The actual highlight of this trip was to view the Pitons, two eroded volcanic cones, or rather a view of them and the town at their base, Soufriere. Didn't know it then, but its a corruption of 'Sulphurous air'.
[ATTACH=full]421062[/ATTACH]
About 10 mins out of Soufriere was another commercial viewing platform, (toilets not paid for)
[ATTACH=full]421057[/ATTACH]
But this time, the views were terrific.
[ATTACH=full]421058[/ATTACH]
[ATTACH=full]421060[/ATTACH]
if you look carefully, to the upper left of the terrain in the upper pic, you can see a white smudge.
[ATTACH=full]421059[/ATTACH]
Steam from fumaroles! Hence the name 'Sulphurous air'
The whole field of view here is 'Qualibou' an old caldera (collapsed volcanic cone), 3.5 x 5km, aged 32-39,000 years old. The large dome to the left is the most recent volcanic formation, where there was a mainly gas eruption ('phreatic') in 1766 but there was some ash & tuff. Again, the fumarolic area is down to the right of the lighter green area of the dome and the light green area itself is due to retardation of plants by sulphur and CO2
[ATTACH=full]421063[/ATTACH]
The twin Piton peaks (the one in the foreground is the smaller) are two large lava domes that formed 200 to 300,000 years ago before the formation of the caldera. You can think of them as the central throats of volcanos choked with hard, solidified lava, where the softer outside of the cones, consisting of ash, have eroded away,
