forgive me for I have not blogged in one whole week.

We arrived in Rodney Bay Marina, St. Lucia on Monday 1st Dec in the
dark which didn't make for the easiest pilotage to our birth. We were
pretty tired but managed a quick trip to the bar for a rum punch (or
two) before crashing for a well deserved rest. The marina is very well
protected from the wind and swell which meant a really, really still,
airless night which we weren't used to. Some slept better than others.

This week we have address a few boat issues that arose on the
crossing, some successfully and some not. None are major, just routine
stuff that needs TLC. We have spent every evening socialising with
other boat crews that we met in Las Palmas and Cape Verde, all of whom
have their story to tell and all of whom are really nice people.

On Friday John, Frances and I went scuba diving with Dive St Lucia and
had a great day. Frances and I had bought our own scuba gear earlier
in the year so we thought using it for the first time with a dive
master, a dive instructor at hand was a good move. In the event it all
went very smoothly and everything worked out fine. We have our own
dive compressor on Alia Vita so we hope to do lots of diving. Chris
came along for the ride and snorkeled. In the evening we went to the
local 'fish fry' which I cant even begin to explain to those that
haven't been to the Caribbean. It's basically an evening that the
whole village attend every week to eat and drink and dance to VERY
LOUD music. It's a great atmosphere and these occur in many villages
on most Caribbean islands.

Saturday saw us finally break free of the marina and motor down the
coast to Soufrier with Steve and Emma from another yacht. They had a
difficult crossing so we took pity on them and treated them to a day
away from their boat. In the event they crashed on the sofas and didnt
get a taxi back to Rodney Bay until this morning.  We are currently
sat on a mooring ball which is much cooler than in the marina and the
snorkeling straight off the back of the boat before breakfast this
morning was spectacular. We are moored about 50 meters off some cliffs
with coral outcrops at the bottom, palm trees along the water line and
a bat cave about 100m in front of us. This afternoon we visited the
town and went up to the bubbling Volcano which was a bit disturbing.
The very centre of the Caldera is fenced off for safety reasons after
someone fell through some years ago and as the water is over 100 deg
centigrade he didn't come off too well. I walked across that caldera
about 20 years ago!!!!

Sorting effective internet access hasnt been straight forward but I
think we are there now. Every Caribbean island is an independent
country so isn't all 'joined up'. We have sourced a data SIM card here
in St Lucia that should work in most countries/islands, but we haven't
found it great in St Lucia. I will try and post photos as soon as I
get them sorted.

Sadly Chris flies home to Sydney tomorrow and Alia Vita will return to
Rodney Bay on Wednesday for the prize giving without him. On Thursday
John and Elaine fly home and Frances and I have booked a mooring ball
in Marigot Bay for three nights with other yachts for a few social
events. Marigot Bay is simply beautiful. It is a tiny protected bay
with palm trees and beaches and has been used in several films, but
probably most famous for Dr Doolittle.  We intend leaving St Lucia
next weekend and heading south to St Vincent, Bequia, Martinique,
Grenada and the Grenadines. Tom is coming out to see us on 22 Dec for
a week and New Year planning is already underway with other yachts
that we have met up with along the way. Should be fun!