Experience the best of Marigot Bay

Marigot Bay is a deep, narrow harbour cut into the west coast of St Lucia, a few kilometres south of the capital, Castries. Steep, forested hills enclose the water, and a small marina and a few colourful buildings line the shore. Local lore says that a British fleet once hid here from the French by covering its masts with palm fronds, and the 1967 film Doctor Dolittle was shot in the bay.

A small water taxi crosses the bay, and kayaks drift into mangrove channels on its quiet inner side. Beaches, cacao and banana estates and rainforest trails are close, and the Pitons rise to the south. The fishing villages of Anse La Raye and Canaries lie along the coast road, and Anse La Raye holds a weekly fish fry of grilled seafood on Friday nights.

Green fig and saltfish, boiled green bananas with salt cod, is the national dish, with grilled snapper, lobster, breadfruit and cocoa tea close behind. Kwéyòl, the island's French-based creole, is heard alongside English. The dry season from December to May is the breeziest, and the wet season, from June to November, brings short squalls.