Jalousie,
St. Lucia
13.49.352N
61.03.897W


At 6:00am this morning, Dale started scurrying around to start the engine to move us forward so our neighbor could retrieve his anchor and leave. This wouldn’t have been so bad except that his wife would raise the anchor 6” at a time to scrub the chain. It ended up taking quite a long time. I told Dale that we were being punished for not being here yesterday.

If you recall, the day we arrived and first dropped our anchor, we had promised to move when they were ready. The next day, I was up and ready to move the boat when they came up but they had changed their minds saying that they were heading north and wouldn‘t leave with the way the winds were blowing. Yesterday when we took our island tour, they said they had wanted to leave and we were no where to be found after 9am. We apologized but this morning, we paid for our transgressions.

At 8 am, Gerry and Dale dinked in to clear us out of customs. Customs wasn’t opened, so they wandered on down and talked with Scott & Heather on Scott Free for a while. About 8:30 they checked again, customs still wasn’t opened, so they wandered over to the local chandlery for a look see. Customs was open when they returned shortly before 9 am. Island time, man! Nothing like it.

They made their way back to the boats and we secured the dinks before heading out of the inner anchorage to the outer one. MTNest’s dink wasn’t behind their boat and they didn’t answer when we hailed them on the radio, so we headed out beyond the anchored boats, turned into the wind and unfurled our sails. We turned back out and cut the engines.

Although we were in the lee of St. Lucia, we had a great sail most of the way down to the Pitons. Occasionally, a steep mountain would hinder our air flow but generally it was a brisk ride. Orpailleur, once again left us in their wake. This time I dug out our book on sail trim and started studying. I’d ease the sheets, then pull them back in, ease them back out, so on and so forth until I got frustrated and closed the book, convinced that the sails were exactly as they were when we first started.

We finally made contact with MTNest who told us that their watermaker had been repaired but that they wanted to run it for a couple of hours to make sure that everything was working as it should. They didn’t think that they would be able to join us today but would catch up tomorrow.

We had discussed stopping for a quick snorkel at Soufriere but when we arrived, there were no moorings available. As the water dropped to over a 1000’ a few yards beyond the mooring balls, we elected to forego the snorkeling and continue over to the anchorage outside of Jalousie between the Pitons.

With the “assistance” of the local boat boy, we snagged a couple of mooring balls and proceeded to settle in. I wasn’t comfortable with what appeared to be the local spot to take a break around the rocks on the beach and smoke a joint which was very close to our mooring field. We hadn’t heard of any boardings or robberies but I wasn’t crazy about leaving the boat unattended while a few of the locals got high nearby. As it turned out, once it was quitting time at a nearby construction site and all of the workers went home, so did the activity on the shoreline. Maybe it was my imagination but Gerry noticed them too and didn’t seem to be in a great hurry to go snorkeling either.

What Gerry did do, was scope out some information about a dinner and show that occurred on Wednesday nights at the restaurant down the beach. What do you know? Today is Wednesday!

Another surprise was MTNest calling us on the radio to say they were rounding the corner and to save them a mooring ball. As luck would have it, one had just become available. Dale and Gerry dinghied over to it and held it long enough for Mike & Terri to grab it.

Mike & Terri decided not to join us this evening, so the crews of Orpailleur and the Palace dinghied to the dock and walked over to a restaurant called Bang. It was previously owned by the English Lord Glenconner but recently purchased by its very close neighbor, the Hilton Resort.

Bang had a set dinner menu with 3 selections for the main entrée and the Wednesday night show consisted of local talent. We had acrobat/fire eating brothers and students from a local dance school. We had a great time and even participated in the limbo challenge. Lord Glenconner even showed up for the entertainment after dinner and sat at a table nearby. I guess even though he doesn’t technically own the establishment any more, he’s still very much a part of it.

We knew we had an early morning, so we snuck out a little early to get back to the boats and secure the dink. After doing the limbo, crawling back into a rainy wet dink was easy.

Photo 1: Dale doing the limbo?

Photo 3: Gerry, Dale and a blonde caught in the act!

Photo4: Gerry trying not to fall.

Rodney Bay,
St. Lucia
14.04.473N
60.56.990W


We scheduled an island tour today, so I got up early and finished the recovering of the dinghy seat project that I had started yesterday. Dale sent an e-mail message to Orpailleur regarding the fire last night and discovered that they had not seen it.

When it came time to dinghy in, we swung wide and got a better look at what was left. It had been a trimaran and even the little houseboat that was anchored behind it had damage to its roof.

