St. Lucia (Loo-sha) remains relatively unspoiled, a checkerboard of green-mantled mountains, valleys, wild orchids, and fishing villages. The island has a mixed French and British heritage, but there's a hint of the South Pacific about it as well. Music reverberates throughout St. Lucia, and the savory smells of a rich cuisine waft through Marigot Bay and Soufrière. A favorite stopoff for island-hoppers, yachties and jetsetters, St. Lucia offers volcanic rock beaches, lush fruity landscapes, and a lively nightlife of limbo, jazz, and rum punch. On February 22, 1979, St. Lucia became an independent state within the British Commonwealth of Nations, with a resident governor-general appointed by the queen. Still, the island appears to have retained more relics of French influence—notably the island patois, cuisine, village names, and surnames—than of the British. Most likely, that's because the British contribution primarily involved the English language, the educational and legal systems, and the political structure, whereas the French culture historically had more influence on the arts—culinary, dance, and music.