St. Lucia – Wandering Dawgs

Lens Artists Photo Challenge #409 – Best Ever Images

August 22, 2026Posted in Birds, Butterflies, Photography, WildlifeTagged Best Ever Images, Egret, Landscapes, Lens-Artists, Monarch Butterfly, Orcas, Photo Challenge, St. Lucia, wood stork, World Photography Week54 Comments

We are happy to welcome Steve Hyde as our guest host for this week’s challenge. In honor of World Photography Week he is challenging us to share five pictures that show our love of photography – Our Best Ever Images.

Choosing five images from thousands of photos was not an easy task. I finally narrowed it down to the following images.

This is one of my favorite bird images of all time. There is a tree in our neighborhood next to a small pond where I often see birds hanging out. Several years ago I captured this Wood Stork and Egret perched on one of the limbs of the tree.

I have many Butterfly images that I have posted in the past. I dug through my archives and found this image of a Monarch Butterfly on a pink flower with a Black-Eyed Susans in the background.

Monarch Butterfly with Black Eyed Susans in the background

Up until a couple of years ago we always had a boat. We spent many happy hours with our children and grandchildren riding through the salt marsh in the saltwater rivers and creeks exploring the uninhabited islands and sandbars. One of of favorite places to go was through the narrow, winding creeks that the locals call the Mosquito Ditch.

I love to take wildlife photos. This pod of Orcas in Alaska is one of my favorites because we almost didn’t see any Oracas on our trip. We had taken two other wildlife cruises in other parts of Alaska and saw many different kinds of wildlife but we still hadn’t seen any Orcas. Our last opportunity to take another wildlife cruise was in Valdez. The scenery and wildlife was spectacular. All of a sudden this pod of Orcas surfaced right beside the boat. I was ready with my camera and was able to capture a few photos before they went on their way. This is one of my all time favorites because it almost didn’t happen.

My final image is my favorite landscape. I chose it because it brings back happy memories of our trip to St. Lucia to celebrate our 30th anniversary many years ago. Seeing this view each day from our villa was magical.

I enjoyed seeing all of your wonderful Over the Top responses to Egidio’s challenge last week. Thank you to everyone who joined the challenge.

Many thanks to guest hose Steve Hyde for this week’s fun challenge. If you would like to join the challenge please be sure to tag your post with Lens-Artists and include a link back to his post Lens-Artists #408: Best Ever Images.

Be sure to check back on Saturday, August 22 at noon eastern time when Ritva will be hosting the challenge.

You can keep up with all of our challenges by subscribing to the Lens-Artists team members websites: Tina, Patti, Ann-Christine, John, Sofia, Anne, Egidio, Ritva, Beth.

For information on how to join the Lens-Artists challenge please click here.

Every Day is a Gift

2024 Island Hopping in the West Indies – Part 1

March 21, 2024Posted in TravelTagged Caribbean Cruise, Caribbean Islands Adventure, Cruising, Pitons, San Juan, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St. Martin, Viking Ocean Cruise, Viking Sea, West Indies15 Comments

After a rough start to 2024 Henry and I were more than ready to take off on an adventure to nine different Caribbean islands. A month before our departure I tripped and fractured my left arm. I did the happy dance when my doctor gave me the ok to go on our long awaited West Indies Explorer cruise on the Viking Sea. We were looking forward to the warm weather, turquoise waters, beautiful islands, and some new adventures.

We did this same cruise in January, 2022. We enjoyed the islands so much we wanted to visit them all again. This time we chose different excursions so that we could experience new things on each island.

February 10 – 13, 2024 Days 1-4: San Juan, Puerto Rico

Our adventure started in San Juan on Saturday, February 10, 2024, the day before the Super Bowl. Our travel day started about 3:30 a.m. in order to get to the Savannah airport in time for our 6:30 departure. I couldn’t carry anything with my left arm so Henry had to manage all of our carry on bags through two airports. We enjoyed two nights at a beautiful resort before boarding our cruise ship the Viking Sea on Monday morning. The header image was taken at the beach at the resort.

I spotted the small iguana on the beach as he wandered next to people lounging on beach chairs. I soon saw a large iguana on the beach. I met a woman from Panama who told me she was the mama iguana in search of the baby. I don’t know if they ever found each other.

I posted about our first San Juan visit at Caribbean Island Adventure 2022 San Juan.

Later in the afternoon we enjoyed a Pina Colada at the pool bar. We were photo bombed by one of the servers.

After two enjoyable days at the hotel we boarded the Viking Sea on Monday. We spent most of the day on Tuesday relaxing on the ship. We took a stroll along the waterfront by the cruise ship docks and enjoyed watching the sunset from the ship as we cruised away from San Juan.

