Caribbean Part 1

Caribbean Idyll

Exploring the Caribbean - (part one)

St. Lucia and St. Vincent

Click here for a map of the Lesser Antilles. Otherwise, smaller maps are available in the text.

Jim and Rosemary's account of their first few weeks exploring the Caribbean Islands

St Lucia

We arrived in Rodney Bay, St Lucia (Click here for a map )the morning of Saturday April 7, the day before Barnaby and Cassandra were due to fly into the airport at the other end of the island. So, once the euphoria of seeing land after 20 days at sea evaporated, we had suddenly to deal with people and the trappings of society again. By the time we had cleared customs and immigration, booked into the marina, obtained money, phoned UK to announce our arrival, and sorted out transport to the airport the next day, there was no time or energy left to sort out the boat. We could have done with a breathing space before the kids arrived to get things organised, but it was great to have got to St Lucia in time to meet them at the airport on April 8 (in a rather trendy "off the road" vehicle) and wonderful to see them. Our sightseeing began straightaway on the way back from the airport, which is at the south end of the island, with a dip in a hot black sulphurous stream near Soufriere - it felt great at the time, but we smelt awful for some time after! We got some good views of the Pitons (steep cone shaped volcanic mountains) on the drive back along the west coast of the island to where the boat was berthed at the northwest tip of the island.

It was Cass' 22nd Birthday on the Monday and we started the day well with a swim at Reduit Beach at 7.30a.m. followed by breakfast at a waterside restaurant. As we sat there "Red Quill" sailed past with Ted Curley at the helm, the chap Jim had sailed with from UK to the Canaries in October 1998 (we were to meet up with him later and be presented with a bottle of champagne to celebrate our Atlantic Crossing). Later we went out for a typical local meal of jerk chicken and barbecue chicken - preceded by exotic alcoholic cocktails such as a "Zombie" and "Hummingbird Delight" - some delicious, some noxious. After a few days dealing with boat chores such as refitting the manual bilge pump (originally fitted upside down) we headed south, stopping overnight at the picturesque anchorage in Marigot Bay before sailing for St Vincent (Click here for a map). Our first port of call at Wallilabou initiated us into the experience of mooring with a buoy plus a stern line to a palm tree, whilst being hassled by local sellers of jewellery, fruit, bread etc on their various small craft. Once we were left a lone it was lovely, rocking gently in a sheltered cove with squealing terns catching fish in the clear water and frigate birds chasing them, palm trees lining the beach, and mountains behind.

Our next stop was Blue Lagoon Marina at the south of the island. This enabled us to go into the capital, Kingstown the next day, by means of a local "bus" (van with cramped seating for 14 people). These buses are a cheap if slightly nerve-wracking means of getting around the islands, which we have used on a number of occasions. They go very fast on narrow, tortuous, pot holed roads with no barriers at precipices! We found Kingstown colourful and bustling, and visited the Roman Catholic Cathedral (which looked from the outside like a Hammer Films gothic castle), the Botanic Gardens (featuring inter alia a sucker from the Breadfruit Tree brought by Captain Bligh), supermarket and fruit/vegetable market. Our departure from the lagoon next day through the narrow reef entrance was accompanied by a scraping noise as the keel touched bottom! It can't have been our fault because the skipper was at the helm. One rather weird experience at Barouallie on St Vincent where we chanced upon the aftermath of the killing of two short fin pilot whales (about 2 tons each). A few of the whales are caught each year from small open boats, we guess this is allowed by the international community because of the "aboriginal rights" argument used by Inuit and Faero islanders. A long stretch of beach was populated by people hacking the whales to pieces, rendering the blubber in great cauldrons over open fires and hanging up strips of skin and flesh to dry. Bones and intestines were bobbing in the surf. Almost like one of Breugel's medieval paintings of hellfire etc. And so onto the islands of Bequia, Mustique, Canouan, Tobago Cays, Mayreau, Palm Island and Union Island. (Click here for a map) We spent varying amounts of time visiting each, usually anchoring and either swimming or using the dinghy to get to shore. We each had our favourite, but probably the Tobago Cays came out top for scenery. These are small islands with no inhabitants - except the iguanas and giant flowering aloes that we marveled at seeing. At each island we visited we went snorkeling and saw many different fish and corals.

Whilst sailing we saw a large school of dolphins, a ray and a turtle. We found everywhere that the local people are very friendly and want to talk to us, not always to sell us things. The culture, whilst not totally alien, is sufficiently different to remind us we're a different race and creed. There are a large number of Rastafarians in evidence, religious programmes on the local radio abound, and one morning in the shower block I was regaled by Helen, the attendant, with details of her Bahai religion and forthcoming trip as a delegate to a conference in Haifa. As a family group we were perhaps more acceptable than just a couple on their own; Cass was usually the focus of attention and could readily have acquired a husband to take back to UK. Food has also provided us with some new experiences - dasheen (not unlike potato) christophene (a green vegetable we ate raw in salad, but can also be cooked) plantain (both fried and as crisps) macumbu (we have yet to cook, supposedly like potato) and soursop (a fruit). We have enjoyed local fruits very much, sweet grapefruit, pineapple, bananas (of course), papaya and several varieties of mango.

The scenery ranges from white coral sands and accompanying clear turquoise seas, to beaches of black volcanic sand, to lush tropical rain forest with tree ferns, the vivid colours of flowering bougainvillea, poinsettias and big bright flowering trees to arid scrubland with cacti. Apart from lizards and iguanas, we have seen plenty of birdlife (including a hummingbird) on land and at sea, but no mammals.

The down side of the Caribbean experience: the heat (which means we have to be careful to drink plenty of fluids and add salt to our diet to avoid heat exhaustion and cramp), mosquitoes (not malarial here, just providing itchy bites) being rich whities and a focus for money-extraction and (rarely) resentment, litter which is "in your face" in the poorer areas though the tourist island resorts have it managed. We need to get some boat repairs done, then we are thinking of going north before heading back down for Grenada, outside the hurricane zone.

Ed: We have heard from Avalon again recently. She has spent the last week or so in a boatyard (a St Lucian boatyard includes scrap metal, junk, chickens, goats and cats). A lot of hard work is going on now - the boat is out of the water. Of course they are still living on it, so they have had to climb up and down ladders to work or get in and out of the boat. A rope and bucket for hauling things up and down makes it a bit easier, but the toilet arrangements for a "late night pee after a few drinks" are left to our imagination. The heat and mosquitos have been a problem as our intrepid pair have been hard at it scraping and repainting the bottom with noxious substances to prevent the barnacles, corrosion etc. building up again. This means wearing rubber gloves - in that heat!! Some repairs to the rudder and one or two other parts needed doing, but all this hard work should see the boat seaworthy for the next stage. They are planning to go north for a while before heading for Grenada.

Newsflash: Have just heard that, having departed for Martinique (just north of St Lucia) on 17.05.01, they arrived (after a few setbacks) on 21.05.01.