Date: 27-01-07     Time: 22:00 UTC      Position: 14:04.57N  060:56.94W   Name: Rodney Bay, St. Lucia 

Planen i dag var å være med på en tur til regnskogen, men vi somlet så fælt med frokost at vi kom for sent til å bestille plass. Da ble det heller en taxi-tur til Pigeon Island - en øy som nå er bare en halvøy etter at en vei ble laget over fra fastlandet og et stort hotell bygget på utfyllingen. Da vi skulle dra fra båten klarte Keith å snuble og falt stygt på brygga og slo seg på låret. Etter nedkjøling med is klarte han å hinke til taxien.

 

Pigeon Island har lenge vært strategisk viktig for å forsvare nordenden av St. Lucia og spesielt den beskyttede Rodney Bay. Forsvarsinstallasjoner er blitt bygget opp gjennom årene - men alt er fredelig nå. Stedet har, i likhet med resten av øya, vekslet mellom fransk og engelsk kontroll hele fjorten ganger. Under krigen hadde amerikanerne kontroll under en avtale der Storbritannia ga fra seg kontroll imot en betaling i form av krigsskip. Etter en øl i en kjølig kjeller-pub, gikk vi litt rundt men Keith slet med skaden og til slutt ble helt utmattet og vi måtte avbryte turen og innta lunsj i skyggen. Vi holdte oss stort sett i ro og i skyggen i en time til før vi tok en taxi tilbake til havnen der alle de andre tre ombord har sloknet helt! Dagens bilde fra Pigeon Island der cruise-gjester ble underholdt av lokale musikere.

 

The plan today was to take a guided tour to the rainforest in the hills, but we spend so long getting up and eating breakfast that by the time we got to the booking office in the marina complex, it was too late! We decided to take a taxi to Pigeon Island instead - just a short ride away. As we were getting off the boat, Keith misplaced his step and fell awkwardly between the boat and the pier - hurting his leg. After cooling this down with ice he managed to limp to the taxi rank and we went over to the old island (it is now a peninsular as a causeway was filled between the island and land with a large hotel complex and a road being put upon it). The island was strategically important for defending the passage in the lee of St. Lucia and the large protected anchorage of Rodney Bay. Diverse fortifications have been built over the hundreds of years that England and France fought or squabbled or just disagreed over the ownership of St. Lucia. The island changed hands 14 times! It was here that Admiral Rodney inflicted a crushing defeat over the French navy (see "Great French Military Victories" and corresponding defeats.). After a cooling beer in the pub in the cellar of the main baracks building, we started to do a tour of the island, but Keith's leg was not up to this and he ended up feeling very unwell, so we abandoned the walking and had a pleasant lunch in a breezy restaurant before keeping in the shade for another hour and putting our feet in the warm sea. After the short taxi ride home, the other three are all sleeping while I do the blogging. Today's picture is of the steel band who were on Pigeon Island entertaining the visitors from a large cruise boat.