2nd
to 12th December 2013 Rodney Bay Marina, St Lucia
St Lucia was a great place to relax at the
end of the Atlantic crossing, it was green, the locals were welcoming and
friendly and the ARC+ community was also fun to socialize with.
Upon arrival we had a lot of cleaning and
maintenance tasks to complete! We also
had a break from boat living and went to a resort hotel with our crew and
family for internet, a big bed (that wasn’t moving!) and all the modern conveniences
that one gets used onshore!!
The ARC+ yachts needed to be out of the
Marina by 12th December before the ARC yachts arrived on mass. So we
had a lot to do in a short period of time.
On our maintenance list was:
·
repair of some small rips in
our cruising chute – quite difficult when the sail-maker by the marina was
inundated with lots of work!!
·
The installation of a BGAN
Sailor 250 - very slow but better than the BGAN Sailor 150 we had and it might be just fast enough to get
some work done! The VSAT was great when it worked and giving us 2Mbits/second
down so reading web pages was really fast, but so far its proven unreliable for
us as it doesn’t cope with bouncing on the high seas.
·
follow-up on new and old
warranty issues with the Oyster team
·
General cleaning and house
(yacht)-keeping
·
engine and generator services
We found some great places to eat in St
Lucia, our favourites were “Razmataz” a
local Indian restaurant, “Memories of
Hong Kong” great food, especially the spring rolls, and “Spinnakers” - We said farewell to our
crew, Alan and Vance at Spinnakers on the 4th December.
 |
| Left-Right Amit, David, Vance, Alan, Vicki, John - Farewell dinner at Spinnakers, Saint Lucia |
We found time for socializing with the
crews of other ARC+ yacht as they arrived was as well as finding time for
pampering! John meets some of the guys from Ninfea for coffee, and has a chance
to brush up on his Italian, while Vicki has a manicure and Pedicure at the Rodney
Bay Day Spa! We also some invited some
of the folks from other ARC+ yachts onboard Josie Maria for drinks - Shaun and
Steve from Amaria, the crew of Sonsy Lass (Alex and June) and the Crew of Karma
Wins for a drink. We went through 5
bottles of champagne and quite a few of the red wine. A great night!!
Some of the pampering that Vicki planned
didn’t quite work out as she had her first $10 hair cut at a local barbers…. she
was not that pleased with it!!
In the evening of the 6th
December we meet the guys from Karma Wins and La Rochelle and head to the
Friday night street Party in St Lucia – we have meal at a pub on the street
party and buy a few trinkets at the local stalls. These street parties are
amazing. The locals every Friday night get together on a predetermined street
that is corned off by the police and is setup to party. Local vendors line the
street with promises of some BBQ food like roasted chicken, pork chops or corn
on the cob. Others are selling various hand made wares to a throng of revelers
who are moving towards the sound stage, rocking to the sounds of reggae music.
We had some great conversations with both locals and folks from the ARC+ when
the music level was low enough!!
On the 7th December we start
making plans for our passage to Grenada –planning to leave St Lucia, Rodney bay
on the 12th, but aware this may change as we are waiting on: our
cruising chute repair, the collection of goods from customs (it has taken 3
attempts so far!) and maintenance and repair work by the Oyster team who are
arriving on Sunday (tomorrow).
John was on Skype for 3 hours to his cousin
Paula!! Just a reminder of how much we enjoy spending time with our family (and
friends)!!
On the 12th December we head out
of Rodney Bay for Marigot, for a party with all ARC+ participants and then
start our time cruising the Caribbean – details in the next post!!
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