14:05.0N 60:58.5W ST. LUCIA
Audaciter
ItchyFingers
Thu 19 Jan 2012 00:46
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Hi,
We arrived here on the 16th. Dominica was actually
really nice. Apparently it would be the only island Colombus would recognise if
he were to revisit. Again though it's 'they' that say that and 'they' bother me.
Anyway. It was beautiful, rustic and very wet. Mainly raining with sunny
intervals. After just passing through Montserrat (photos with the smoke above
the island) and Guadeloupe it was nice to stop for a couple of
days there. We anchored up and chilled out and went for a tour up the
Indian river, so called because the native American Arrawak used to
frequent it's shores (see photos of Jungle type stuff). It
was a pleasant enough, if not soaking wet adventure. Enough
complaining about the rain. It's January in England for Gods
sake.
The Bay we were in called Basse-Terre and was
supposed to be the capital but back in the day there was too much disease due to
the swamp like conditions but now it is fine. The shoreline is about a
mile long with a few good bars and restaurants and the shoreline is
littered with lots of beached, wrecked vessels from the hurricane of 1995
which unleashed a whole can of whoop ass on the island. You can clearly see the
damage it caused but the rusty ships make a good juxtaposition to
the beautiful rainforest adorning the skyline. I do just have to note that
one of the bars; 'Big Pappa's' was pumping out some of the best music I have
heard in a long time. We were anchored about half a mile away and we could hear
it perfectly. Really good Dancehall followed by some quality bass
heavy techno. Fucking brilliant. The only annoying bit was the MC who
seemed to think it was all about him (standard) and crackled at the top of
his voice until the last DJ told him to fuck off. Well, I assume so because he
shut up. During the day it was quite a weird crowd in the bar. It started
off as just us and a French couple chilling out and then about 6
O'clock a properly 'blinged' up family of about 10 to 15 arrived and it
became quite strange. They obviously owned the bar and the mum was like a
black Hyacinth Bucket and they were all strutting around like, well, they owned
the place. One guy had huge gold chains, a Kangol cap and what looked like Troop
high tops. Fucking old school!
Gareth and Dickon went on a bit of a rescue mission when
a skipper from a nearby yacht could not start the engine on his tender. Off they
went to save him from floating out to see. Unfortunately when they came back I
tied the tendor up like a twat and we looked around several minutes later to see
it floating away. My bad! Anyway, Dickon dived in to save it. I like to
think that he beat me to it as I was ready and poised, honestly! Good old
boy.
As we left Dominica the most amazing old tall ship
(see photo) came in and anchored. Truly a sight to behold. Stunning. I was
skipper for the journey and thoroughly revelled in my role of demanding stuff
(mainly booze). No really, it was nice to be in control and to be the decision
maker. It's a good feeling to be in control at the helm of your own yacht. A
real buzz.
The Journey to Saint Lucia was pretty hardcore.
Relentless wind and waves bashed us around and we took on a lot of water but it
was fast and to the wind. The starboard gunnels were in the water pretty
much 90% of the way. Good though. It's gorgeous here and it is a shame to
leave so soon but Aruba awaits us and we have a schedule to stick
to.
PS To Gareth's Dad. When you go to Barbados go to
Garrisson Savannah. It is apparently amazing
PPS Happy birthday to Jess (Dickon's joint older
favorite neice) for the 20th and happy birthday to Tommie for
today.
PPPS We all need a haircut badly!
Shout out to everyone. Rhian and Gary we shall be in
touch soon. Probably about 5/6 days.
Lots of love xxx
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