St Lucia Wednesday 31st May
We set off quite late, the rain is bad until gone 11 am. Still it is only about 24 miles and hopefully we will have decent enough wind. We can definitely feel that the bottom has been cleaned; we are going so much faster. The channel is not so bumpy and the rain has stopped so it is a quite pleasant crossing with load of sunshine and winds up to 20 knots which is lovely.
We arrived in Rodney Bay, St Lucia by early afternoon about 4 hours after we set off. It is like coming home. I guess we have been here 3 times already. The bay is huge and looks even bigger as there are very few boats in it. It does not take long to identify Gary’s catamaran, 4 wind generators are strumming away and a forest of solar panels makes it instantly recognisable.
We are not planning to go ashore in St Lucia, just pick up the wind generator controller from Gary, install it and continue down south.
Thursday 1st June
Ian rows to Mai Tai, meets Gary, and swap the controller. I stay on board, I know what they will be like, techy talks. After lunch he sets to replacing the faulty equipment. Result it is back in action and the whizz is whizzing away again after over a week of idleness. Brilliant, we can have the fridge back on again. We are kindly invited back on Mai Tai for aperitif in the evening and I meet Mary and Gary. Gary is cooking hand made chips! You won’t believe how nice they taste! We spend a lovely evening chatting about life on board. They have been in the Caribbean for 7 years so have plenty of useful tips.
Friday 2nd June
We wanted to stop at Marigot Bay for old time’s sake. We had such a nice time there over New Year and the bay is one of the most scenic we have encountered. It is only 10 miles away so we leave Rodney bay late morning. Within 2 hours we are tucked up in Marigot. Love the place.
Saturday 3rd June
We need to leave early, we have 45 miles to go today, aiming to reach Cumberland bay on St Vincent. The day is grey, leaden skies threatening rain.And sure enough, we get soaked before we even reached the pitons. The sight of them coming in and out of the mist and the sheet of rain is foreboding, Very dramatic indeed. A pod of dolphins treat us to acrobatics, they are far away and do not come close but they are jumping up and down, somersaulting in the grey water. A bit of cheeriness in this bleak seascape.
Once we are away from the land, the rain stops but the sky stays overcast all the rest of the day, We will not see the outline of St Vincent until we are closer. The crossing of the channel is exhilarating, Again Mr X shows how much a bottom scrub makes a difference. we have plenty wind and we managed to reach 7.8 knot which we have not done for a long while. The waves are not so bad, probably the easiest crossing between islands we have had so far. On the other side, on St Vincent, there is little wind in the lee of the land, we are quite close and we can see the landscape. We stop in Cumberland bay which is a green heaven. Tucked up between the steep hills, it is protected on 3 side and completely still, not a breath of air and not a ripple on the sea. The surrounding trees tinged the water an emerald green and you can see the bottom underneath the boat. Anchoring is a hoot; the depth does not diminish until very near the shore. The manoeuvre has got to be tackled in reverse so the stern can be tied up to a palm tree on the beach whilst the anchor is thrown at the front. Wesley gives us a hand to tie up. The beach is black sand and a pool of green water bordered by a reef is on our left side. Not many boats spending the night here and the onshore bars and eating places are deserted. Ian is preoccupied, the wind generator is on the blink again and he tries to fix it all the rest of the afternoon. He v=even call Gary for some advice. He finally managed to get it going. Hopefully this will last.
We are treated to a fabulous sunset and a ballet of swooping birds. The darkness around us comes alive with songs, between the tree frogs and nocturnal birds, we have a concert. We even spot fire flies in the trees hanging above us. Just magical. Probably one of the best nights on board.
Sunday 4th June
Although we are up early, we spend the time just watching the bay wakening up between rain showers. The birds are the first up and breakfast is soon caught in the sea. The cows meander down to the sea hedge, and the dogs start barking. Next are the fishermen and the sailors, Before 8am there are only 3 of us left. We have the bay near enough to ourselves.
By 10 am we are ready to move. Bequia is only 15 miles away so it should not take long. Although in the lee of St Vincent there is wind at all, it may take us a while after all. In the channel the wind picks up and yet again we are screaming down toward Bequia which we can see getting bigger as it nears. The wind strengthens and we soon have up to 28 knots of gusts. And it does not abate even when we reach the entrance of Admiralty bay. It is the weirdest thing, one side of the bay is swamped under the rain, undistinguishable, and the other side is in the sunshine, white sand beaches gleaming and topaz seas shimmering…no prize for guessing which side we choose to anchor near. Even inside the sheltered harbour we still have peaks at 25 knots of wind which does not make for a comfortable anchorage. And it went on all night, not much sleep to be had with the noises of the rigging, the lurching of the boat at each gust and the general shuddering. It definitely wasn’t like that in January when we last spent the night here.