St Lucia - Rodney Bay Marina
Austins' Travels
Chris & Lynn Austin
Fri 23 Dec 2011 16:19
us live at anchor in the Caribbean but we decided to stay in the marina
while Wendy's broken wrist heals and we get some repairs done and await our
new dinghy and outboard. The plaster will come off in early January and, if
the various repairs are complete, we will then move on. However, getting any
work done before Christmas seems unlikely so it may be a couple of weeks
into January before we can get away.
The final celebrations and social events of the ARC have finally finished
and the ARC people have left. So have a lot of the boats that crossed with
the ARC so the marina is now much more peaceful.
Our family and crew had mixed feelings about involvement with the ARC, as
you would expect from such a diverse group, but personally I am relieved
that the organised socialising part of our trip is over (this will not
surprise those that know me!).
Rodney Bay marina is quite large by Caribbean standards and a very nice
location.
There are various shops, minimarket, bars/restaurants and marine services
and chandlery within the marina or very close. About a 15 minute walk gets
us to a fairly large shopping mall with serious supermarkets. This would be
a short dinghy ride if we had our new dinghy and outboard.
We decided back in the summer that we would need a much better and larger
dinghy and outboard here. This is essential it is the normal method of
travel, especially when at anchor. Transporting up to 4.5 people over large
distances and doing the weekly shopping is best done with a 3 metre rib (an
inflatable with a solid keel) and a 10-15 HP outboard. Fortunately it is
still possible to buy 2-stroke outboards here (they have been illegal to
sell in the EU for a couple of years now due to perceived pollution fears)
which are much lighter for similar power compared to 4 strokes and
accelerate more quickly. So we ordered a new 3m dinghy and 10 HP outboard in
late summer. However when we arrived the dealer told us that he couldn't get
the model of dinghy we had ordered and offered us a more expensive (and
better) alternative at the same price. After a couple of days when this was
resolved he then told us that he didn't have the engine yet and was waiting
for it to arrive on the island!! It has now arrived so we are waiting for it
to be released from customs and delivered to us. Fortunately this hasn't
been critical as we are in the marina but yet another example of diabolical
service from a marine services company.
Hopefully we'll be up and running soon.
We have so far managed to get the ripped sail and spray hood stitching fixed
and the engine parts ordered.
Our plan for Christmas day is to go for a barbeque buffet brunch/lunch in a
beach bar/restaurant at Pigeon Island beach near the marina. We can use the
pool at the adjacent hotel and the brunch runs from 1100-1500 which suits us
very well and will hopefully keep Oliver occupied and exercised throughout.
We will be thinking of everyone at home cowering in front of their fire - or
maybe even snowed in!
However, we have had some serious downpours during the last few days with
torrential rain but never lasting for very long (see picture of Oliver
jumping in puddles and getting soaked on a trip to Marigot Bay). Last night
was a bit noisy
with high winds gusting to about 30 knots with some creaking ropes and
whistling in the rigging. But the temperature continues at 25-30 degrees all
of the time.
