, hooray
Fred Olsen is adding a shot of adrenaline to its Caribbean excursions, discovers Mike Walsh on an agent fam trip
DESTINATIONS CARIBBEAN | CRUISE
h
old on tight – you don’t want to end up as lunch.”
These were the words of
advice from Andre, our safety instructor, as I prepared to jump off a platform high up in the trees above a river in Saint Lucia. With one hand gripping the harness and the other the overhead cable, I stepped forward into thin air.
In an instant, I was flying. Brushing through a canopy of mango, coconut and banyan trees, I picked up speed and was soon hurtling thrillingly over the river below, before touching down, Tarzan-like, on the next platform. I had held on tightly, but
Andre’s advice had been in jest. The zipline at Morne Coubaril Historical Adventure Park is extremely safe and there are no fearsome creatures waiting to devour participants in the unlikely event of a brush with water. This zipline flight was just one of a sequence of eight at
the park, part of an excursion offered to passengers on Fred Olsen Cruise Lines’ sailings in the region. Yes, you read that right. The ex-UK cruise specialist has been quietly pepping up its on-shore options with soft- adventure activities in a bid to broaden its appeal beyond its loyal older clientele. That shift is set to continue when its Caribbean fly-cruises – which went on sale this month as part of a new 2022-23 programme – resume next year, using Havana as a new turnaround port from January 2023.
MUD FOR IT
Our next Saint Lucian stop required a different sense of adventure – a willingness to get covered in mud. Not any old soil, of course, but warm, geothermal mud with reputed therapeutic qualities. Sulphur Springs Park at
Soufrière has been a tourist attraction since the 1980s but the opening two years ago of ²
travelweekly.co.uk
25 MARCH 2021
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