Inter-island travel is well serviced by LIAT, BWIA, Caribbean Star and Air Caraibes. By sea, L' Express Des Isles runs a hydrofoil service between Martinique and St. Lucia. Cruise ships tie up daily at Port Castries and Soufrière. All the major lines call in and are represented in St. Lucia by Cox and Company Ltd. or Minvielle and Chastanet Ltd.

For visitors arriving by private or chartered yacht, moorings are available at the fully serviced Rodney Bay Marina, a picturesque lagoon on the northern tip of St. Lucia, at the Moorings Marina at Marigot Bay (a famous hurricane hide-out) or at Castries Yacht Centre, located at the entrance of Castries Harbour.

When entering St. Lucia, American and Commonwealth citizens need to carry proof of citizenship, a birth certificate or passport, and a return or onward ticket. Other visitors need a passport along with return or onward tickets. Some countries do require visas. Valid vaccination certificates are required of travellers entering from infectious areas. When leaving St. Lucia, non-nationals are required to pay a departure tax of EC$54 (US$21) per person (credit cards not accepted).

Banking hours are generally from 8 am to 3 pm, Monday through Thursday, and Friday from 8 am to 5 pm. Banks are closed on weekends and holidays, however, Bank of Nova Scotia, Barclays Bank, Bank of Saint Lucia and the Royal Bank of Canada have Saturday morning hours at their sub-branches in and around Rodney Bay Marina. Most major credit cards are accepted at St. Lucia's shops and restaurants. Royal Bank of Canada has ATM machines that accept major credit cards also.

The climate is tropical, with temperatures ranging from the mid-sixties to the mid-eighties (25 to 30 Celsius). During the hottest time of the year, from June through August, temperatures can reach the mid-nineties (32 Celsius). Things are kept pretty cool though by the constant trade winds. Average rainfall ranges from 60 inches in the coastal regions to 160 inches in the interior rain forests. The rainy season is from June through October, but even then, showers tend to last a short time.

Electricity is available for the most part at 220 volts, 50 cycles AC. Unless you're coming from Europe, you will need an adapter for your travel appliances.

Cable & Wireless (WI) Ltd fulfills the telecommunications needs of the island and provides all the services you need to stay in touch with your friends, family, or colleagues back home.  Through a modern, fully digital network, a range of services are available including international direct dialing to over 180 countries around the world; mobile cellular services (including short messaging and roaming), credit card calling, public payphones and prepaid phone cards.  Through Cable & Wireless, most hotel rooms are equipped with cable television and Internet access with speeds starting from 56K.  The company also provides a convenient Internet Café and public fax bureau from its offices in downtown Castries, Gablewoods Mall and Vieux-Fort.  Visitors may place credit card calls by dialing 1-800 CALL USA for calls to the US or 1-800 744 7777 for calls to all other countries.  For enquiries on all other Cable & Wireless services, dial 211 where friendly operators will be pleased to assist.

St. Lucia lies in the Atlantic Standard Time zone - four hours behind Europe, five during daylight savings time. It is one hour ahead of North American Eastern Standard Time all year.

J.Q.'s Supermarkets are also located island wide, and the outlet at the Rodney Bay Mall also offers extended shopping hours and stays open seven days a week.

Lions Club: 1st and 3rd Thursday each month at Lions' Den in Sans Souci; 2nd and 4th Thursday each month at Glencastle Resort in Gros Islet.

Kiwanis: 8 pm on Thursdays at Green Parrot Hotel in Castries; 5:30 pm on Tuesdays at Green Parrot Inn in Castries; 7:30 pm at Chak Chak Restaurant in Vieux Fort.

There are several reputable car rental companies on the island. Drivers need to purchase a local driving permit, which is issued on the presentation of a foreign or international license. Local permits are obtained from the immigration offices at Hewanorra and George Charles Airports and issued by the major car rental agencies.

St. Lucia has about 500 miles of roads. All towns and villages are connected to major roads. It takes roughly one hour to drive from Castries to Vieux Fort along the east-coast road, fifty minutes from Vieux Fort to Soufriere, and forty-five minutes from Soufriere to Castries along the west-coast road. Further inland, some roads may be difficult to negotiate. Remember to drive on the left.

When the sails of the first European ships were sighted, the Kalinago were supreme rulers of the Windward Islands. Even though historians credit the Spaniards for giving the island her modern-day name, ("Santa Alousie" was first used in the late sixteenth century), they gave the island a wide berth and never bothered to colonise it.  They did not want to take on the Kalinago and St. Lucia was not known to have gold deposits. But the Europeans were inexorable and their coming finally put an end to Amerindian supremacy.

The first European to settle in St. Lucia was François Le Clerc, known as Jambe de Bois or Wooden Leg.  He was a pirate who set himself up on Pigeon Island from where he attacked passing Spanish vessels.

The English first landed in 1605, having been blown off course on their way to Guyana aboard their vessel, the Olive Branch. Sixty-seven settlers landed and purchased huts from the Kalinago.  One month later only 19 were left and these were forced to flee the Kalinago in a canoe.

The French arrived in 1651 when representatives of the French West India Company bought the island.  Eight years later, ownership disputes between the French and English ignited hostilities that would endure for 150 years. During this time, the island changed hands fourteen times.  St. Lucia was finally ceded to the British in 1814.

From the 1760s onwards, St. Lucia developed into a sugar-producing economy, based on African slave labour. However, the endless conflicts between the French and English colonial powers over St. Lucia's strategic military value impeded the development of its plantations. The island possesses some of the finest natural harbours in the Caribbean and is centrally located within easy reach of the rest of the region. Then, in the late 18th century, the French revolutionary cry of 'Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité' reached St. Lucia.

Under Revolutionary law, slavery was abolished in 1794 and the political equality of the coloured man was officially recognized. Freed slaves proceeded to wipe out the plantation infrastructure.  Resistance against British attempts to re-take the island was orchestrated by the Maroons: renegade ex-slaves who lived in secret hideouts in inaccessible parts of the island. The Maroons joined forces with the French Revolutionary army to form L'Armée Française des Bois.

St. Lucia became Ste. Lucie la Fidèle and all of the towns were given revolutionary names such as La Patriote (Laborie), La Revolution (Gros Islet), and Le Republicain (Dennery).

The Revolutionaries held St. Lucia for fifteen months against the British. The Maroons finally surrendered arms in 1797 but refused to accept slavery, which the British insisted on reinstating. According to British records, these brave men were returned to Africa.

The British finally abolished slavery in 1834. After Emancipation, many former slaves were unwilling to stay on as labourers at the plantations and the colonial powers sought alternatives. In 1882, the first Indian immigrants arrived from the provinces of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. About half of them returned home at the end of their indenture while the others settled permanently in St. Lucia, enriching the island's cultural diversity.

St. Lucia's economic base has traditionally been agricultural. Sugar, the first mono-crop was eventually abandoned in the 1950s. Bananas then became the largest export crop.  Recently, monopolies enjoyed by the West Indian banana in Europe have ended and St. Lucia finds itself having to diversify into other areas. Tourism is now the most important source of foreign exchange. St. Lucia is also one of the largest transhipment points for containerized cargo in the Eastern Caribbean. The colonial motto "statio haud malefidia carinis" — a safe haven for ships, still applies to the island.

In 1842, English became the island's official language but St. Lucia retains a strong French heritage.  The majority of the island's place names are French and the Creole language, born of St. Lucia's Amerindian, African and European roots, is widely spoken.