To St Lucia, 14:04.4N, 60:57.0W
Serenity of Swanwick
Phil and Sarah Tadd
Thu 21 Jan 2016 01:28
As we came out of the wind shadow of Barbados the wind settled in the east at about force 5, and for the rest of the night we made 6-7 knots, just north of our course, aiming to go round the north of St Lucia to reach Rodney Bay which is on the north west corner of the island. During the morning we gybed in the Channel to the north of St Lucia and started heading south, letting the current carry us through to the west of the island. As the morning progressed we saw more yachts out sailing at the same time than we have seen since leaving the UK: Sarah counted 18 at one point.
The approach to Rodney Bay was lovely, sailing down past Pigeon Island and turning into the lovely sheltered bay. The marina is very comfortable, with lots of space to moor, wide and stable pontoons, a swimming pool and hot showers. It feels very American (there are shopping 'malls', and the pontoons are called docks), but you know you are in the Caribbean, 'boat boys' try to sell you boat cleaning services and fruit and veg. Despite being the dry season, it has rained quite a bit, and today we got soaked coming back from the local mall by dinghy.
We expect to be here another couple of days, as we are having a part for the main sheet traveller made by a local company, and Sarah's laptop is getting some TLC from the marina IT experts. It's not a great hardship: hot showers, early morning yoga by the pool, water and electricity on tap (even if metered) and lots of bars and restaurants on shore.
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