Rodney Bay St Lucia

Marina Hand Ferry

What can I say? The people of St. Lucia are wonderful! Once we picked up a mooring in Rodney Bay Lagoon, a protected lagoon that has houses and docks all around it giving the feel of the canals in Ft. Lauderdale, we set out to explore. It was a quick dinghy ride to the village in one direction and the mega marina the other. We decided to explore the village first and get some money changed. There are two big malls and a casino with a number of shops on the street.  The malls each have a large supermarket with lots of items to choose from, even seaweed paper if sushi is on your menu. With the initial exploration done we went to the marina where we got internet access and had massage then hit happy hour at the pool. Life is good!

 A beautiful high sand beach to clear water with resorts, bars, and hotels makes a U around Rodney Bay, so there were all kinds of water sports: parasailing, jet skis, hobbie cats, floating trampoline, and more.

 The St. Lucia Yacht Club is on the beach and we were asked by some members to join them in some drinks. An invitation we could not refuse. The yacht club has burgees from yacht clubs around the world as St. Lucia is where the ARC from Europe ends in December of each year.

 It reminded us of the old Newport Yacht Club bar. 

Rodney Bay from the Yacht Club

This was the 25^th anniversary or the ARC. After enjoying fellow cruisers company, we finally staggered down the road back to the dingy and went to the Marina for a swim in the pool and dinner.

 Super Bowl Sunday is as popular here as it is in the US.  Face painting and colors for the team you are routing for, Beers and Pizza, but with warm breezes. Sunday started with a dinghy ride to Pigeon Island, about 3 miles from our anchorage.  The island has a fascinating history as a headquarters for both French and British fleets during their long wars against each other. St. Lucia was under British rule seven times, exchanging rule with France seven times.  It is a country with a French/Creole culture and British government. There are still a lot of ruins around the island park and the view from the fort and the lookout are breathtaking! 

 We could see Martinique in the distance and see the direction of the wind and waves we would be sailing in a few days.  We got back to the Marina in time for drinks, massage, and swim in the pool before the buffet and the Super Bowl began. We met a wonderful couple from Canada who were avid football fans so the game was even more fun to watch.

While recovering from the Super Bowl, I was perusing the boat supplies catalog and discovered solar panels to be cheaper here than in the states. So began the quest to have solar power. Purchasing the panels was easy. Finding someone to make a frame was the challenge. Tuesday we walked for miles in search of the elusive machine shop before finding RYTE’s  across the road from our boat. Other boat mountings were examined, measurements were taken and drawings produced and presented to Stacy at the machine shop. They said,”No problem man.” and told us it would take two days. That was great! However, we forgot to factor in “island time” which would end up stressing us out a bit.  Actually we were lucky Stacy was there as he owed a job to RYTE or we would have waited a week longer.  Stacy Decembre has his own company Weld on Craft and is a beautiful welder of stainless and produced a perfect product off our drawings. He did a very professional job.  While we waited we filled our days with trips to the beach, drinks at the bar, swims in the pool, and completing a number of other boat projects. For one project I needed plywood and 2x2s to put shelves under the forward beds. This necessitated a trip to a building supply store. So while Leslie went to a resort for a cruising ladies day off the boat, I took a bus out of town to the building supply stores. I only needed a half sheet of plywood, but that was not to be. They only sell full sheets. I got a break though when I found Home Depot. This is not to be confused with the Home Depot you, and I, are familiar with. Make it 1/10 the size and less in variety, but they would cut me a sheet of plywood and some 2x2 to the sizes I wanted. I was a little shocked when a man approached me with a hand rip saw and measuring tape. Yes, he sawed all the wood by hand, and did a good job and I left him a tip and a half sheet of plywood. Ah, now to return to the boat with my hard earned treasures! I started walking in anticipation that a bus would come by soon. I am a mile down the road and no bus, the wood was really getting heavy, as luck would have it a truck from Home Depot pulled over and gave me a ride to town. What a great bunch of people! My wood safely on the boat I set out to find Leslie. I discovered her at the resort swimming in the pool with a wine in hand with her friend Barbara. I got there just in time, as they took me to the hot tub that was in the middle of the pool, and handed me a beer! What a way to spend an afternoon! There was no dinner that night as we went to Barbara’s boat for appetizers and drinks that superseded dinner.

