St. Lucia – Simply Stunning

We awoke having not slept much. The anchorage was super rolly and we bounced bumped and rolled all night! Ocean Spice, also a catamaran; a Maxim; had the same problem. We lifted anchor at 09h00 and made our way South East to Vieux Fort.

We anchored, picked up Sharon and Bruce from their boat as their dinghy was on their deck so much more difficult to launch and made our way to the harbour.

Vieux Fort on the southernmost point of St. Lucia is known for “not having a tourist bone in its body”, even so the people were friendly and welcoming, helping us to tie up our dinghy when we went into town to check in with the authorities. Even the customs and immigration were friendly and efficient. It’s a quaint little fishing town and as suggested with no touristy traps. We enjoyed our walk to customs and back and stopped for Roti’s at a local café on the way back.

Although we enjoy the less touristy destinations we did not plan to stay in Vieux Fort and by one o’clock we were lifting anchor and set off to “The Pitons”. We had heard the anchorage between the Pitons was stunning and we were not disappointed. The Pitons are classified as one of the World Heritage Sites and it is obvious to see why as it is extraordinarily beautiful piece of Real Estate.

The rainforest fills the valley between the Pitons ending in a beautiful white beach. The beach is part of the “Jalousie Plantation”. It is the epitome of elegance and luxury. We went ashore and wandered around the grounds and the hotel. Tucked into the rainforest is their spa.  Every conceivable spa treatment is available to the sounds of the birds in the trees and the bubbling creek that runs between the treatment rooms. The main hotel looks like it was a colonial homestead and is decorated as such. Heavy furnishings, four poster draped beds etc. The newer “cottages” right on the beach each have their own Jacuzzi, you walk out the door and your lounger is waiting already draped with a towel, right on the sand. A few steps further and your toes are in the Caribbean Sea! Of course we had our own “luxury” accommodation on the water so we didn’t need theirs. Boo hoo!

The next day we took the dinghy over and snorkelled the base of the Pitons. It was very pretty with many reef fish of every description.

After two nights off of Jalousie Plantation we had had enough of all the luxury and decided to move on. Once again we left our mooring buoy and we motored around the Northern Piton past Soufriere Town and on to Anse Chastanet. It is named for the cottage hotel that is built on the slopes of the hill down to the sea. Their beach bar sits on the southern corner of a pristine white beach. Did I say enough of luxury? This was not to be, not quite as large and diverse as Jalousie but elegant and very pretty. They too have a spa with the rooms built on stilts into the side of the hill and are open to the sea view and sounds. Sadly none of us experienced the spa other than in our dreams!

We had read about Chester of Action Adventure divers. Their shop was at the Humming Bird Hotel anchorage off of Soufriere town. As promised his price per dive was half of the hotel dive schools tariff to all Yachties with their own dive equipment. In St. Lucia, as in many of the Caribbean Islands, you are not allowed to dive alone and have to use a dive school. We booked our dives with Chester and his brother Vincent, who is known as Bones. Chester is the Dive Instructor and Bones the skipper. They collected us from the boat with our gear and we set off to Fairyland dive site. Man did it live up to its name, the colours of the corals and fish, plants and rock were simply mind blowing. We saw a HUGE old grand-dad turtle swimming along watching us, strange creatures swimming in his garden.

After returning to the dive school to refill our tanks and use our decompression time before returning for our second dive of the day. Devils hole held no devils other than a Stonefish or two. But it had beautiful coral gardens teeming with fish of every shape and colour.

We were hooked and booked another two dives for the following day. The first dive of the day was Anse Cochon that finished in Fairyland to once again gaze awestruck at the colours in the reef. Superman’s flight a fast drift dive was to be our last dive with Chester and Bones.

At three that afternoon we moved on to Anse Cochon. Arriving at 16h30 we went ashore, had a drink at the hotel and found out about diving the Lesleen wreck. Firstly they were not diving it the next day and secondly they were too expensive. We knew Chester was able to dive the wreck the next day as they are allocated days but when we contacted him he already had booked a course for the day. It is quite a way for him to have come in their boat which is why we considered doing it with the local group, but it was not to be. We watched where another dive boat dropped their divers the next day and snorkelled the wreck. It was quite deep but we were comfortably able to reach the bridge deck.

