Set sail from Clifton in Union Island at around 4.30pm on 27th January, on our over-nighter to Rodney Bay, St Lucia, saying farewell to St Vincent & The Grenadines.   The first 8 hours or so were very pleasant sailing, with the wind on our beam, around 15 knots, going average of 5.5 knots.  Then the wind changed direction to around 20 knots on our nose, with choppy seas , resulting in a very long, tough sail, on a double-reefed mainsail...slow progress.  Arrived in the lovely Rodney Bay marina at around 1pm, about a 21 hour journey overall, and a different world from Union Island.  So far, we have covered 5,270 nautical miles since leaving Dingle.  After clearing in, we had our first proper hot showers since we left Mindelo on 15th December...bliss!  We spent a very enjoyable two weeks in St Lucia - hanging out in the marina, with its great restaurants, swimming in the pool, going to Gros Islet with our new friends from the marina for the Friday night "jump-up" at Duke's, run by Irish woman (Limerick) Debbie from Corbally ; - George the  Cultural Anthropologist hitch-hiking his way around the world, Icelandics Sigrún and Greata on "Lara Croft", the one and only Trevor Chevalier, ex-judge, Jenny and husband on "Tanglewood".  Went to watch the Superbowl in Keebee's, and watched Ireland beat Scotland in rugby there too.  We took a drive with Edric to Soufriere in the south, via the East coast of the island, hiked down to Dennery Falls for a "swim" - more like an Irish-mist than a waterfall on that particular day, spent the night in Soufriere, and visited the St Lucia rum-distillery in Roseau the next day...very interesting; not unlike Dingle distillery inside, but on a bigger scale.  St Lucia rum is made with molasses from Guyana, giving it it's dark colour, and sweet taste.  We visited Marigot Bay on the way back up North...beautiful, sheltered bay, frequented by super-yachts.  In the next few days, we visited historical Pigeon Island, just north of Rodney Bay.  We befriended lovely 83-year old Englishman Dennis, who arrived after a 40 day passage from The Canaries, single-handed.
After getting the Parasail repaired,  and carrying out maintenance on the Genoa, we were all set again for our next journey North to Martinique, to Marina du Marin in the South.  We set sail on 13th February at about 1pm, and docked in Marina du Marin at around 5.30pm, after a blustery sail.  It feels great to be out on the sea again, with the birds putting on a show, diving for flying-fish.