St Lucia, Day 5: Boats, Bean to Bar and boiling mud

We set the alarm for 7am again. Carpe diem and all that. Breakfast.

Pick up was at 9am. A largish group were all going to the tourist port, which was right near the cruise ship terminal, though we all got on different catamarans for different tours run by the same company.

We found a seat on our crowded cat on the bow next to a couple from NY state, who were very chatty. Christian fixed their camera for them.

The journey was quite leisurely, and we tried to pick out the places we'd seen from the road, sometimes successfully. There was a certain amount of commentary, for instance, they pointed out the most exclusive resort on the island.

We got off the cat at Soufriere in regimented tour order, and our group was herded onto a van driven by Desmond - I was in the front. We went uphill to the south of the city in the same direction we'd gone to the botanic gardens, but this time to the Hotel Chocolat Rabot Estate.

It looked a bit tired, but was still very impressive. There were cacao trees on the approach, and we caught glimpses of bungalows on the hill behind. One day, when we have too much money, we'll stay there.

The group moved into the open-air restaurant, and found seats. The first thing we did was to order lunch off the set menu, and then we had time to visit the very posh toilets, look over the restaurant railings onto the infinity pool, and take photos of Petit Piton, which was *just there*. I noted that there was a chocolate martini on the cocktail menu. I resisted the temptation.

We all went to a different building, where a long table was set up with chocolate-making paraphernalia, and we met our instructor, Merle, who was amazing in every way. She shouted everything over the racket of chocolate making, and made sure she was mean to the smart-arses. It was hilarious.

She told us about harvesting the cocoa pods, and passed one around so that we could see what the cocoa beans looked like. They were an odd, white, slimy affair inside a big shell. We put one bean in our mouths and were warned not to bite into it. It was kind of sweet, but nothing like chocolate. She talked about the process of harvesting, drying, and making the butter and the nibs from that product.

Now to the making. The first thing we did was to grind the cocoa nibs, which was an incredibly physical exercise. But amazingly, the nibs ended up as a moist paste by the time we were finally finished. Then we added the cocoa butter, and stirred the mixture for another age. When it was finally glossy, we added however much sugar we wanted. No sugar resulted in a super high cocoa concentration, and the more sugar we added, the lower it got. I added quite a bit to mine, and probably ended up with something around 40%.

Once we were happy (mine was very thick at this point), we poured the chocolate into our fancy HC moulds, and the staff put greaseproof paper over them, marked them with our names, and took them away to set.

So all we had to do was go back to the restaurant for lunch. It came out very quickly - first there was cocoa bread with various dips (some more chocolatey than others), and then the main - I chose a very tasty beef burger - and then dessert, which was an outstanding chocolate mousse for me. Christian's dessert was a piton lookalike, with a meringue mountain. Christian also had a rum cocktail.

Sadly, we had to leave, and so we trekked back to the van, driving the back way on minor roads to. . .Sulphur Springs again - what? We skipped the tour, as we'd done it. Then back in the van to go a little way down the hill to have a mud bath, though Christian declined that very great pleasure.

We left our clothing on tables, and went in our swimwear to first soak in the warm water. It was almost too hot to begin with. Then, up onto the platform above, under the bridge, where we were given first a bucket of pale mud to cover ourselves with, and then a bucket of dark mud to decorate ourselves with. I decorated myself as best I could, and helped a few other folks get themselves covered. We stood while it dried in the sun, and watched a French tour group have rude messages daubed on them by their tour guide. Christian took some photos from above. Then, once baked, we went back into the warm pool to wash off the mud. I could feel already that my skin was feeling smooth as a result. Then back to dry off (we weren't allowed a shower because that would take away the healing power of the mud), and get dressed.

Then it was back into the van, and back to the port in Soufriere. This time, we had to get back onto a different cat, which was already mostly full, and find a lifejacket and a spot to sit. Once underway, we headed south around the point to a spot between the Pitons to snorkel. We had to wait ages to get fins, and I was chilly and unhappy to begin with, but the sun came out, and I relaxed, and I saw lots of amazing fish. Many were similar to what we saw in Thailand - sargeant majors, rainbow parrotfish, black on top/white underneath, brain coral, puffer, Christian saw pipe fish. Very nice.

Back onto the cat, and once we were underway and bound for Castries, Christian persuaded me to go onto the trampoline in the bow. It was actually quite fun, and not much water was coming over. They served food and drinks, and Christian brought me some. The rum cocktails were dangerous.

We spoke to a nice couple from San Diego who'd recently been married - the woman had coloured hair not unlike mine (we bonded over colour transfer difficulties), and she was in a tech job not unlike Christian's. They put some music on, which was quite fun.

There was a drop off in Marigot Bay, where it rained, and was just about dark. After Marigot Bay, it got a bit choppy, and the skipper sped up. And they turned the music up. Coming back to Castries harbour we were hit by rain and gale winds, which I found very unpleasant - I was freezing. We collected our chocolate and headed straight to the right bus, and straight to Bel Jou. Once there, I jumped into the shower to warm up (and cheer up). It didn't take long. It had been a great day.

We went for a buffet dinner, though we didn't need much after the food on the boat. Then we booked a beach shuttle for the next day. As usual, we watched telly and went to bed.