Touring St. Lucia

Saturday June 21st.

WHAT A GREAT DAY!!!

Cathy and Derek asked if we would be interested in renting a car with them for the day. "Of coarse" we say.









Heading South to Castries and then East over to our first stop Barre de L’isle Forest Trail where we did a two hour hike thru part of the rain forest.


















An incredibly beautiful seed pod.
















Closing up the gate.

Traveling down the East coast---there was incredible scenery that reminded us all of the West Coast.













Off the town of Dennery
We back tracked to the actual town of Dennery to try and find a restaurant. No luck.













At the Southern tip of St. Lucia is the town of Vieux Fort where we found a nice restaurant on the beach. It was really windy here and there were a number of people wind surfing.












Continuing along the West coast we stopped to savor the view of Petit Piton. 2438 feet high Absolutely breath taking.

In 2004 UNESCO named the Pitons to it's World Heritage List.















Due to two criterion-


Criterion I. "Outstanding examples representing major stages of earth's history


Criterion III "Superlative natural beauty and aesthetic importance for natural heritage sites"












Looking out to Soufriere, checking the moorings off "Bat Cave" which is where we think we will "stage" from on our trip to Bequia.















Then into Soufriere...and into means driving into the volcano. and we make our final stop at Diamond Falls & Botanical Gardens. I am afraid I just can't put all the pictures here but these are a special tribute to my two Gardening Mentors; Mom and Aunty Louise and of coarse all you other fabulous gardeners out there.




Picture above is White and Pink Mussaenda in the Japanese Gardens.

























Torch Ginger or Wax Rose
















Cocoa; this will grow into large ribbed pods. See how they grow right out of the trunk of the tree.

















Nutmeg; They are small peach shaped yellow fruit containing the nut. The nut has a very fine scarlet covering known as the spice mace.























































































Pandanus (Panama Plant). This plant is actually a native plant to South Polynesia. These roots extend from the sides to suppost the heavy plant.

These are the leaves and when they are harvested they are stripped of the razor sharp edges and then dried for woven baskets, hats and furniture.

We ended the day going out for a wonderful dinner back in Rodney Bay. Thanks again to Derek for all his fabulous driving.

St. Lucia---"The Helen of the West Indies"

The incredible thick lush vegetation, dramatic volcanic mountains and the fertile fields earned St. Lucia the name “Helen of the West Indies” as it was compared to Helen of Troy. St. Lucia is an English speaking island; a mix of British, French, African and Indian peoples. The EC (Eastern Caribbean dollar) is used here. Agriculture primarily Bananas is St. Lucia’s largest source of income along with tourism. A tropical rain forest covers the central part of the island. St. Lucia is approximately 25 miles long and 13 miles wide.

Gregory stopping by to see if we need any fresh fruit and vegetables. He blows his conch shell to let us know he is by the boat.

Sparkle Laundry also stop by on a regular basis. They pick up and drop off which makes it very convenient.

Sunday June 15th. HAPPY FATHER’S DAY

It’s been great seeing so many old and new friends again here in St. Lucia. The days have flown by. We hiked up both peaks of the Pigeon Island National Park with Derek and Cathy (Idyll Island). We enjoyed seeing the remnants of Admiral Rodney's naval station. We have read that St. Lucia changed hands fourteen times between the French and the English.

Sundowners with old and new friends:

foreground--Wendy and her husband Jim to her left (Merengue), then me, then Pat & Carol (Song Bird) Randy and Derek (Idyll Island)...oops I guess Cathy (Idyll Island) took the picture for me.

We took our dinghies up onto the beach for our rendezvous.

Oh Oh; Pat and Carol had to retrieve their dinghy that was floating away.

We helped Wendy (Merengue) celebrate her Birthday Friday night.

Guest of honour Wendy and her hubby Jim

Wendy

Cathy (Idyll Island)

Carol (Song Bird)

Pat and Carol

Gilles-- Phoenix III

and Gervais--La Bete

Val and Lloyd (Puddle Jumper)

Derek & Cathy --Idyll Island

Manon--La Bete

and Mary France--Phoenix III

On Friday while we were in town we had some of our strongest winds in the Bay, up to 35 knots. This caused six boats to drag. Thank goodness Rand was so persistent in getting the anchor set well. Saturday was a one day good weather window, but we decided to stay put until we can have at least a couple of good days to get us to Bequia. The run to Bequia is a good 60 nm missing St. Vincent. It has been strongly recommended to miss St. Vincent both from the cruising guides and people we have met as it is not a “safe” island.

