One week in St Lucia
PASSEPARTOUT
Christopher & Nirit Slaney
Sun 16 Jan 2011 04:16
Lucia. We woke up last Sunday morning to discover clear, clear water
surrounded by a sandy beach against green hills. A quick swim under the
boat revealed hundreds of hitch-hikers who had been with us across the
Atlantic; small mollusks were stuck to the hull just below the water line.
How had they managed to hold on for two thousand miles? So much for anti
fouling paint! We brushed them away and then spent a few hours clean the
decks and the accommodation. A sudden rain shower helped and we made our
way into thr IYG Marina looking clean and smart.
Our list of things to replace, replenish or fix after almost one month at
sea was very long and detailed. A partial read of the main items included
fixing the fridge and freezer (this turned out to be more complex than the
original diagnosis of failed pump), fix the batten car on the mast, refill
gas bottles, buy a new dinghy and engine, sew the torn spinnaker and
re-hinge a kitchen cabinet door.
One week later and the list has shrunk, but not disappeared. Our gleaming
new aluminum-hulled dinghy is on the foredeck. Chris has just re-started
the freezer after fixing three different circuits which were faulty.
Fingers crossed – it seems to be getting cold. The pump he ordered from
the local supplier while we were mid-Atlantic has still not arrived.
Luckily Naomi found us one in Florida and flew down with it on Thursday.
She also brought spare parts to rebuild the batten car; a nice job waiting
for a windless day.
Before Shmulik and Gabriella left us we hired a local boat with Levi, a
Rastafarian skipper, to take us to four different bays on the southern
side of the island. A pair of 200 horsepower Yamahas and 400 watt sound
system blasting out reggae made for an unforgettable day!
On Thursday we hired a car to collect Naomi from the airport. Apart from
the excitement of seeing her after five months we also had a great drive
through the hilly interior of the island and saw a lot of the damage
caused by hurricane Thomas last November. We had an hour spare while
waiting for the flight so Chris had a haircut in a ladies beauty parlor in
the nearby town of Vieux Fort which was very entertaining.
Yesterday we went to an amazing street party in a village near the marina.
Friday night ‘Jump up’ seems to be an institution in the Windward Islands.
Food stalls, plenty of rum and cold beer, everybody out on the street -
locals and visitors alike. A great atmosphere, a good DJ and a few
plainclothes cops in the crowd just in case it gets out of hand.
And today we were racing again! We crewed for our friends Phil and
Danielle on their Oceanis 46 in a 45 mile dash from Rodney Bay to round a
diamond-shaped rock near Martinique. The wind blew from the east at around
18-25 knots, Danielle coaxed eight and a half knots of boat speed out of
the rig and we were hit by two squalls as we closed the coast of St Lucia
on the return – in short, a fantastic day on the water. Chris has some
video which he’ll hopefully put on YouTube in a day or two.
Now that I seem to have a working freezer again, we’ll likely stock it
with food and drink tomorrow before moving out of the marina to anchor in
the bay, chill, swim and generally relax.
Nirit