Hello again St. Lucia

On March 1st, we said goodbye to the green flash sunsets in the French speaking islands and hello to St. Lucia, which felt like returning home a bit since we spent 3 months here during COVID in 2020. We had a lovely sail between the islands of Martinique and St. Lucia and arrived in Rodney Bay early in the afternoon. We anchored in the Bay right next to our solo sailor friend, Amy on s/v Wahine.

Check-in was easy so we spent the rest of the day looking into providers for our boat projects. We found Kenny would be available to repair the stack pack & awning, Chinaman could come look at our water pump to see if we needed a new bracket (or some other fix) and John at Regis Electronics was around to consult on Navionics updates and other electrical concerns. With that under our belt, we went back to the boat for sundowners w/ Amy and got to bed early.

The next day, our friends John and Lisa showed up on s/v No Wahala so while they settled in on their anchor and checked-in, Andrew got a haircut and I got a pedicure (the most civilized things we have done in some time)!  That afternoon, we gave John & Lisa a walking tour around Rodney Bay Village and had an excellent lunch of octopus and other delights at Keebee’s Sports Bar & Grill, where locals and visitors meet to watch soccer and other events.

On Friday night, Andrew & I, along with John & Lisa took our dinghies to Gros Islet, where the locals have a rowdy street party every week. We were early, so the crowds weren’t too wild yet, but the loud, thumping music had started and the booze and food vendors were set up. Some locals had little trinket stands and this one young man was showing us his skill for making an origami-like bird, cricket, fish and flower, out of the local ferns. He gave one to me, gave one to Lisa and then asked John for $20… what a scammer! When we heard the locals calling us WEGO’s (a derogatory term for white people), we decided to leave before the vibe got worse. We went back to the boat to make lobster salad out of the catch we purchased right off our boat from a fisherman on his way in to market earlier that afternoon.

The next day, we went hiking in the National Park with John & Lisa, along the beach on Pigeon Island and up to to the Old Fort, where there are spectacular views and we could take pictures of the cannons aimed at our boats in the harbor. After the hike, we went to Jambe de Bois, a delightful restaurant and art gallery in the park, and rewarded ourselves with beers and some of the best roti (chicken, lamb and/or vegetables stuffed into a crepe like pancake) in the islands.

On Monday, our friend Simon, a British bloke who has lived in St. Lucia servicing boats for years (and had worked with us in 2020) came over to consult on our projects; advise us on who to use and who to pass on, etc. We hoped to work with him as a general contractor, while we leave the boat for a few weeks to fly home for my brothers wedding. Simon decided to take on the water pump project himself and hooked us up with a diver to clean the bottom of the boat and (hopefully) a refrigerator expert to recharge our freezer & fridge.

The evening before John and Lisa were to head south, we treated ourselves (and our friend, Wayne) to Jacques Restaurant, a lovely spot on the water, with it’s own dinghy dock (along with valet dinghy parking) and very pleasant service. Andrew ordered lionfish and I ordered lamb. Both came with an assortment of artfully presented sautéed vegetables and everything was fabulous! 

On Tuesday, John & Lisa left for Marigot Bay and Amy (and her new boyfriend, Steve) left to sail north, each in their own boats. A fresh set of old friends appeared that afternoon on s/v Frog’s Leap and today, we will enjoy catching up with them at Bosun’s, an excellent Indian Restaurant in the marina.

Tomorrow, March 9th, we fly home to Philadelphia and a week later we’ll fly out to California with my mom for my brothers’ wedding. We return on March 22 to prepare for the fantasy trip to The Grenadines  & Grenada that never happened in 2020, but we’re going to make happen with our old boat partners this year!

Le Marin & St. Anne: the largest anchorages in the Caribbean!

On Feb. 21st, we had a nice sail from Fort de France to Le Marin, ~ 20 miles down the western coast of Martinique, past Diamond Rock, a giant boulder that was thrown into the ocean by a volcano years ago and whose size you can only appreciate when a sailboat the size of your own sails by it!

Marin is a pleasant town on the southern end of the island and is one of the largest yachting centers in the Caribbean. People say yacht owners come here to have work done on their boat or to abandon it. From the looks of the boats in the harbor, of which there were thousands between here and the nearby St. Anne, I’d say a good quarter were abandoned. Like the rest, we were here for boat work.

We knew our friends on Dream Weaver were in town so we hailed them on the radio (and eventually found them on AIS) so that we could pick up a morning ball nearby. The moorings were pretty inexpensive compared to what we see in the U.S. and worthwhile in this busy harbor where anchorage was hard to find.

The day after we arrived, we went to town to look into the solution for our broken water pump that supports our generator. In Fort de France, we had identified a store in Marin that had a replacement pump but we needed to pick it up and see if the fittings matched. Unfortunately, the new pump didn’t come with fittings for the hoses and the old fittings wouldn’t come off the old pump, so our next task was to find a metal worker that either had the tool to remove the old fittings or could fabricate new ones. 

We found just the guy for the job at Caribe Metal. After talking our way thru a locked gate, a greasy worker in overalls referred us to the production manager, Pierre Leon (who calls himself PiLo). PiLo looked at our pumps and asked when we needed them done. We said by Monday and he said to leave the pumps with him and to call him on Monday.

That evening, we met Dream Weaver and crew in town at a place on the water in Marin called Indigo. Mike and Mary had recommended it because of the good food and a fabulous server named Marie Claude (known as MC). Arriving just before sundown, we got a beautiful show with our cocktails, had a great meal and enjoyed meeting MC, who entertained us with stories of her professional running days and treated us to spiced rum shots (on the house) and handwritten messages on our dessert plates.

Our boat buddies on Dream Weaver left to sail north but luckily we ran into new playmates, Edwin & Karen (on s/v Frog’s Leap) to hang out with the next day. We moved the boat to St. Anne, a few miles away, where the vast anchorage has crystal clear water. Here we could make water, snorkel and enjoy the amazing green flash sunsets. 

One Sunday, Andrew and I took a dinghy tour up a creek, past many abandoned boats and back to Fugier Beach, a local hangout, where we had lunch and watched the locals prepare their barbecues, sunbathe and play vigorous games of dominos.

The thing about getting work done in Martinique is that, because of the language difference (and my mediocre French), we never really knew if what we wanted was communicated or what exactly we were agreeing to, so when we called PiLo the following Monday, he didn’t remember us (at first), then he hadn’t gotten to the job yet, and finally he agreed to have it done by Tuesday.

In St. Anne, we ran into our friends on s/v No Wahala and showed them the town, pointing out the nude beach and walking past the fish market just as the fisherman was blowing his conch to announce new catch for sale. We swam, watched the little sailboats from the nearby Club Med, witnessed a few green flash sunsets and gathered with other Salty Dawgs from s/v’s Koa, Frolic and Zephyr for sundowners at night. Overall, a relaxing few days before we were to pick up our water pump from PiLo and continue working our way south.