Our Anchor up at 7.30am and we headed south 26 miles from Petite Anse, Martinique to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. We averaged 4 knots on a bouncy ride with the sea 6-7 feet. Our friends on Tiki Baja were also making the trip and we saw them some distance behind us. We dropped our anchor in 25 ft of water, close to our friends on Ride the Wind, Wildly Intrepid, and Camino. Tiki Baja then arrived with a German family on Roxy they have been buddy boating with. A harbour full of friends!
Checking in was fairly straightforward. I didnt have papercopies from Martinique to hand in, but the customs agent was OK to see our digital copy. He invited us to come back for Carnival in a few months - a huge celebration for the Island.
We got to know the lay of the land. A beautiful hike at the mouth of the bay, but it cost 20USD pp to do it. This was to be a theme in the lower islands - fees for almost every activity, including hiking! This stems in part from a large increase in cruise ship and resort tourists who are looking for guided experiences during their 1 week vacations and are happy to pay. For us cheap cruisers, we would have to pick and choose.
The marina was close and provided nice ammenities; a boardwalk, restaurants, grocery, and customs/immigration. We hear that Thursday happy hour is a cruisers get together, and so we went and met some people living in the marina, who were a wealth of knowledge, not only for St. Lucia but also for the Islands further down the chain that we hadn’t been to yet.
One main attraction in the bay is an outdoor Wibbet obstacle course. We arranged for all the kids to meet up and we did it together - 2 hours of non stop laughter that we were all very sore from after!
We rented a car to do a Roadtrip with Ray & Kathleen. There are famous pitons to the south that we wanted to check out, along with an active volcano and mud baths. I did some research and found a hike to a bird sanctuary that was only $20pp that looked to be on the way, (many hikes are more like $80pp), so we added that to our itinerary for the day. Michael was our driver. Its left hand driving in St Lucia as its an ex-British colony, so its still 2nd nature for him driving on the left. The roads inland to the bird sanctuary proved to be windy, narrow and STEEP. Our poor little car made it up the hills but just. It was a roller coaster ride for the passengers. Once at the bird sanctuary, we did the ‘short’ path which turned out to be a 10 minute trail with the guide ‘looking out for snakes’. We looked around and didnt see one bird. We did learn about some of the local plants and get a great view of Mt. Jimmie. For the effort to get there, it was a bust. Oh well.
Next stop was at the volcano. We started off with a short video and exhibit learning about volcanoes. We then drove to the active site, where bubbling pits of clay looking pools were venting off ominous steam. We heard the story of the guide who jumped up and down on the crust to show his group how safe it was, only to fall right in and have burns all over his body. That pool now holds his name, serving as a warning to others, and he is still thankfully living on the island.
The mud baths were a highlight. We painted our bodies in light and dark clay, let it dry, and bathed it off in the hotspring pools, leaving your skin luxuriously soft. They also provided a shower to rinse off in that we thoroughly enjoyed.
Michael and I spent a fun evening on Ray & Kathleen’s boat enjoying Ray’s famous cocktail ‘Bushwackers’ - 7 different types of liquor + ice. The bushwackers kept coming and needless to say we had a very fun and silly night.
Michael and I spent a fun evening on Ray & Kathleen’s boat enjoying Ray’s famous cocktail ‘Bushwackers’ - 7 different types of liquor + ice. The bushwackers kept coming and needless to say we had a very fun and silly night.
Pitons
A must do is to moor infront of the incredible pitons (featured in Pirates of the Caribbean). Camino had taken off early, but the rest of us sailed down 19nm to the mooring field at this incredible location. As we neared the bay, we could see 2 boat boys racing out to us to be the first one to help us find our ball. Once we were secured, another fellow angled up selling us veggies, so I asked the price of avocado’s - $10! Then another came to offer us fish. This is the norm in this area of the carib. Flo was invited ashore with Tiki Baja and Roxy, and Christian, Michael and I spent a lovely evening on Wildly Intrepid, taking in the incredible view and getting some drone shots. Christian loves chasing the little guys all over the boat and playing lego’s together. Its so awesome how the generations mix so easily in boat life.