February 14, 2024 Day 5: Valentine’s Day on St. Martin

A bus tour around St. Martin was a fun way spend the day. Our driver Leroy drove us around the island pointing out points of interest including the many salt ponds. We stopped at a beach along the way and at the open air market in Marigot, the capital of the French side of the island. Once back at the cruise ship dock in Phillipsburg we walked around the port on our way back to the ship. We ended the day with a delicious Valentine’s dinner at Manfredi’s onboard the ship.

Henry enjoyed driving a 4×4 Honda Talon around the island on our 2022 visit to St. Martin. We had a great time watching the airplanes landing at the airport. You can read more about that adventure at Caribbean Islands Adventure St. Martin.

February 15, 2024 Day 6: Safari Island Drive around St. Kitts

Our colorful guide Christopher had many fun stories to tell as he drove us around beautiful St. Kitts in his safari vehicle. We passed by ruins from a sugar cane plantation and stopped to see black volcanic rocks. At our last stop we were treated to rum punch, the best we tasted on the entire cruise.

We took a ride on the St. Kitts Scenic Railway on our 2022 visit to St. Kitts. You can read about the fun we had at Caribbean Islands Adventure 2022 St. Kitts.

February 16, 2024 Day 7: Coastal Cruise to St. Lucia

A trip to the Caribbean is not complete without at least one boat trip. A coastal cruise to see the Pitons was a perfect way to spend the day in St. Lucia. Our ship was docked in the capitol of Castries in the northern part of the island. After boarding our tour boat we cruised south along the shore while our guide pointed out fishing villages, bays and other places of interest. The weather was perfect with blue skies and calm seas.

Our destination was the Pitons which are the two volcanic peaks named Gros Piton and Petit Piton located near the town of Soufriere. The Pitons are a UNESCO World Heritage site and glorious to see. The captain slowed the boat as we approached the Pitons and moved the boat around so everyone could have a good view and take a photo.

On our return trip to Castries the captain took us into Marigot Bay for a view of the harbor. There was music, dancing and rum all the way back to our ship. What a beautiful day in the Caribbean.

This was our fourth visit to St. Lucia. On our first two visits we stayed in a house near the town of Soufriere. Our main reason for going there was to go scuba diving in the beautiful reefs around St. Lucia. Our third visit to St. Lucia was in January, 2022 on our first West Indies cruise on the Viking Sea. For a look at the northern area of St. Lucia visit Caribbean Islands Adventure 2022.

With my wounded left arm it was difficult to hold my camera. Most of these photos were taken with my cell phone. Getting in and out of the buses and on and off the boat was challenging but the drivers and boat crews were very helpful everywhere we went.

Coming soon is a post about our adventures in five more islands.

Caribbean Islands Adventure 2022 – Part 4: St. Lucia

February 27, 2022March 1, 2022Posted in Flowers, Lighthouse, TravelTagged Caribbean, Caribbean Cruise, Caribbean Islands Adventure, Castries, Orchids, Pigeon Island, St. Lucia, Stony Hill, Vigie Lighthouse, Viking Sea11 Comments

January 16, 2022

Another day, another gorgeous, tropical Caribbean island. Our ship was docked in the capital city of Castries. The above image shows some of the colorful buildings in Castries as seen from the ship.

There is so much to see in St. Lucia it would be impossible to see it all in one short shore excursion. The 237 square mile volcanic island is very mountainous with lush green tropical foliage, most of the island is covered in rain forest, and the waters surrounding the island provide many opportunities for boating, scuba diving and snorkeling.

We had been to St. Lucia twice before on dive trips. Both times we stayed in Soufriere on the western side of the island. When we weren’t scuba diving we were exploring around Soufriere, taking in the spectacular scenery, and enjoying the delicious local cuisine.

On our previous trips we didn’t get an opportunity to visit the northern part of the island so we chose to take a bus tour to see it. As our bus climbed the hills on steep, narrow roads with hairpin turns we were treated to jaw dropping scenic views and learned about the island from our guide Amelia. Tourism is the number one economy on St. Lucia.

Our destination was a private home called Stony Hill with magnificent views and beautiful gardens. We enjoyed listening to a steel drum as we relaxed with a cold fruit juice and delicious snack of banana bread and coconut cake.

*Pigeon Island, St. Lucia – the island is a National Park*

I love lighthouses so I had to capture the Vigie Lighthouse as we cruised out to sea at the end of the day.

*Vigie Lighthouse, St. Lucia sits high above the Caribbean Sea guarding the entrance to Castries*

Fun things to know about St. Lucia:

St. Lucia is the first country to be named after a woman
St. Lucia has the world’s only drive-in volcano
St. Lucia is the home of the Pitons Mountain Range, a UNESCO World Heritage site
Some scenes from the movie “Superman II” with Christopher Reeve were filmed in St. Lucia. In one scene he is seen flying by Petit Piton. One of the dive sites at the base of Petit Piton is nicknamed “Superman’s Flight” (yes, we dove it many years ago)

Where do you think we’ll be next? Stay tuned…