St. Lucia

10/27 0900 position 14-05N 60-58W.  On a mooring in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

St. Lucia's west coast has two spectacular mountains, Gros Piton and Petit Piton.  These spires can be seen from far at sea, and they beckoned to us as Arabella approached.  We furled our sails in the lee of Gros Piton, and as we powered in two natives in an outboard powered pirogue approached and offered to help us pick up a mooring, for a fee of course.  Andy negotiated with them and they agreed on $15EC and two cold beers.  They guided us to a mooring in the marine park at the base of Petit Peton, the smaller of the two peaks.  We spent a delightful afternoon and evening there enjoying the scenery and snorkeling along the shore.

Yesterday morning we powered twenty miles through the lee of St. Lucia to Rodney Bay.  We entered the marina there, stopped at the fuel dock to top up our water tanks, then moved to a mooring deeper in the bay.  After getting settled we dinghied in to the marina center where the girls dropped off our laundry, Andy dealt with Customs and Immigration, and I tried to stay out of the way.  Andy also ordered a new engine battery.  We confirmed yesterday that the battery is shot.  When all the work was done we sat down at a nice Thai restaurant in the marina and had lunch.

Patty negotiated a taxi ride to the island's sulfur mud baths, so at 2PM we piled into Vitus's taxi for the five hour round trip drive.  It was a long way to go, but we had a blast getting exfoliated, tenderized, and filthy in the baths, and the scenery during the drive was interesting.  We didn't get back to the boat until well after dark.

 This will be my last blog for a few days.  We are departing St. Lucia this morning for the British Virgin Islands 350 miles to the north.  It will likely be a two day passage and we won't have internet access until we get settled at our destination.  We are skipping the islands in between and making the long passage for a couple of reasons.  First, most of the islands were devastated by the hurricanes of 2017 and haven't fully recovered.  They might not be much fun to visit.  Second, Andy and Patty have always wanted to make a real offshore passage longer than a single overnight.  I have lots of experience with long passages, and I'm happy to show them the ropes.  Also, the forecast is for perfect weather, light trade winds on the beam for the next few days.

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