St. Lucia

Sunday, May 22, 2011

We took the outboard engine off the dinghy and put the dinghy up on Blue Horizon's deck preparing to sail to St. Lucia, the next island south. Though it looked like rain, we only had one real shower the whole trip. The closer to St. Lucia we got the sunnier it became. The wind was forecast to be from the east, but of course it was from SE, almost our preferred course heading.

So the wind which was 15-22 knts kept pushing us further west. If we tacked, we would be going back to Martinique, so we waited until we were well south of Rodney Bay to tack towards it. Rodney Bay is on the NW side of St. Lucia. It is a nice wide bay and had many resort hotels along the sandy beaches and a large number of sailboats anchored in the bay. Since we needed water and could top off our fuel,

we chose to go into the very modern Rodney Bay Marina with floating docks. We have electrical hookups, wifi, water and many services and re

staurants closeby. A mini Mart and larger grocery as well as a chandlery and another huge hardware store are a short walk away.

Monday , May 23, 2011

We checked into the Marina office and the customs nearby. We then went exploring to the chandlery and nearby grocery store. We finally found the regulator for our Bar-B-Q grill. We bought two of them. We were able to find some other boat supplies which we needed. This grocery store was not nearly as good as others. We were able to buy a new water hose from a local very large hardware store before we washed down the boat. We plan to stay in St. Lucia until our medications arrive from the US.

The Saga of Barnett Medications

On Friday May 20th, before we left Martinique, we had called our Mt. Pleasant Walgreens and ordered 5 subscriptions refills. We told them to mail it directly to our mail drop in Charleston. When our mail drop, Pak and Mail, did not receive it on Tuesday, we called Walgreens again ( sat phone). They told us that one of the subscriptions was not be filled until Monday and then shipped. We waited several more days and it still had not been received. When we called Walgreens again they said it had come back due to insufficient postage and was remailed. We waited each day expecting a e-mail from Pak and Mail that they had received our meds. When they still had not received them by Friday morning , June 3rd, we called Walgreens again. They discovered that they had never been mailed the second time. they then switched the prescriptions to the Folly Road (James IS) store which is in the same shopping strip with the Pak and Mail. Walgreens walked the prescriptions to the Pak and Mail. they were shipped out via FedEx on Friday. We have been tracking the shipment and we should receive it today ( June 6). However, we received a message from Walgreens telling us that one of the 5 prescriptions was not filled on Friday and could not be filled until Monday (June 6). Now we have to figure out where the best place to ship this one prescription. We are not staying here in St. Lucia to receive it!!! Hooray! They arrived this afternoon June 6th at 4:45! The last one will be shipped today to Bequia in the Grenadines,

Rodney Bay is a very pleasant location on St. Lucia.

There are 4-5 restaurants along the edge of the Marina. Several serve breakfast as well as lunch and dinner. There is a Boardwalk Bar where many cruisers meet for cocktail hour. Several of the restaurants also bake breads and sweetrolls. Unfortunately the bread does not last long in this heat and humidity. there is a wine and liquor store as well as several gift shops. We also discovered two good sized malls accessible by dinghy at the other end of Rodney Bay Lagoon. There are two wonderful grocery stores which have anything I might want or need to buy. There are two pharmacies and another hardware store. There is a Casino, numerous clothing stores, gift shops, and small snack restaurants. However on that side of the Rodney Bay area there are many more larger restaurants along the road that is inland from the beach. we took a walk over that way and had a cocktail in a very large two-story Mexican Restaurant and had dinner at the Red Snapper, another restaurant. later during our stay we had dinner at the expensive The Edge restaurant.

The beaches at Rodney Bay area are long, wide and white sand. Several resorts line the beaches. We took the dinghy over to the

Sandals but they required all guests to pay $100 US per person just to land at their dinghy dock, enjoy their part of the beach, and pay for food. We declined. There was plenty of

other beach other than their small area. We went to the beaches just south of the Lagoon entrance and had lunch at

Spinnaker's Bar and Grill. There must have been a Cruise ship nearby because the beach was packed. The locals hang out there during the weekends too. there are many condos in this area. The houses are usually brightly-colored stucco.

