Windward sailing: St Lucia
So nice to be in warm water again.
The chain of Caribbean islands arcs from Puerto Rico down to the coast of Venezuela and has been divided into two groups by the British sailors of old. The southern and easternmost islands of Grenada, St Vincent, St Lucia and Martinique are collectively called The Windwards as one has to beat to windward to reach them. They are mountainous and lush with tropical rainforests covering volcanic slopes. Predominantly colonized by the British, Grenada, St Vincent and St Lucia, all now independent nations, have British traditions and English is the language spoken, while Martinique is still under French rule and decidedly French.
We arrived in St Lucia after our trans-Atlantic crossing, and moved into the marina for a couple of days. Having a dock to work on the broken whisker pole was useful and we could top up provisions for our Christmas guests. December 24th we sailed south to Soufriere Bay to meet them.
To be honest St Lucia was not on my list of “must see” islands. It has a reputation for being unsafe for cruisers, with robberies and harassment from boat boys making you think twice about visiting. In fact just a few days before we arrived in Soufriere Bay, a charter boat had been broken in to. We visited anyway, reasoning security was now likely at an all time high. Most thefts are crimes of opportunity; unlocked dinghies, companionways left open, easy access through unlocked hatches. Helacious however has a locking door, which we do lock, both at night when onboard and when absent from the boat. We always secure the dinghy when out and pull it up on davits at night. Our hatches are often open, however we have bars across that prevent anyone from gaining access into the boat, although we, as boat owners and builders, do know of ways to get out should we need to. We spent a week in Soufriere and had a wonderful time.
Jake arrived. As he was driving across island in the taxi Brian saw the readings on the electrical panel were not correct. We checked the batteries and to our horror, one appeared to be leaking sulphuric acid, and was therefore severely compromised. An emergency fix was to simply re-route the cables and take it out of the battery bank. We will deal with it later, we had guests arriving.
The following day Jakes friend Hamid arrived and we arranged a day out, hiking Petit Piton and waterfalls. Soufriere Bay is dominated by the Pitons, Petit Piton being the steepest rather than the smallest, and Gros Piton is fatter. We were picked up by Jaheel on his boat and taken to the beach where our guide, Nigel took over.
Petit Piton, activity for the day. Yes, we made it to the top.
The hike was possibly the most extreme we have done. It not only involved a steep trail but also rock climbing, often with the aid of ropes in various states of decay. It was very challenging. The frequent stops to inspect bugs or flowers, maybe the view, allowed us all to catch our breath. The only person unfazed was Nigel, who completed the whole hike with bare feet.
Victorious. Now to get back down.
After the climb we cooled off in Sapphire waterfall, the long drop made for a pummeling massage.
Snorkeling from the boat is one of the treats of this lifestyle. Soufriere Bay had some lovely sites to explore. Jake took many of these photos.
We went sailing, we anchored next to Bat Cave, appropriately filled with bats and we waved farewell to Hamid.
Soufriere township is pretty rough around the edges. It does have a lovely botanical garden with hot springs, Diamond Baths and Gardens, which we thoroughly enjoyed.
Before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye.
We returned to Rodney Bay and tied up in the marina for a few days. We had the electrical issue and whisker pole to fix. We celebrated New Year in St Lucia and then set sail south, for the St Vincent island of Bequia.