Orchids

With us still waiting for the solar panel mounting, we took a ride down island with a Zodiac salesman. It seemed like a good way to see some more of the island and if the price was right, get a new dinghy as ours leaks in the area of the plug and the area between the bottom hull and floor fills with water. This makes getting the dinghy into the davits Carl’s job and a good workout it is! After a false start, as he forgot the keys to the warehouse, we and another couple gazed at the harbor of Castries, the capitol, with its cruise ships anchored off and tied to the pier, dwarfing the town.  Then we headed across the island to the windward side. Half way there we started to hear a strange rotational noise from the left rear of the car. We limped to a gas station only to find it has no mechanic, not a big surprise, but there is a mechanic a mile up the road. We limp into a parking lot at a little market and a man tells us he was a mechanic, but not anymore. However, he will take a look at the problem. After a short ride and stating he thinks the differential might have a problem, he puts a jack under the car and finds the tire lug nuts are finger tight!  The tires had just been replaced two days ago. So with some quick lug wrench work we were back on our way. We reached the other side at a small fishing port named Dennery. The whole village was flooded by Hurricane Thomas last year, but they have repaired, rebuilt, and repainted the village. It is a beautiful little town with brightly colored houses and shops, and a protected harbor where the fishermen bring in their catch to the common market. We pressed on down the coast past an unfinished resort. It is huge with a dozen unfinished buildings and an overgrown golf course. They call the area “unfinished”. We finally arrived at Vieux Fort, the southernmost town, and second largest town in the country, and looked at the Zodiacs. They are nice, but costly. We go to lunch at the Planation Yard Restaurant. It is old, rustic, and quaint, but the service is friendly and prompt and the food is good. On the way back we visit an orchid greenhouse. It is not only growing thousands of orchids, but they are also working to make them hardier and more transportable.  

Saturday, all day, we installed the steel frame for the solar panels, mounted them¸ and wired them up During installation Carl managed to drop a bracket into the muddy harbor which has a foot of soft mud on the bottom.  Needless to say after 45 min of fruitless diving, the part had to be remade!!! One unhappy captain! Sunday was a get everything ready to leave day.  Sign out of country, check internet, organize boat for passage, and go to the beach.  Monday we leave for Martinique. How is our FRENCH!

Kids table at Pigeon Island

One of our neighbors

Our other neighbors



Carl's Office

Leslie's Office

St. Vincent and the Grenadines

We love this place! The people are friendly and helpful, and there is a lot of activity around. To get around you can get a taxi, kinda expensive, or take the “bus”. There are regular 30 passenger buses which go by occasionally, but the real work horses are privately owned, flamboyantly painted and uniquely named vans. They have names painted on them like Busta, or Sammy, or, Rapid. They are 12 passenger vans with seating for 18, including driver and helper, who tells the driver where to stop, calls to people to get them on the bus and collects the faire, but often have 20 people plus small children. To get from our marina to town, about 3 miles as the crow flies or 10 miles by road, is 2 EC per person, it’s 2.68 EC per dollar. Since they are private “buses” they waste no time driving the sharp turning, curvy, steep roads at high speeds and passing others on these two lane roads while approaching or taking a hair pin turn with a “beep beep” of the horn. I guess the horn is to let any oncoming vehicle know they are about to be in an accident, although, you don’t see many accidents.

We met a family cruising from Wisconsin and explored Young Island then they said they we going up Ft. Duvernette for sun down.

 We went back to our boat and bought a couple of bottles of Champagne and put them in a bucket of ice. Then before sundown we took the dingy back to Ft. Duvernette and climbed the fort, met the family at the top, poured Champagne for everyone and watched for the elusive green flash. Being an unbeliever, I was not disappointed when no flash occurred. I guess I didn’t drink enough champagne!

