Rodney Bay

We are in Bequia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, getting ready to move on to Grenada.

I found some pictures from Rodney Bay St Lucia, so I thought I would get caught up…

We don’t normally hang out in marinas because we prefer to anchor out, plus they are expensive and we’re on a budget. However, during our travels we have discovered a marina chain, IGY Marinas, that are fairly inexpensive and cater to the full spectrum of boaters from the biggest mega yachts to cruisers on a budget. While we still stayed at anchor, there is an IGY marina in Rodney Bay that pulled us in almost every night. We went to happy hour at Bosun’s or the Bread Basket, they had excellent happy hour specials with a great view! And after checking out of St Lucia (customs and immigration) we were able to buy duty-free fuel at almost 40 percent less than our last stop!

The Bread Basket:

1 RB St Lucia Bread Basket (1280x960)

Mega yacht docks and a hazy sunset from BB:

1a sunset view BB (1280x960)

View down the sidewalk to the other side of the marina:

1b walkway (1280x960)

I had the roti, curry with some kind of meat, Tanya had the pizza, both quite good and reasonably priced.

1c dinner (1280x960)

We do like to anchor out to take advantage of the cooling breeze. This is Painkiller, a Pearson 424 sloop, with Dea Latis just off their bow:

2 Painkiller and Dea Latis (1280x960)

While in St Lucia we hiked Pigeon Island to check out Ft Rodney. Or as Deb from Sibella says “great, another fort…”:

2a Pigeon Island in the distance (1280x960)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeon_Island_(Saint_Lucia)

http://naturalbornhikers.com/trails/fortrodney.html

2aa Pigeon Island St Lucia (1280x960)

2b Pigeon Island (1280x960)

2c Pigeon Island (1280x960)

2d Sibella Painkiller and Dea Latis (1280x960)

2e kitchen (1280x960)

2f kitchen (1280x960)

2g kitchen (1280x960)

2h ovens (1280x960)

3 soldiers quaters (1280x960)

3a soldiers quarters (1280x960)

3aa (1280x960)

3b (1280x960)

3c (1280x960)

3d (1280x960)

3e two gun battery (1280x960)

3f (1280x960)

3g (1280x960)

3h (1280x960)

3i (1280x960)

3j (1280x960)

3k (960x1280)

After walking the grounds and outbuildings we hiked up to the fort:

4 sign to Ft Rodney (1280x960)

4a Ft Rodney up there (1280x960)

4b Tanya half way to Ft Rodney (1280x960)

4c Dave half way to Ft Rodney (1280x960)

4d looking up to fort (1280x960)

4e looking down from fort (1280x960)

 Rodney Bay from the top of Ft Rodney. We’re anchored out there somewhere:

4f Rodney Bay from fort (1280x960)

Powder magazine:

4g powder magazine (1280x960)

4h powder magazine (1280x960)

Sandals Resort:

4i Sandals Resort from Ft Rodney (1280x960)

More fort:

4j looking west (1280x960)

4k top of Ft Rodney (1280x960)

4l top of Ft Rodney (1280x960)

4m powder magazine (1280x960)

Looking toward the northern point of Pigeon Island. The square-walled bunker is a Musket Redoubt. They would station soldiers there to repel attacks:

4n looking toward northern point of Pigeon Island (1280x960)

Another shot of Sandals:

4o another view of Sandals Rodney Bay (1280x960)

Musket Redoubt:

4p musket redoubt (1280x960)

Then up to the northern peak:

4q climbing the northern peak Ft Rodney in background (1280x960)

4qq (1280x960)

4r up a bit more (1280x960)

Made it!

4s made it to the top (1280x960)

View to the north:

4t looking north (1280x960)

Ft Rodney on the southern peak:

4u looking south (1280x960)

Local pirate-themed sunset cruise ship. Looks like fun!

