Moorglade's Voyage - Kirsty goes to St Lucia

Kirsty goes to St Lucia

Moorglade's Voyage

Ted Wilson

Thu 21 Apr 2011 22:55

Our Position is 13:51.431N 61:03.906W

Thursday 21 April

My Tuesday morning's snorkelling in Grand Anse D'Arlet was rewarded with all sorts of fish and much more success with underwater photography. The favourite spot was a row of 6 purplish squids or squid-like fish swimming in formation. After a bit of time for Mum to use the wifi, we set off for Ste Anne. We motored, as what wind there was on the nose no matter what direction we were headed in. We passed the village that I had run to and its impossibly steep roads and went inside of Diamond Rock. It was hard to imagine how it could have been used by the British navy for firing at French ships as it was mostly sheer or over-hanging rock but apparently it was. Anyway I should be well-versed in all the details of maritime history in the Caribbean and elsewhere by now as Dad has been telling me all about Nelson and others although hopefully he will forgive me if I don't remember all the details...

We anchored in very clear water in Ste Anne near to some starfish and headed ashore for a look round. Whilst mum caught up with some work at the internet cafe, Dad and I explored the little town. Lots of expensive boutiques selling 70 euro bikinis and other nik-nackery to French tourists were sighted, but there were also nice views over the harbour and out to diamond rock and a much photographed sunset, which was even redder and required even more photographs the following day...

The next day we motored to and from Le Marin for clearing before breakfast. We managed to anchor in almost exactly the same spot on our return and headed off to walk along La Trace de Caps...Funnily enough to hike in French is randonner which is quite fitting as we probably seemed a bit random hiking along with our rucksack to the people lazing on the beaches that we passed. But whilst it was a bit hot, we did see lots of different bays and points and scenery on our way. The different areas that we passed all had their own type of crab, starting with some red land crabs hiding in holes in the woods, moving onto swarms of brownish ones by the mangroves, transparent ones on the sandy beaches and finally black ones on some rocks where we were drying our feet after a paddle along the white sands of Grand Anse Des Salines. We also inadvertently crossed a gay nudist beach, where mum accidentally photographed some of the swimmers getting out of the sea...Mum and Dad were not really persistent enough to properly explore the salt lake which was our final destination, but satisfied with a glimpse of it, we turned back and broke our return walk with a welcome cold drink in the shade at a beach bar called "a little piece of paradise". On our return we relaxed with a swim before heading ashore to Le Sud where I sampled the Ti Punch and ate both salmon and lobster in one meal. Coming from Ethiopia where there's hardly any fish or seafood at all - it was a big treat. I stole a few of dad's chips and rocquefort sauce too, which were also very tasty...

On our return, I felt rather like the lazy owner of a super yacht as I slept whilst Mum and Dad prepared the boat to leave for St Lucia. I was awoken for our departure around midnight to attend to the anchor locker but otherwise awoke at around 7:30 as we approached Souffriere. Unfortunately there was almost no wind again so we motored with the jib up for most of the way. I believe a number of cruise ships were also spotted, though I expect their holidaying passengers were probably asleep too! We picked up a mooring this morning with the help of Francis who later changed boats, clothes and teeth in a most confusing fashion but is sorting us out with a tour tomorrow. Our mooring is quite scarily close to the cliff and just metres away is a very tall cave with 1000s of bats clinging to its walls. We went over to explore in the dinghy this morning and numerous tour boats have been coming and going all day too. We popped ashore to clear in, have a look round the town and do a bit of shopping. Since then we have spent the afternoon relaxing in the shade. A helpful Rasta came alongside to sell us jewellery and persuaded Dad that it would be much better to pay someone else to clean the bottom of the boat. He came back with "his brother" who spent half an hour or so swimming under the boat with his scraper and brush. His ability to hold his breath for long periods and to exert himself underwater was impressive. We shall dine tonight on a boat with a very clean bottom.