Castries is the obvious base for trips into the rest of Saint Lucia. South to Soufriere is the must-do — the Pitons, the sulphur springs, the rainforest, the cocoa estates, all in a single, dramatic landscape. North to Pigeon Island, the eighteenth-century British naval base, makes a lazy half-day with a swim attached. Marigot Bay, halfway down the west coast, is reckoned by many to be the prettiest natural anchorage in the Caribbean.