The next day Marigot Bay was on our agenda. This is a completely sheltered mangrove-lined bay. The Bay is “split” by a sand bar on which there is a hotel and restaurant. We spent one night on a mooring just in the first part of the bay. Then we discovered JJ’s Dock, where if you have a dinner you can moor for free. In addition to this for only EC$30 you could use as much water as you like. This was a God-send. I had forgotten to tell you that on our passage over hells cauldrons we had left the hatch above our bed open a fraction. Well it was closed but not latched. Halfway through the journey I went below to find we had an indoor seawater pool on our bed! The water running over the deck every time we dived into the swell had been running right into the hatch! Everything getting wet with fresh water isn’t a problem you simply dry it! However seawater is not as simple, we had to rinse out all the salt or every time there was a little damp around our bed would be wet again! We turned on the hose first thing the next morning and they finally wrestled it away from us (well they almost had to) at about 5 pm. The boat looked like a Chinese laundry.

We had discovered another South African boat at “The Moorings Charter Dock” and that night Johan and Jeanne from Southern Blue joined us for dinner at JJ’s. We had a wonderful evening with far too much Rum punch and plenty of laughs.

The last port of St. Lucia was calling and the next day we motored into Rodney Bay.

While on JJ’s Dock we had swapped anchored from our Delta to the Fortress anchor as being mangrove it had a very muddy bottom and the fortress holds better in mud. As we approached the anchorage in Rodney Bay we decided to keep the fortress on and just adjust the setting from mud to sand. To do this you have to loosen the shaft from the head of the anchor and turn it so the blades have a wider angle with which to dig in. Andre quickly changed the setting and lifted the anchor over the front of the boat so it would be hanging on the anchor chain and ready for me to drop. As he got it over the side the head of the anchor dropped off and into the water he was left holding the shaft. I would have given anything to be in the water below him at that moment to see his face. It must have been an absolute picture. Both of us gaped open mouthed at the now bare shaft and the head of the anchor now slowly descending down into Davy Jones’s locker before simultaneously shouting, “do something, mark the position, stop the boat”! Andre quickly placed a way point at the place it fell and we circled around. I donned my snorkel and fins ready to retrieve sunken anchor. Sitting on the sugar scoop with Andre steering, he moved as close to the position as he could and then I jumped in. Slightly to my left and about 10 meters away in about 5 meters of water lay the anchor. One anchor retrieved. (Saved R5000 thanks to the accuracy of GPS)

After re-attaching the anchor we tried to lay it but it was not to be. The bottom was full of coral chips and rocks mixed with sand and we kept dragging. At one point it stuck and then suddenly bounced loose. When we brought it back aboard we discovered the blades had bent on the hard bottom.  Eventually we had to change back to the Delta anchor and finally managed to find a secure holding spot. The Captain awarded me an extra shot of rum for my retrieval efforts J

Rodney Bay is over a mile long and connected to Pigeon Island on its Northern side by an artificial causeway. This provides the bay anchorage with protection. Pigeon Island used to be the main base for the British Navy in the area. There used to be a fort, hospital, barracks and storerooms. Now it is a park where you can hike to the top and see the whole bay and Martinique in the distance. There is also a Geocache on the top of the peak which we just had to do!

 

We spent the first two days shopping and exploring the beach and town of Rodney Bay and day three we hiked to the top of the mountain on Pigeon Island and found the cache. At the top of the island is a fort, which the English used to fight off the French who were trying to invade the island from Martinique to the North. The canons are still there and they show how the sailors hoisted the ships cannons all the way up the mountain to mount on the fort, very interesting……, they received an extra shot of rum for there efforts.  (Mmmm I see were my Captain got that from) . That night we returned to the restaurant there called Jambe de Bois as they had a live Jazz band. Dinner was a repeat of lunch as Andre fell in love with the Roti’s they made. Delicious!

The following day we put out to sea to slam, roll and bump our way to Martinique!