Gerry & Nicky picked us up at our boat and we dinghied in and met Mike & Terri at the docks. When Chris, our guide, picked us up, he already had the local scoop on the fire. Arson basically. The trimaran was used as a lunch and dinner cruise operation; successful from what I could tell. Someone had approached the owner of the trimaran asking to purchase the establishment but they had been refused. Next thing you know, the boat is destroyed. Chris called it jealousy. Dale figured it was a propane leak considering how quickly it engulfed the entire boat and how hot it appeared to be burning. At least no one was on it at the time.

We began our tour to Castries, the capital of St. Lucia. We continued our southern trek with stops at banana plantations, a casava bread operation, a waterfall (and small botanical garden), a sunken volcano that spews sulfuric steam, a fishing village, a restaurant at the top of the mountains with a view between the Pitons, but we actually ate lunch at a local establishment which was tasty and cheap, then the rest of the island that we simply circumnavigated.

We learned that the old prime minister is out and a new one is in and at this point, doing a much better job of managing the island’s budget so that the people are seeing some benefit from their tax dollars. Most of the roads we traveled on were recently repaved, the people have work if they want it, the farmers have been encouraged to return to their farms to provide a more diverse economic base, and the island just seemed to be growing and improving.

One item of concern though, we were told the last prime minister encouraged everyone to buy, build and basically go into incredible amounts of debt based on the tourist dollar expected to come with the World Cup matches in cricket being played here. However, now that the matches are being played, hotels are not completely booked, bed & breakfast rooms that were built onto people’s homes are not booked, and the extra taxi cabs that were purchased are not being fully utilized to pay the debt. I fear that once the games are over, the islanders will quickly fall into economic ruin and the huge changes that we’ve seen in one year will backslide over the next.

Cricket, naturally, was our lunchtime conversation. Gerry & Nicky tried to teach the Yanks the basics of cricket. Since its about the 3rd time that Dale has listened and asked questions, he seems to be grasping more of the game. Listening to the conversation reminded me of an old Andy Griffith skit I saw a long time ago about a country bumpkin describing the first time he ever saw a football game.

It was pretty late when we got back and even though Terri had offered to cook lasagna for everyone, we didn’t want her to go to all of the trouble after such a long day, so we dropped by Scuttlebutts and picked up a couple of salads or burgers. We told them about Google Earth and they were fascinated. There was an internet connection in the restaurant but a couple of guys were using it to surf for the latest female crew photos (we hope), so I suggested that everyone return with us to our boat and we’d pull it up for them.

Unfortunately, until quite late at night, our WiFi is usually slower than molasses in January but they at least got the idea. If you haven’t seen it, go to http://www.googleearth.com/, download the software, and then travel the world. It’s best to start out with a state or country, then start narrowing it down to city, before you go for the street and house number. It’s not real time, but it’s pretty cool to see where we are. Of course, you can just enter our coordinates as another type of address.

Tomorrow, we’ll point our bows south again and make our way to Dale’s favorite anchorage between the two Pitons. Hopefully, Mike & Terri will be able to go with us but if not, they’ll catch up to us on down the road. At some point, we need to touch base with Scott & Heather on Scott Free who are in a slip right in front of us. They are on the same time table as Orpailleur as far as making Panama by May, so maybe they can buddy boat part of the way.

In any event, I need to get these posts uploaded while I still have an internet connection. Even if it takes me all night.

Rodney Bay,
St. Lucia
14.04.473N
60.56.990W

First thing this morning, Dale & Gerry went and stood in line for the customs office to open in order to check us into the country. Once again, it was 8am ‘island time’, which means it was closer to 9am by the time the doors were actually opened.

I had stayed on the boat to run the genset, try to upload my blog posts and to be prepared to move us forward in case the boat behind us wanted to get underway before Dale returned. As it turned out, I ran topside when I saw the couple on their deck but he shouted over that they had changed their minds due to the winds being unfavorable for the northern transit they had wanted to make. That and it was raining.

Dale & Gerry came back saying they had run into Mike & Terri at the marina, who had agreed to join us for our island tour. What a treat, they are really great people.

We had the Indian fast food called a roti (curried chicken & potatoes in a burrito bundle) for lunch, then the guys took off to “work” on Mike’s watermaker. Nicky and I dug out our sewing machines and did our own work. Mine consisted of trying to recover our dinghy seat cushion which is taking a beating considering how well Dale secures the dinghy with cross ropes. The job is easier said than done. I’ve got it almost finished but with the tour tomorrow, I’m not sure when I’ll actually get it done.

The guys returned with the news of ‘no joy’ on the watermaker. They had discovered that the filters had been put in backwards but other than that, they were only able to ascertain that it was a problem with the pressure.

I put my sewing aside early, since we had made arrangements to go into an Indian restaurant called Razmataz. Indian cuisine was the theme of the day, I guess. Gerry & Nicky guided us through the menu and we had a very tasty and spicy dinner. Curries and chilies were in almost every dish; only the mint yogurt put out the flames.

