Shootin' the Breeze: ST LUCIA TO PETIT ST VINCENT

ST LUCIA TO PETIT ST VINCENT

We provisioned in St Lucia before our trip South and what a pleasure it was, no taxi's, no carting heavy bags, everything is accessible from the IGY Marina in Rodney Bay. Some useful information for other cruisers.....use Crown Foods to order meats, cold meats, deli items and cheeses at reasonable prices. They will freeze and vacuum pack your goods and deliver them to your boat. Two great supermarkets, Food Market and Super J are a 5 minute dinghy ride away from the marina. There is a dinghy dock at Tapa's on the Bay and once you've done your shopping you can unload your trolley directly into your dinghy. There is also a great laundry on the premises and they collect and drop off your laundry.

IGY Marina

The Mall in St Lucia

After spending 2 days in luxury on the marina there was a weather window and we decided to head back to Mayreau, overnighting at Sofriere. Sofriere is a beautiful anchorage nestled under the famous Pitons. We made an early start in darkness the next morning, heading for Mayreau. There was nothing pleasant about this trip. We had squall after squall with an uncomfortable swell on the nose and had to motor for much of the way. After a 78 mile passage taking us 11 hours, we arrived to the safety of Saltwhistle Bay, which felt like home to us, being our 3rd visit. We anchored back next to our Rasta friends on Tika Roa for a good nights sleep.

Between St Lucia and Sofriere

A beautiful anchorage under the Pitons

Pascual, with such a lovely smile, we bought his wares

Chantal the goat lives on this boat and woke us up with her bleating every morning

So goats can swim....Chantal goes to shore

The dogs from Tika Roa swim all around the anchorage

We spent 2 weeks around Mayreau and the adjacent Tobago Cays. It was school holiday time so there were about 12 game fishing boats anchored around us, with lots of kids and a festive group of people from Trinidad and Barbados. We spent our days on the beach and drinking beer in the water, Tayne learned to surf and we made friends with the other people on the boats around us. It was so strange to hear white Caribbean children and their parents speak with the same accent as the local population. We were invited over to their boats for conch curry and met some really great people during our time in Saltwhistle Bay. This has become our new favourite bay in the Caribbean!

Stephen 'liming' in the water

We experienced a really bad storm one afternoon with thunder, lightning and torrential rain. It was quite scary watching the black clouds roll towards us and we had nowhere to go! There were a few squalls, with incredible heat and humidity until the next one arrived. I made some oxtail stew to pass time indoors and we proceed to have far too much red wine for our good, instead of using it in the pot!!

The storm approaches.....

Of course Michaela will find the waves that come with stormy weather

Sweating up a 'storm' in the galley making oxtail

Michaela and I did a crazy walk in the pouring rain to buy bread in the village. It was raining so hard it hurt our skin! We were accompanied by a whole lot of dogs from the village who clearly loved walking in the rain. We seem to attract animals wherever we go. A seagull with half a foot hung around our boat all the time we were there, we became quite attached to our friend we called Footloose. He became very protective of his area and chased the other seagulls away when they came near. He ate any leftovers we threw overboard.

We became the local dog walkers

Such beautiful but wild cats we found at the bakery

Our friend Footloose

Cheers Saltwhistle Bay!

Mayreau, the smallest inhabited island in the Caribbean

We had to say cheers to the beautiful Saltwhistle Bay, time to move on again. We went via Union Island to stock up with fresh fruit, vegetables and bread. It's a quaint island and is beautifully maintained but cruisers have stopped going there because of an attack on a yacht in the early part of this year. It's so sad because it felt a bit deserted and has so much to offer. We stopped in at Petit Martinque to fuel up and buy duty free alcohol and sailed past the beautiful Petit St Vincent, a private island consisting only of one luxury resort.