Catch Some Wind!

Most summers there is a sailing class in either July or August. I’ve gone for three years and absolutely love it.  The feeling of the sails propelling the boat and on a good day pushing us till we fly through the water at incredible speeds, whooping through the howl of the wind till we lose our voices is a ton of fun. The teachers are awesome and at the end of an intense week you are a certified sailor, plus you’ve had an amazing time!

Check Out The Local Art And History

Wolfe Island recently instituted a museum that contains many old farming and household life artifacts from the 1900′s that have been donated by the residents of Wolfe Island. It’s very interesting for a short visit, but if you’re looking for a way to kill time for an hour or two I would have to suggest an additional trip to the art gallery. With a beautiful collection of paintings from all of the many brilliant artists of Wolfe Island, including my grandma, it’s well worth a visit.

Go For A Scenic Ride

Bring a bike and spend a couple of hours exploring the many nooks and crannies of Wolfe Island. It’s mostly flat so it makes for a great ride, especially if you have the wind at your back. On the way you will likely see many fields and some forest. The island is also home to more cows than people and will often moo gently as you ride swiftly (or not) past. If you listen closely you may hear the swooping sound of the windmills as they catch the wind and generate organic power.

Star Fruit. By far my favorite fruit of all time, this wonderful fruit is also called “five-fingers,” and can be eaten with the skin on. It has a similar texture to that of the kiwi, but is firmer and tastes like citrusy sunshine.

Sugar Apple. I’ve never seen this before, and although it’s messy to eat it is definitely worth trying. It has a somewhat sloppy, gooey center, and it breaks apart in your hand as you eat it, so you are left with little outside pieces with chunks of stringy fruit and big seeds attached. I feel like this would be more of an acquired taste/ texture.

Guava.  When I came back to the U.S. I raved about guava for weeks, because it truly is wonderful. We picked these small green globes fresh off of the trees and ate the inside, which is a soft pink with annoying little seeds that you just swallow. Also, I bought this amazing guava jam from st. lucia that tastes exactly like the real thing.

Coconut. I’ve never had coconuts before, although they are much more common than some of these other fruits. These are great! The liquid inside is sour, tart and milky, and although slightly gross, it is definitely cool to drink it straight from the coconut after it has just been cut down.

Bananas. St. Lucia is covered in banana trees, as it is one of its main exports. These bananas are sweeter, straighter, and more banana-y than the kind we get here. Go figure.

Along the same line as bananas is St. Lucia’s national dish, Salty fish and green fig. It sounds gross, and kind of tastes gross, but is definitely worth trying. Apparently, the green, unripened form of a banana is called a green fig, and these are cut, boiled and eaten with a mixture of dried, salted fish and other spices. The dish itself is very spicy, very salty, and very… interesting.

Mango. I’ve never liked mangoes before I went to St. Lucia, and I’m a changed girl since. Mangoes are wonderfully flavorful, and are actually really great frozen. Cut some mango, put it on a skewer and freeze for a few hours and Presto-change-o! Mango Ice pops!

the real way to enjoy a mango

Sugar Cane. I don’t think this technically counts as a food, because you don’t really eat it, but this is great! Some of the participants went out and found sugar cane, brought it back and shared it with us. You have to take the cane, peel it, and if you’re truly “Lucian,” you chomp a chunk off of the end and chew it until the sweet, sugary juice is all swallowed and the stringy cane part is drying, then you spit it out andstart again. We actually enjoyed our sugarcane along the banks of a river that supplied power to a now-abandoned sugarmill, which made it much more exciting.

         they had to cut sticks of sugar cane for me to eat, because I couldn’t just bite it off the cane

the sugar mill

Cornados. Remember bugles? These “corn tornadoes” are just like bugles, but taste cornier and stranger, although they’re really not that bad when you’re hungry.

Fruta. Walking around and drinking out of juice boxes is more acceptable in St. Lucia than it is here (can you imagine seeing people with ssips in their hands all the time?) and these juices come in all kinds of wild flavors.

FISH. Anse-la Raye, the village we stayed in, is a classic fishing village and has these big festivals every Friday night, celebrated with music, drinking and tons of fried fish and seafood. I don’t particularly like seafood that much, but overall experience was lively and exciting.

There are, of course, many more things to come about St. Lucia, so stay tuned!

Cheung Chau is a small island to the west of Hong Kong Island. A forty minute ferry away, Cheung Chau is an ideal day trip for teen travelers interested in a bit of an adventurous hike, shopping, and seafood.

Inhabited longer than any of the other regions of Hong Kong, Cheung Chau remains a fishing village today as much as it did hundreds of years ago.

An interesting historical bit that my friend and I discovered when we went there is that Cheung Chau is the alleged hiding spot of Cheung Po Tsai, a pirate living in the 19th century. We only discovered this when we inquired about a restaurant’s name. Cheung Po Tsai restaurant (original, I know) was named as such in honor of the notorious pirate. The restaurant had great food from all types of Asian as well as European cuisine and is run by a foreigner.

For the thrill seekers out there, voyaging down Cheung Po Tsai’s cave is a lot of fun. It’s on the south side of the island and is directly off of the main path. This is where Cheung is supposed to have stashed his treasure. Be warned, this was not meant to be the most obvious spot and is tricky to get into.

The opening is small and you descend through into the darkness. Bring a flashlight! My friend and I had no idea it was going to be that dark and both relied on the feeble light my iPhone gave off. Thankfully, a ladder has been cemented to the wall. The walk is tight, dark, and narrow and you need to watch out for moving rocks. All is worth it, though, for the bit of adventure!

Other parts of the hike around the island are as intimidating, but nothing is treacherous.

When you’re finished with the hike, you can be rewarded with some good seafood by the ferry pier while enjoying the view of all the junk boats.