Rodney Bay, St Lucia

We arrived in Rodney Bay on the 1st December essentially to meet up with our friends Bones and Anna who were arriving later in the month on the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC). 

Bids fishing around us

A great sail across

Rodney Bay

Well we were pleasantly surprised to see a few other friends in the harbor so we hoped to have some walks and social times before the ARC comes in. We first met up with Rene and Stacey on Pipe muh Bligh who were here having some maintenance done in the marina. When they were all done they came out for sundowners on Moosetracks and we caught up again. They are on a mission to get to Antigua for Christmas commitments so the next day they took the weather window and headed north.

Stacey & Rene

The following day our friends Ed and Sheryl arrived on Slowdown and took a berth in the marina. We met up for a shopping trip to Mega-J, a big box store here, so we could all stock up on supplies. We have developed a list of great deals in various stores in the islands and this one has great prices on some of our essentials so we try to stop when in Rodney bay. It was a great trip and very successful for us both with lots of deals and bargains. 

When we were on Slowdown in the marina when a guy walked by that I vaguely 
recognized. After hearing his boat name "Benevento" we realized it was Darold who we had met with his wife Jennifer and son Dante when we were in the Bay of Eagles in the DR in 2014.  They were crossing the Atlantic on a 18 month sabbatical and then Darold was single handing the boat back. Well it turns out they had a wonderful time in the Mediterranean and Jennifer and Dante were indeed back in California and Darold had his uncle helping him cross the Atlantic again on his way back. It was great to catch with Darold and catch up on his news.  
After shopping we went decided we needed to do a hike, so after reading the Chris Doyle web site we picked a nice hike to Cap Estate and the reserve at the hill top. It was used as a battlement for large guns in World War II and the remains of the foundations for the guns was still evident. We walked the trail between the fortifications and had great views from a lookout on the north of St Lucia over to Martinique.

The gun emplacement

Looking north

A beautiful catapillar

While we were here Ed celebrated his birthday, we all went out for lunch and had a great meal. Afterward we returned to Slowdown for a fabulous birthday cake Cheryl had baked.

Ed & Cheryl enjoying blowing out the candles

We were listening to the local harbor radio net one morning and hear a request for volunteers to man the ARC finish line with their boat. We called the organizers to see what was involved and when the said we might be able to get the day Bones and Anna were due in we jumped at the chance. Well come the day it was no surprise it was free as a lot of boats were due in that 24 hours of our shift. It was pretty eventful starting as the first boat over the  line had no radio and we had no idea until they reached the finish line who they were or if they were an ARC boat. The race photographer was kind enough to check their name and confirm the boat number and soon they broke out a hand held and started to communicate. The next few boat were in uneventful then the first of 4 boats that shift came in with no motor due to catching the propellor on debris during the crossing. Apparently talking afterwards to crew it was really common to see finishing nets or other debris floating in the ocean. 

Finish line pennant on Moosetracks 

Hobie cat race between ARC boats

Europeans love the warm sea

Tim the race photographer

The following morning towards the end of our shift we heard Bones call in Emily Morgan at the 2 mile mark. Our secret was out early as they told us they had heard us calling other boats from 12-15 miles out and had recognized Liz's voice on the radio. In any case it was great to celebrate their crossing the line with them and give the finishing horn blast and cheers. We also managed to get some great photo's of their finish.

Emily Morgan arrives early in the morning

Even Pluto the mascot waved hello

Emily Morgan crosses the finish line!

We went to see Emily Morgan that afternoon and greet the crew, Bones and Anna were not on board but we caught up with Rachel, Declan, Matt and Andy. We returned the following day to meet Bones, Anna, Judy and Colin. They all had a great trip and there were of course lots of stories to tell of the 18 days they took to reach St Lucia.

We managed a day off the boat with Bones and Anna in Castries to visit the markets and do a little sightseeing as well as a local lunch. It was great to get them to ourselves for a day and discuss plans for the season. They already have a charter for Christmas and New Year and so we will catch them in 2016 at the very least in Antigua for race week.

Bones & Anna

Lunch in the local market at Castries

We finished our last shift on the finish line and saw some of the last competitors in. Well all too soon Emily Morgan had to get going and we bid them fair well from the dock. We then attended the marina party for the ARC competitors which was a great event and well attended and got to say our goodbyes to the new friends we had met.

New friends on Dawn Chorus

Just before departing s/v Peregrine came into the harbor just as we returned from clearing out of immigration and customs, so sadly we only got a quick goodbye in with David, Libby and Brody their gorgeous dog.  

