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