Odd choice of words, now that I re-read them. Just after I wrote that paragraph, I heard a muffled pop. Seconds later, a boat in front and to the right of us quite a bit away was fully engulfed in fire. I called to Dale, then hailed the marina on the radio. As it was a little after 11:30 pm, so I wasn’t sure anyone would answer. Thank heavens they did and I was able to tell them they had a boat on fire at the end of their dock. Fire engines arrived within minutes. There were at least 2 and possibly 3 more muffled pops after the fire engines arrived. It was a difficult fire to put out as it kept coming back and to this minute, there are a few flames that keep popping back up. Unfortunately, the boat appears to have been burned to the water line in about 30 minutes. Hard to tell from here. Hopefully no one was on board.

It’s amazing what you see when you’re a night owl trying to get a decent internet connection.

Rodney Bay,
St. Lucia
14.04.473N
60.56.990W

Dale’s tummy wasn’t feeling too well this morning, so Nicky and I decided that there was no need for the guys to come in with us to return the rental car and do our grocery shopping,. We took off in the ‘banana fender’ (as it was called today) with thoughts of doing a couple of quick errands and returning before they had time to complain.

We dropped by Foreclosure to say hello and explain that we had been running in different directions for the last couple of days, then tied the dinghy at the dock and took the car back to the rental agency where we waited for someone to return to the office. Clearly they were open as the hurricane shutters were rolled up and a folding sign was placed outside the door. After about 15 minutes we checked with the establishment next door to see if maybe they knew if the woman who worked there had a habit of heading off for a cup of coffee first thing in the morning. Nope, no information. After about 30 minutes and seeing several people walk down the street with grocery bags in their arms, we knew that a store was somewhere near, so I left Nicky in the car while I went in search of the store to pick up the bread we both needed.

Somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour after we arrived, the woman showed up with others in tow (apparently clients). At least I had been able to find some bread. We made our way back to the dinghy and our respective boats.

We hoisted anchors and slowly made our way out of the anchorage. Orpailleur was held up because of another boat resting over their anchor. Considering how they had to dance around the other (unattended) boat to retrieve theirs, they were lucky the anchors hadn’t tangled.
We made our way out to the St. Anne anchorage and unfurled our sails. By the time we reached the end of the anchorage we were doing over 5 kts and didn’t slow down until we made it to St. Lucia. We saw speeds up to 8 kts; not that we were racing or anything but Dale & I did hand steer all the way and at least stayed in the competition. At one point on the transit, there were 4 boats all vying for the same air.

We reached Rodney Bay exhausted but in good spirits. We were transiting the narrow channel that leads to the marina inside the lagoon when the approaching dinghy waved us down. It was Mike & Terri from MTNest with Brad, one of their guests they had aboard about this time last year that we had met. We made some hasty arrangements to get together later and continued on our way into the fuel dock.

I’ve gotten pretty good at holding the Palace in place while waiting in line for fuel and today was no exception. Except that it took forever. We watched as the power boat fueled and paid their bill but after that, we couldn’t figure out what was taking so long. The closest we could figure was that they were simply chit chatting with people on the dock, ignorant of the line forming behind them. Finally, the station attendant motioned for us to go ahead of the power boat on what was left of the dock.

From previous experience, we knew not to throw a bow line to anyone standing on the dock in case they tug too forcefully. Thank heavens, Dale repositioned the line from the bow to amid ship because sure as shooting, even though he told the guy to use it as a spring line to keep us from drifting down on the powerboat behind us, the attendant caught the line and secured it to the nearest cleat which didn’t keep us from smacking the powerboat’s anchor with our dinghy hanging from the davits. Of course it acted like an overgrown fender but with two kids sitting on the bow of the powerboat, I was furious; with myself and with the attendant. I should have allowed more room for the dinghy which ultimately would have forced the attendant to use the farthest cleat to secure us to. As it was, it was the powerboat’s owner that gave us a helping hand to secure the Palace to the dock more securely.

Our normal place to anchor in the tiny lagoon even further in was crowded, so we ended up anchoring to the outside of the marina. It’s busier with buzzing dinghies and sounds from the local establishments but it has free WiFi, so who can complain.

We finished our day by going over to MTNest and enjoying the sunset, the music and the company. Brad & Angie, whom we had met last year, are flying out tomorrow but it was good to see them again.

Gerry & Dale have decided that Mike needs more help on his watermaker problem and have volunteered to take a look at it tomorrow. These guys actually get a kick out of working on mechanical things. Maybe they just get a kick out of working on other people’s things. Boys and their toys.