Sailing Down St Lucia
Trip Start
May 20, 2010
1
146
180
Trip End
Ongoing
Soufrière, Saint Lucia
Monday, January 16, 2012
Being back at Rodney Bay meant we could also spend some time with Graeme and Lynley, kiwi crew on "Destiny", and Patrick and Amanda from "Egret"who had made it 1500 miles across the Atlantic with no rudder. An amazing feat of guts and determination. Their boat was up on the hard and we were able to see first hand the damage. They are now working through all the stages of getting a new one built and their plans to sail on through the Panama may have to wait until next year. We also came across kiwis Sally and Don delivering "Follow Me" to NZ.
On the 16th Jan we said goodbye to everyone and headed down the west coast of St Lucia stopping first at Marigot Bay. A narrow entrance which opens into a lagoon basin and a protected hurricane hole. This bay is famous for where the movie Dr Doolittle's was filmed and Oprah Winfrey has a holiday home here, and we were moored right underneath it!
We carried on down the coast and arrived at Sofrieres where the two "Pitons" rise majestically out of the sea and must be one of the most photographed places in the world. Stunning volcanic scenery with steaming mud pools, lush tropical vegetation and really annoying boat boys selling everything from T shirts to carved coconut shells.
We had to take a mooring here as it is all a marine reserve and no anchoring is allowed. We chose a spot near "The Bat Cave" which wasn't nearly as exotic looking as it sounded. A mere slit in the cliff face but it certainly lived up to it's name at dusk when they all came out squeaking and flitting about. The town itself was quite poor, tired and run down, but the people were friendly and helpful. Almost too helpful when it came to "watching" our dinghy for us when we went shopping. Kids holding their hands out for the payment and letting us know that $5 wasn't enough!!!
On the 21 Jan we left early in the morning, having checked out with customs and immigration the night before and we sailed across to the next island in the windward group, St Vincent.
