Pirates of the Caribbean
Ile Jeudi
Bob and Lin Griffiths
Sun 21 Apr 2013 21:07
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13:14.83N 61:16.31W
Sunday 21 April 2013
Distance Run 43 nm
After a lot of dithering we decided to make a break
for it between showers and see if the winds were OK for St Lucia. The
first part was under engine as the wind was light in the lee of St Lucia and the
current against us. After 3 or 4 miles we were under full sail.
Another torrential downpour came over the bay just after we left but it missed
us and we had an almost rain free passage between the islands.
Several boats had passed the bay going south during
the morning and we could see one 2 or 3 miles ahead. The definition of a
yacht race is 'any two boats that can see eachother' and we could see on the AIS
that we were making slightly better speed (about 0.3 of a knot) so the race was
on. For clarity I should explain that boats travelling faster than us do
not qualify for a race - I usually conclude that their greater speed must
be down to them being a larger boat. Unfortunately that is not always the
case and I'm forced to admit they were sailing better than us (or rather
me, as Lin would say). On these occasions Lin usually provides
helpful words of encouragement such as 'I can see two people on
board', followed by 'one has brown hair, then ' feeling the
pressure are we?' or 'he's got blue eyes'. This always
helps.
As we started to close in on our prey they
turned their AIS off, presumably so we couldn't monitor their speed and make
adjustments. So they weren't racing either then. Of course it might
just be that they wanted to save their batteries! We did eventually
overhaul them and found they were a Bavaria 46. Slightly smaller so by
rights we should be faster.
As we passed down the west coast of St Vincent we
checked out Cumberland Bay but decided to move on to Wallilabou Bay. This
read well in the pilot book and the hotel in the bay looked very nice on the
internet. We were met by 3 different boat boys who all crowded around the
mooring trying to sell us some fruit or vegetables at the same time as were
trying to tie up and have a stern line taken to the jetty. They were
pretty desperate unfortunately and one (Julian) seemed like he was fairly spaced
out on something or other. They say the main crop on the island is
marijuana and perhaps he was buying in bulk. Julian came back a couple of
times asking if we had any tins of macaroni or sardines for him. Of all
the tins we've got unbelievably we didn't have those. He said he 'had
about 3 children to feed'. Lin asked him if he knew how many he actually
had and he settled on 3 with a nod of his head at the end of what
seemed to be an internal debate. We did find something for
him.
Wallilabou's claim to fame is as the filming
location for the first 'Pirates of the Caribbean' and part of the set has been
left in place for visitors. It was all looking a bit decrepid but was
interesting. Unfortunately the only thing either of us can remember about
the film is that most of it seemed to have been shot in the dark. This is
a pet hate and we presume it's to avoid having to build large
film sets which seems to be supported by the fact that this one was
quite small.
From photographs on site it seems the roofs of
these buildings were covered in palm fronds. The upper floors are now
hotel rooms. Part of the jetty has since been washed away:-
 Do any film buffs recognise this? Vicki?
:-
 The following photographs were taken the next day
when it had gone cloudy:-
 The 'brickwork' was expanded polystyrene or
something similar:-
 A fallen 'mast' superstructure:-
    We ventured ashore for dinner only to find we were
the only customers. The website is somewhat misleading as the place was a
dive. The waitress explained that they hardly ever had any guests at the
hotel and when they did it was usually only for one
night. However the food was really nice and we enjoyed the
dinner. One of those not to be missed, but not to be repeated
experiences.
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