Around Rodney Bay and Pigeon Island
Stargazer of Southampton
Susie and Adam (both think they are skipper)
Sat 22 Jan 2011 21:19
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Spent most of the past week sprucing up the boat -
floors varnished, stainless steel polished, goose barnacles (almost) removed,
sails swapped and engine tinkered with. . .. .
We've moved back out to the anchorage so that we
can now have a 'holiday' after our hard work. Went to climb the
two points on Pigeon island yesterday - they arn't that high but it was
very hot. There is a litle old fort on top of one of the
peaks that was used for defending the island against the pesky french and
various other ruins from when the British had the island.
After successfully climbing up and down the hill -
went to a cafe on the beach for a Roti which is a West Indian thing - like a big
pancake folded and filled with curried stuff - stuff being vegetables in our
case, it was nice - like a giant samosa so we'll have some more of those.
There are some very nice little beaches on pigeon island so went for a dip to
cool off post Roti - this was our FIRST swim in the Caribbean, pretty rubbish as
we have been here a week - finally we have reached water that is warm enough for
swimming without any kind of wetsuit 27 degrees - hurray!
Saying that - it really knows how to rain here -
the weather is pretty varied, always warm - but sometimes - usually in the
mornings you get the squalls that we had out at sea - they come through
accompanied by a torrential downpour, usually only lasts 20 mins or so but
windows and hatches have to be frantically shut. Mostly we have only had
an hour or so rain a day with the rest fine, the skies are usually full of big
fluffy clouds which gives a nice break from the sun when it disappears for a
bit. The trade winds that took us here blow constantly which is good as it
makes the evenings cooler, it was hard to sleep in the marina as it was
sheltered and still but out on the water we have a constant breeze blowing
through the hatches.
Here's some pics of the bay. . . .
Adam looking over the bay and anchorage from the
top of Pigeon Island - we are anchored over the far side of the bay
 Susie conquering the highest point on Pigeon
Island
 Adam investigating the Caribbean Sea from the
Beach
 Along the top of Pigeon Island with the causeway
that links it to the land on the right - that was only built about 30 years
ago
 In the bay are the villages of Gros Islet is a
mixture of houses from brand new to tumblesdown shacks, there's also Rodney Bay
'village' which is really where the shops and restaurants are grouped behind the
main beach of the bay. There are a few big hotels here - Sandals and
another one on the main beach - but overall it's pretty quiet and relaxed
here. There are a couple of big supermarkets where we have been happy to
get fresh fruit and veg again, although people selling veg were also in the
marina so we bought from them as well. There are lots of hills behind the
bay with houses dotted on them - but mainly the hills are forested.
Friday night Gros Islet has a street party - we
went last Friday for a look around, lots of people and lots of BBQ's - they seem
to like BBQ's out here
Today a cruise ship actually anchored with the many
yachts in Rodney Bay - it was some kind of strange sailing cruise-ship, but not
the prettiest thing in the world
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