So with our Christmas plans firmly set for Martinique we left Rodney Bay for the 20 nm sail across the cut. We had good winds an light seas for the trip giving a single reach at 6-7 knots the whole way and great way to start the holidays.

We wish everyone a very happy Holiday Season

St Vincent and the Grenadines

We left Tyrell bay for Union Island and had an easy sail for a couple of hours to Frigate Island where we dropped the hook. It is a lovely spot behind a long breakwater so the anchorage is very calm, so much so it's a hot spot for water sports like windsurfing and kite boarding. The disadvantage is the walk to clear in it Clifton is about 40 minutes by road, but it is fairly flat and the views are good when you do climb the last hill. We had a little shop in Clifton for a few veggies and even found some ice cream before walking back.

Liz buying veggies locally in Clifton

We got pretty adventurous sitting at anchor under the towering hills and decided to attempt the peaks around us. We packed lunch and lots of water and set off for the small settlement of Ashton where we found the trail to mount Taboi with little difficulty. The trail was pretty easy for the first 30 minutes but then seemed to diminish and branch off. We took a few dead ends but managed to get to the saddle between the peaks relatively easily. We wanted to get to the higher peak so took off again into the trees, the trail died pretty quickly though and after an hour of various dead ends and no real path to the summit we back tracked to the saddle. We did get to the lower peak easily and were rewarded with great views all around.

Starting the climb

Resting on the trail

view to Clifton

The view of the abandoned marina project 

Moosetracks by Frigate island

The view of the peak we climbed 

We then moved around to Chatham bay on the west of Union Island, we had sailed by many times but never went in so we decided this was the time as it was such an easy gyb sail around. It is a lovely bay with long sandy beaches and a few nice local restaurants on the beach, but no town or dock. Still we swam from the boat to shore and saw turtles and small lobsters on the way to the beach. We spent a couple of nights here and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the place.
The next stop was Mayreau and we stopped at Saline bay on the south west end. It is quite popular here and a small cruise ship stopped while we were in the bay. It surprised us as the island is very small and we didn't think there would be much to see, but surprise another cruise ship showed up a day later. The beach is a lovely curve of sand and has a bar on it for the cruise ship passengers but they ship brings out kayaks and dinghies for entertainment. We walked the length of the island to Saltwhistle bay and enjoyed the beach there before returning to town for a beer and Internet fix.

Visiting cruise ship

Saline bay beach 

Saline bay 

Saltwhistle bay

The next stop was Bequia and the harbor at Port Elizabeth, we anchored almost directly in our spot from our last visit and found lots of friends around as usual. Pipe muh Bligh were just in front of us along with Slowdown. Rene and Stacey were having some canvas work done here as the dinghy chaps are possibly the best price we have seen anywhere so they just couldn't resist getting their dinghy all spruced up! They stopped over for drinks on Moosetracks and we caught up on the last few weeks adventures while watching the sun go down. They were on a tight schedule however so the following day they had to leave.
We were ready for another hike so after arranging with Ed and Cheryl to join us we headed off to Peggie's rock which overlooks the anchorage. It is a fairly long walk of 4 hours but we were rewarded with great views again. The path down was a little tricky to follow but we managed to follow a property boundary which got us down without too much trouble.

Suddenly before you know it Thanksgiving is upon you! We love to have company for the holidays so we were very happy Ed and Cheryl accepted the invitation to stay for another day and have Thanksgiving together. It was a lovely day and a great meal aboard Moosetracks.

View from Peggies rock 

At the top 

A little tired but happy

Thanksgiving with Ed & Cheryl 

We quite like day sailing between islands but since St Lucia is a long 12-14 hours away we opted for our previous strategy of stopping at Chateaubelair on St Vincent before going on to St Lucia. The crossing from Bequia to St Vincent was a little lumpy but the wind kept around 15-20 knots and we had a nice fast passage. We had a bite on the fishing line but it was lost before getting sight of what it was, oh well no fish for dinner. Chateaubelair is just a clearance stop for us as there is really nothing there. The town is pretty run down and the bars on the beach look very bleak, they are open and managed to keep us late with the music though. There is no dinghy dock to get to the beach and Devin got dunked when getting out of the dinghy. Oh well, a walk around town dried him enough to look respectable for Customs and immigration.

Chateaubelair coast line

We were all ready for our day sail to Rodney Bay, St Lucia and with a perfect weather window of 15-20 knots just south of east we set off at first light.