4v pirate ship (1280x960)

5 pirate cruise ship (1280x960)

5a (1280x960)

5b (1280x960)

5c (1280x960)

5d (1280x960)

From Rodney Bay, we headed ten miles south to Marigot which was beautiful! After one night in Marigot, we headed south to Bequia, in the Grenadines.

That’s it for now, we will update again after we get to Grenada.

Categories: Cruising, Destinations | Tags: , | 2 Comments

Moving South

We are moving south again, south WEST to be correct!! And the wind is aft of the beam finally!! We had a great sail today, 15 to 20 knots of wind, head sail out, making 5 to 6 knots with a following sea. Wow what a day!

We are still in St Lucia but we have moved about 10 miles south to Marigot Bay and it is one of the most beautiful spots we have been in! I can’t believe we just wasted 11 days sitting in Rodney Bay when this place was only a couple hours south. I guess I should have done my homework… We will be stopping here on the way back through.

Internet is problematic so we’re not doing much with the website until we hit Grenada and get settled.

Marigot Bay (outer bay):

1 Marigot (1280x960)

And on a very sad note…I finished my last Shipyard IPA yesterday. I made that case of beer last seven months! Oh I miss it already…

2 beer (1280x960)

We will be heading to Bequia in the morning and then on to Carriacou sometime next week!

Categories: Cruising, Destinations | Tags: , | 3 Comments

Short Sailing Video

This is a short video of our sail from Guadeloupe to Martinique. Winds were 20+. We were making 6 to 7 knots under a double reefed main sail and about two thirds head sail! I am trying to edit our videos to make them a little more appealing. This is my first try…

Turn your volume down…maybe just mute it. Warned.

Categories: Cruising | 4 Comments

St Lucia…Not Really

We are enjoying our time here in Rodney Bay St Lucia. We are waiting on a weather window to move to Bequia, then Carriacou and Grenada.

In order to get here we had to take advantage of a small weather window to make our way south. From Guadeloupe, we sailed to Portsmouth, Dominica, spent the night, left early in the morning and arrived in St Pierre, Martinique. We spent the night in St Pierre, got up at three AM and headed to Rodney Bay, St Lucia. It was a quick trip but we were able to make a great jump south. We are only 150 miles from Grenada!

Backtracking to Deshaies, Guadeloupe. We hiked the river up to the top, it was a long challenging hike crisscrossing the river jumping from boulder to boulder for two hours.

This is where the river empties into the bay:

1 Deshaies river (1280x960)

Then up this little road, picking mangoes as we go:

1a (1280x960)

Love the palm trees:

1b coconut palms (1280x960)

Then up the river. Lots of these little pools. It was quite a warm day so at one point I took a swim:

1c (1280x960)

1e (960x1280)

1f Tanya (1280x960)

1g (1280x960)

Beautiful foliage, kind of Jurassic Park like:

1d (1280x960)

Land crab. Cooked him. Ate him. ….kidding…

1h land crab (1280x960)

Big tree with different looking roots:

1j tree (960x1280)

1i tree (1280x960)

1k tree (1280x960)

When we reached the top and started down the road back to town, we ran across a compound of some kind. Most of it was set back down the slope of the hill but this shrine was near the road. Mary?

1l shrine (960x1280)

Back to town, only took an hour maybe less:

2 back to town (1280x960)

We found this place in town (glad we did) where you can just “be yourself.” You know you are…just a little:

2a flamboyant (1280x960)

Then cleaned up and out for happy hour!

2b us (1280x960)

2c anchorage (1280x960)

We have met up with Rod and Deb on Sibella, Ken and Vicky on Painkiller and are having a great time! Painkiller is also a Pearson 424 and from New Hampshah!

Categories: Cruising, Destinations | Tags: , | 1 Comment

St Lucia

Safely arrived Rodney Bay St Lucia. Internet becoming a challenge. Will update soon. Waiting on weather again! Plan is Bequià, Carriacou, then Grenada…all subject to the whim of mother nature.

Fat on fuel and food, Grenada is only 30 hours away if we need to make a run for it.

Categories: General | 1 Comment