Sign in Using FacebookSt. Lucia Guide » More About St. Lucia: Interesting Facts
Interesting Facts
- St. Lucia boasts the world's only "drive in volcano." Mt. Soufrière was once an active volcano 13 kilometers in diameter. It erupted 40,000 years ago, collapsing in on itself. Now you can walk inside the volcano among sulphur springs and hissing vapor jets.
- Josephine Bonaparte is rumored to have bathed in the sulphurous waters of the Diamond Mineral Baths located at the Diamond Botanical Gardens. Louis XIV commissioned the baths in 1784 so that French soldiers stationed in the West Indies could take advantage of the water's "healing properties."
- St. Lucia's Maria Islands are home to two very rare species, thought to be extinct elsewhere in the world. The Kouwes snake and the Zandoli Terre lizard can both be glimpsed during nature tours operated by the St. Lucia National Trust.
- Early each May St. Lucia hosts the best jazz musicians from all over the world. The St. Lucia Jazz Festival is recognized internationally as one of the premiere festivals of its kind. Rhythm and blues, fusion, Dixie Land and New Age are played at indoor and outdoor venues around the island.
- Thanks to its diminutive size and cool trade winds, St. Lucia's temperature averages between 70 and 90 degrees all year long. Bring a light jacket or wrap for the evenings, but leave your heavy jackets at home!
- St. Lucia is known as the "Helen of the West Indies" thanks to its incredible natural beauty. The juxtaposition of green hills, clear blue water, and black and white sand beaches is a site you'll not see elsewhere and will not soon forget.
- St. Lucia is located in the West Indies between Martinique and St Vincent. The tiny island is only 27 miles long and 14 miles wide.
- Of St. Lucia's 150,000 inhabitants, 90% are of African descent. This proportion is the same as it was at the time of the slaves' emancipation in 1838. 40% of the island's residents live in and around the capital of Castries.
- St. Lucia's capital, Castries, is one of the newest cities in the Caribbean. Four devastating fires between 1796 and 1948 destroyed most of the original buildings.
- The French founded St. Lucia's oldest town in 1746. The village of Soufrière takes its name from the nearby volcano.