The next day they were leaving and shared left over stores with us.  The cruisers way. The next morning we left for Bequia, but didn’t get far as the port engine alarm kept going off. I finally saw which light was causing the alarm and Leslie looked it up. “The Sail Drive has water in it!” she said. So we turned back and called SunSail. They put us on a mooring and checked it out. They explained it meant there was a leak in the bottom seal, very bad, or water was coming in the top seal, not so bad. So they checked the bottom and found nothing. Then checked the top and it was loose so any water could go in. They dried it out and said keep an eye in it. We left for Bequia the next morning and made a quick trip in 20 knots of winds.  Put down the anchor and checked the port engine, still some water in the sail drive.  We will definitely have to have this checked in St. Lucia when get up there.  The only place to haul multi-hulls in this area is Grenada and St. Lucia.  We hope to meet Simon and Kim at the base there as Simon has business to take care of at the Moorings Base in Marigot Bay.   

Mr. King's Turtle Sancuary

We checked out on Monday, and spent the day enjoying the island as the wind was blowing 40knts on the nose to St. Lucia. Our explorations included a walk to the turtle sanctuary, and a stop at Dawn’s for lunch. Leslie ordered wisely, a lobster sandwich on fresh made bread. I was jealous. 

We were anchored off our favorite beach, Princess Margaret Beach, which is all sand and has caves in the bluffs on the end.

Princess Margaret Beach

Kids Sailing

We also had the opportunity to watch the local kids sail their Optimus boats around the bay.

We end the day with a drink at the local watering hole, The Whale Bone Inn. Notice the seats are whale vertibre.

Early in the morning we hoisted anchor and began our journey North. Off at last! It was a great sail tight hauled into 20 kts of wind going 9 kts! Until we got in the lee of St. Vincent. Now we are motoring at 6 kts into a 1.5 kt current all the way up the coast. As we popped out of the lee of the island with a reefed main and jib we were hit with 25 kts of wind! We had 25 miles to go so we motor sailed tight hauled into the wind toward St. Lucia fighting a current and 6’ seas!

St. Lucia

When we entered the lee of St. Lucia the waves abated and the wind dropped to 15 kts, but turned so now we are motoring right into the winds with just a reefed main for shade from the sun. We arrived at Marigot Bay at 1600 and were able to get a dock spot at the Moorings Charter Service by 1630, which is quitting time. The manager, Lene, told us to relax and she would discuss our seal problem in the morning. 

Leslie with our guide Ricky

 The mechanic found water in the sail drive and a floppy top seal so off to the Shipyard at Rodney Bay we go to be hauled. Could not get apt. on Wed. so decided to take a Rain Forest Tour, spent 3hrs on bikes riding thru the rain forest and learning all about the medicinal as well as edible properties of the fruits and veggies grown on island.

 Carl also rode the zip line (12), a one hour over the tree canopy and river.   Having met some cruisers at the local bar, we decided to stay in the water a few days longer and sail to the Pitons in company with Tino and Petra from Switzerland.  What a story their life is, sailing 6mo. then in an RV they keep stored in the US. 

Anchored for three days in the shade of Petit Piton, we hiked to hot springs and visited the fish market in Soufriere. 

Hot Springs

Returning to the base, Lene made an apt. for us for two days hence so we obviously go to the local drinking establishment where we met Simon and Kim from England and decide to go exploring with them the next morning as we have not explored much of Marigot Bay area yet.  The next day we walked “just down the road”, at least 5 miles to Rhythms of Rum, the local distillery.  Good tour, GREAT Tasting Room. 

 Fun ended, now must go on the hard.  We motored up to Rodney Bay and were out of the water 48 hours during which the port sail drive was removed from Frolic and all the seals and gaskets replaced.  Now back in the water we will explore Rodney Bay.