Pigeon IS is a National Park and it has its own beaches. we spent part of a day over there as well. It really is no longer an Island as the land has silted in to make a land bridge. There were many old trees, ruins from the fort, several beaches, and two hills to climb. We just enjoyed some of the ruins and the beaches. There is also a run down bar adjacent, so we had a drink there before retuning to the boat.

Since we were staying in Rodney Bay much longer than we had planned, we rented a car for two days. That was an experience! The Canadian couple ( Elizabeth and Rick) on a trawler next to us had rented a car to pick up their guest at the airport all the way on the south end of St. Lucia. The had told us that some of the roadway had been washed out. The trip took them two hours one way. The next day they took a drive to the east side of St. Lucia to do a zipline in the rain forest. More of the roadway had been washed out on this trip and huge holes were in the road, so I decided I would not even suggest that route to Charlie! We did drive south down the coast a short way to Marigot Bay because the cruising guide said it had a beautiful beach. It is also has a marina and a resort. On the way, we got lost in St. Lucia's largest city Castries. a man on the street tried to help us by telling us to follow a bus (van)driver, but he was going home and his street was blocked by parked cars. Several men helped us back down the street and turn around, then the bus driver actually did lead us back toward the main road.

The road to Marigot Bay off of the main road looked like a one lane country road but it did get us there.

We had a drink at the Resort Bar and watched some of the French Open Tennis tournament. To get to the beach, you have to take a short ferry ride. There were several small kiosks selling jewelry and clothing. There was also a small bar. The beach was practically deserted with only a mother and small child .

We obtained two beach chairs and a palm umbrella and sat down to relax. After awhile we decided to go to the larger restaurant "Doolittles" also on the island. Evidently it may have been used for the movie. I had a wonderful seafood pasta with lots of scollops, shrimp and fish. Several vendors approached us. One was a fruit and vegetable guy and the other was making baskets and hats out of palm leaves. They kept bugging us so much, we eventually bought something to get rid of them! That was the only uncomfortable thing about Marigot Beach. Charlie did say it was underwhelming instead of spectacular like the cruising guide led us to believe. On the wa
y back, we made all the correct turns to stay on the main road, however the traffic was so heavy and we were slowed down by a wreck. the posted speed is 30 or 40 but all the cars go 50-60 instead. they use roundabouts but they are too small for the traffic. At the airport roundabout there were 4 lanes of traffic and some had to cross each other to go to the airport. That was where the wreck was. Another problem is the busses (vans) which just pull off to the side of the road to let off or pick up passengers. In many places the roads have no shoulder but a deep drop off for drainage! There are many hills and the roads are narrow with these deep drop offs instead of a shoulder. They also drive on the left.

The next day we went down the

road to find Choc Beach. We discovered that it was alongside the main road. We missed it the first time and had to go to the roundabout to return to it. Evidently it is used by many of the locals. It had two volleyball nets. Since there was such a small area to park, I imagine that many walk or take the bus (vans). The beach has two large bars/restaurants. At the south end it looked like one could rent hobie cats and wave runners. The beach is very wide and long. At the back

from the sand are trees for shade.

There were several families there while we were at the beach. Some of the trees have tire or rope swings. We spent several pleasant hours before we packed up to return to the marina. We were glad to turn the car back in. I can see why visitors use the taxi system for personal tours!

While we have been waiting for our package to arrive, we have done some maintenance work to the boat. Saturday, there was a promotion for Stella Bright beer with two bands along the waterfront. The first was good jazz band. The local restaurants provided dinner. the second band was a rock band. We enjoyed meeting some cruisers we had met along the way: Vickie and Ed whom we met in Port de Pitre.