Tuesday June 17th.

We’ve returned to Customs and Immigration to request an extension on our Cruising Permit for an additional two weeks. Unfortunately the winds and seas seem to be getting worse instead of better.


We have been doing a few tasks the last couple of days. Randy has started to refinish the teak outside while I have been cleaning the fridge and doing the odd tasks inside. We have both have made time enjoying reading and just plain “vegging”. We did take a bus into Castries and did some exploring. We were amazed at all the new building along the waterfront. Back at the boat we did a bit of reading and found out enormous fires had destroyed the town twice. The bus system is reasonable and covers the whole island. Mini air conditioned vans are used. They line up by area and we only had to wait maybe 3 minutes before one headed back to Rodney Bay.

Martinique and On to St. Lucia

Sat. June 7th.
With deciding to stay just the one night off Dominica we were off our mooring by 0520hrs.. We did not get much sleep last night. A house a few hundred feet from us had a party where the music lasted at least until 0200hrs.. We did feel swells in the Bay last night but feel they were caused by freighters passing by.

Randy has reminded me we could be in for not as nice a day today compared to yesterday. We should expect squalls and rain.

0800hrs. Randy did a great job almost missing two huge squalls. We went in between them and got the tail of one on our port side. We both got good and wet. The seas are not consistent--- we get small swells, large swells and then the seas crash into the cockpit.

0900hrs We can see Martinique off our bow. Mt. Pelee is shrouded in cloud. We’re making progress that’s the main thing. Randy dodged another squall. The seas are up to 12 feet. Within the next hour we should have some protection from Martinique.

01000hrs Another squall heading our way. We’re doing 7 knots and then all of a sudden we are be-calmed. We smell “spice” maybe nutmeg in the air?? Now that we are in the lee of Martinique Randy figures we should not bother stopping at the northern end port of St. Pierre. It’s still nice and early and the weather is fabulous. We will continue to Anse Matin which is in Baie de Fort de France.

1230hrs At least 20 dolphins greet us at the entrance to Fort de France. This Baie is huge; probably five miles wide at it’s entrance and six to seven miles deep. As we enter the Baie it is very choppy and cloudy. (due to the Tropical Wave)

By 1500hrs we are in Anse Matin which is on the southern coast of the Baie. We have dropped our anchor in 15 feet of water. Unfortunately we begin to drag as we are on a steep shelf. Within minutes we go from 15 feet to 60 feet so we decide to move and find a nice spot in 8 feet of water. N 14* 33.113 W61* 03.379

We traveled 48 nm today. We felt we had a good day especially sailing 90% of the time.

Sunday June 8th
Checking into Customs was fabulous. We went to the fuel dock, sat at a computer, filled in a one page form and hit copy. We received a copy while another copy automatically went to the Customs head office. Randy signed our copy and the fuel dock manager stamped it. That was it and we do not need to check out. There were no fees. The only near disaster was I dropped a passport onto the floor. Normally that would not be an issue except this floor is of slotted 2x4 construction and I was lucky it didn’t fall through.

We found a great restaurant La Marine where we could do internet as long as we bought a drink. Then off to explore. We decided to go back to the restaurant and have a late lunch so I didn’t have to cook on the boat. No, I am not spoiled.

Martinique will be another one of the islands we would like to come back to for more exploring. Again we need to take advantage of this weather window.

For .20Euro we could use this toilet. It said "Insert required amount, slide door open and slide it closed behind you. After each use this toilet is automatically cleaned and disinfected"

AMAZING!!

Monday June 9th.

We’ve decided to “stage” for St. Lucia from Petite Anse d’Arlet which is a little further south. After two hours we were anchored in 11 feet of water:
N14 degrees 29.274 W61degrees 04.872
I spent the trip virtually on the bow on “fish buoy watch” It’s been awhile since I’ve had that job. The problem with these fish buoys is they really are hard to see as the fishermen use clear plastic pop bottles.

