We left Luscious Dominica for Lovely St. Lucia at 1500 for an 14-16 hour sail.
The wind was erratic because of the mountainous terrain of Dominica and Martinique. At times when we were in the lee of the islands, we would have only been traveling 2 knots without a motor, and at times, in the wrong direction. The wind shifted from the east to west and back to east again.
Then in the passages between the islands it became quite a sporty sail as we were making 9-10 knots. Of course, during both island passages was when it was my turn to sleep—haha! Who could sleep with the banging of the water between the hulls and the boat riding the waves like a bucking horse? However, the swells were not too bad. They were large but long instead of short and choppy which was nice as we didn’t jump off too many waves.
The almost full moon came out and helped light our way on the dark misty night.
We were nearing St. Lucia around 0400 and Ben had to slow the boat down as the haze was so thick, he had difficulty discerning the entrance to Rodney Bay.
He awoke me around 0515 saying, “We are here!” We had to anchor in the bay and wait until Rodney Bay Marina opened at 0800 before going into the protected lagoon. We decided to stay at the marina when they quoted us $65 a night, and we learned that customs was the on property—perfect!
We both napped a bit until it was time to enter the lagoon and find our slip. Everyone at the marina were super nice as well as the folks moored up and down the docks. Evidently this marina has a lot of regulars that stay here months at a time.
Our initial stop was at the “health port authority” to have our temperature taken and to be sure we had our covid vaccines. Then we took a break before heading upstairs to the customs and marina offices. We both had lovely pastries for breakfast.
I relaxed while Ben finished up with Customs and the marina office. Then we went back to the boat, turned on the AC, and napped!
There were shops, restaurants, and bars all along the waterfront. So we decided to take advantage of this convenience and have pizza for dinner at the local Italian restaurants instead of cooking. It was very pleasant sitting by the water, and the people watching was something else! There appeared to be a lot of French influence on the island when it comes to fashion. Yet, we learned that the children are only taught English in school. I was surprised by this with St. Lucia being so close to French Martinique and Guadeloupe, but St. Lucia was still a British colony.
May 21, 2022, Sat
We met an interesting man yesterday known as Vision Rasta. He offered to clean our boat and stainless for an exceptional price. So, we decided to take advantage of this perk. It was nice to have the boat clean again as it had been a while since she had received a good scrubbing. We learned that Vision had lost his house in Elsa last year and he was trying to earn enough money to rebuild. Supplies are extremely expensive on the island. So, we were happy to help him out. In fact, since we were only going to be in Rodney Bay one more day, we asked him if he would take us to the grocery store after he washed the boat, and on a tour of the island on Sunday. He was quite agreeable.
Thus, not only did we get the boat cleaned, but we also finally got to reprovision items that we did not have a chance to get in Sint Martaan because of all their holidays. I would say though, the grocery store was super expensive! I spent at least $100 more than I had figured we would spend! Nonetheless, one thing off the list. We now had enough food to take us to Grenada, I hoped!
We had a relaxing evening eating nachos on the boat and turned in early as tomorrow, Vision was taking us on a grand tour.
May 23, 2022, Sun.
We met Vision at 0800. He drove south along the western shore through Castries.
There were picturesque houses on the hillside and beautiful bays along the route.
Our first stop was to hike to Anse La Raye waterfall. The walk through the rainforest was lined with beautiful foliage which was intercepted by the river meandering down from the waterfall.
We walked by the river, and, at times, traversed rocks across the river until we reached the beautiful falls.
It was so lovely that we just sat for a while soaking up the splendor of the lush greenery, the roaring of the falls, and the trickling of the water as it flowed past us. It was a perfect first stop.
Afterwards at a roadside stand, we bought some warm cavassa bread made from cavassa roots. The round bread was quite dense and heavy but with a nice flavor of cinnamon, and apples and raisins.
We stopped at several overlooks to take pictures of the town of Soufriere and the tall infamous Piton mountains that were the end blocks for St. Lucia on the south.
Outside Soufriere, we went to the Botanical Gardens which was known for its opulent plant life fed by the sulfuric and mineral volcanic waters. We had been here previously, but this time we hired a guide who was quite knowledgeable about all the verdure within the gardens.
Lilies die in two days if touched
The Diamond waterfall was so named because it changed colors depending on the light. The minerals in the water reflect light differently; thus, the waterfall was dynamic like diamonds.
After the spectacular walk through the gardens, we pulled alongside a man who allowed you to pet his boa and take pictures for a donation. I took a picture but declined the offer of petting. He finds the snakes in the rainforest. I am glad I didn’t know this before the waterfall hike—haha!
We went into Soufriere for lunch. Vision dropped us at a small restaurant, but it appeared they were having a buffet for a large party and not really opened. However, the chef decided it would be fine for us to dine off the buffet which was full of local delicacies like green banana salad (that tasted a lot like potato salad), crab pasta salad and of course plantains and chicken legs. It was an unexpected feast!
Our final destination was the “power” falls. While the waterfall was nice, it was quite crowded as people were allowed to swim in the waterfall pool. Ben and I left the crowds behind by following the river down a ways where we could still see and hear the falls, but not the people. We sat by the water snaking through the rocks and enjoyed the sanctity of the moment.
Vision drove us back to the marina along the twisty mountainous roads passing the slow pokes on curves that made me look away at times. Wow! We talked about Rastafarian beliefs and his thoughts on St. Lucia. It was an interesting conversation, even though I didn’t quite agree with all the ideology.
It was a magnificent day as we saw so much of the beauty of the island in one day. Because our insurance requires us to be south of St. Vincent by June 1 for hurricane season, we must leave this lovely island and head south tomorrow. The weather windows can be short this time of year, but we have one tomorrow and Tuesday. So we were going to spend the night moored between the Pitons. Tuesday morning, we will leave early when the wind is the lightest and sail the strait between St. Lucia and St. Vincent to Bequia. At this point we would be in our “hurricane zone,” and we could slow things down a bit and enjoy the wonderful Grenadines.
For tonight however, we will enjoy one more date night on the shore of Rodney Bay Lagoon.
Stay tuned as we trave through the Grenadines as they are some extremely wonderful and interesting islands both above and below the water!
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