etc to be flexible for tomorrow.  We start at 9:30 am.