We also saw a “swimming” crab?? It was about 8 inches in diameter and probably half a mile off shore.

Anchored off Petite Anse d'Arlet. We were the only boat anchored overnight.

There was virtually nothing going on this this tiny clean town but of coarse Randy found the line crew.

We ried to find a restaurant to treat ourselves to lunch, but everything was closed.

Tues. June 10th
We got up at 0430 and were under way by 0500. I again was on bow detail for the first hour as there were hundreds of fishing buoys to dodge.
By 0600hrs we are off of Diamond Rock, Martinique which is our jump off point to head across the 20nm of open water---The St. Lucia Channel heading for St. Lucia.

Manon hailed us and said they and Phoenix III could see us in front of them. Then we had a nice surprise with Tom (Spiritus) hailing us inquiring about the weather. We have not seen him since January in Culebra.

By 1100hrs we were in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. Our first three times at anchoring we were not in good holding. Randy would dive each time we anchored and said there were so many boulders we were not secure. On the fourth time we were finally in sand, not far off shore.

Again Customs and Immigration are very straight forward. We figure we may be here a week.

LES SAINTES & DOMINICA

Tuesday June 3rd.

0510hrs and I get up. Randy has already made coffee.
0540hrs. and we’re on our way to Les Saintes ---28.9 nautical miles.
We’re traveling at approximately 6 knots in a gentle swell. The coastline is a gorgeous ;lush and green dotted with pretty homes.

0700hrs. We’ve got a 1 knot current helping us along. We’re doing our regular dance…wind no wind.
By 01000hrs we’ve got a 2.5knot current against us and 15-20 knot winds. In Canal de Saintes it doesn’t feel like we’re making any headway even with the strong winds. Again we figure we best put on the motor before we start going backwards.

1200hrs. and we are anchored in 29 feet of water:
N15degrees 51.793
W61degrees36.028

We’re in a gorgeous small baie around the corner from Bourg called Pain de Sucre on the main Island of Terr de Haut.

High States at anchor in Pain de Sucre

1300hrs. LaBete has hailed us and said Gervais wanted a hamburger….Randy said we’ll be right there. What is it with these guys and their hamburgers??? We walked from one end of town to the other and had no luck finding anything resembling a hamburger. We cleared Customs and then stopped for lunch and a bit of interneting.

Wed. June 4th.

We’ve said Au Revoir to La Bete. They need to get to Martinique by the 6th to meet up with Phoenix III. We have decided to stay here probably until Friday.

We went back into town, did some interneting and then went for a nice hike.

We managed to find some nice looking lettuce and tomatoes. We could not however find any fuel. We considered renting a scooter but it started to rain.

This is an outdoor sports center---people were practicing lengths.

Snorkeling off High States.

Thurs June 5th.

We decided to go back into Bourg to do more sight-seeing. We hiked over to the East coast (We are anchored on the West coast.)

We could not believe the depth of the ditches here. We'll have to find out what the average rainfall is.

We hiked to Baie de Marigot and Plage de Pompierre, passing this most impressive Soccer Stadium.

It started to get really hot and humid so back to the boat to cool down.

We managed to find out that fuel is not really available on this Island. We will have to go over to another island;Terre de Bas which is 2 miles to our West.

So off in the dinghy Rand goes with all our fuel cans.

Fri. June 6th.
We on our way to Dominica (pronounced doh-mee-KNEE-kah)
The swells are supposed to be 3-5 feet but in fact are a minimum of 5-7feet; the swells are cresting, breaking off our beam and getting into the cockpit. Yes we are having a very wet ride.
0900hrs. Freighter passed off our stern

0930hrs. We’re off Prince Rupert Bluff Point, dolphins playing in our wake, and we’re deciding if we want to continue down another 18nm to Roseau.

0955hrs. We have decided the winds are good and we’re protected enough in the lee of Dominica so we’ll head for Roseau.

By 1400hrs. we have been directed to a mooring by a “boatboy”. He was very pleasant and said he would come back after we rested to see if we would like to do a tour.

We have decided we will stay just one night here in Roseau, take advantage of the weather and head for Martinique.