Sunday 25 May 2014

25. Jump Up


What a wonderful sight to see Trinity sailing into Rodney Bay! So exciting, they anchored alongside and we hugged and kissed. It’s been a while. BVI in December was the last time I saw Robert and Kerstin, although we’ve been in touch by email. We had drinks and dinner on Trinity, so fun to catch up and hang out. They’re here for a few days, deciding where to haul out for the hurricane season.

Trinity, Rodney Bay

Rodney Bay and Marigot Bay are my favorite places in St. Lucia so far. I like Rodney Bay – the jump ups on Fridays, the pool and showers in the marina, but it’s generally a long dinghy ride to get anywhere, and laundry is really expensive here.


I love Marigot Bay – the free showers and short dinghy rides to everywhere, but it’s a bit more expensive – the cafes and restaurants and mini mart.

Marigot Bay

There doesn’t seem to be much chance of work in St. Lucia. I’ve been looking for teaching positions, but looks like Grenada and Trinidad will be better for those. I might offer bottom cleaning on the cruiser’s net. Sonic Boom needs to be hauled out and hull painted sometime soon.

So I’m also looking into blog adverts, sourced locally or with Adsense, and thinking about maybe making some Sonic Boom merchandise. I’ve added a Paypal button, rather than sell anything, I would offer a prize for donations – a treasure chest, sent directly from somewhere in the Caribbean to an address, or buried on an island, of your choice. I will get some Sonic Boom t-shirts, and start making little models of Sonic Boom.





Saturday 17 May 2014

24. St. Lucia Jazz


I anchored next to Honey Ryder just off Pigeon Island, and the main stage for the Jazz festival. So much fun to spend time with them, catch up and hang out. We went to the Friday jump up together, we had drinks onboard with Ocean Rainbow, and lunch on Pigeon Island.  We listened to the jazz coming from the main stage. The sound checks were best. All the musicians had some stage time during the day; I heard an awesome jazz version of Rihanna’s Diamonds, with violins. On Sunday the Commodores headlined.

Honey Ryder, Pigeon Island

On Monday I checked out and sailed to Martinique. I spent the night in Grand Anse D’Arlet again. Because it’s so pretty, and because there are free mooring balls. The next morning I went to Fort de France, anchored and cleared in with customs – which is free. Everywhere should be like Martinique.

I met Steven; he’d been in France for a week racing in the Outre Mer races, near Marseilles. The next morning after laundry (my fault), and lots of supermarket shopping we headed back to St. Lucia, to Amaris in Marigot Bay.

Amaris, Marigot Bay

We got hit by a rainsquall almost immediately, heeled over 30 degrees doing 8 knots. After getting completely drenched we soon got out of the rain. We saw a whale breaching. It was great fun sailing with Steven. We raced across, getting up to 8 knots, and it took us just 7 hours to get to Marigot Bay. As we approached, dolphins swam alongside.

Dolphins, off St. Lucia

Amaris will leave now south to Grenada and then Curacao. So sad to wave them off, I’m not sure when I’ll see them again. On Saturday I will go back to Rodney Bay and meet Trinity. I’m so excited to see Karen and Robert. And then on the 20th my little sister arrives with her boyfriend for two weeks.