When we posted our last blog entry we had just arrived in St. Lucia and cleared health, customs and immigration. Our port of entry was Rodney Bay — a very pretty bay with white sandy beaches and several high-end resorts. Health, customs and immigration were all located within Rodney Bay Marina so, after anchoring, we took the dinghy in there. In advance of our arrival, we had posted a COVID protocol question in the FaceBook St. Lucia’s Cruisers Group and the manager of the Marina kindly responded with very helpful information so our plan was to stop in the marina office after we cleared in to introduce ourselves and say thank you in person. We did stop by the office but the manager was out of the office attending to some matter. As long as we were in the office though we decided to ask about the availability of dock space. The marina was quite lovely, very clean with lots of restaurants and bars, but the biggest attraction was easy access to unlimited water (well, for a price). While we prefer to anchor than stay at a marina, it is very hard to really thoroughly clean and polish Che Figata when not at a dock with access to water and a hose. After nearly 6 weeks of anchoring and salt spray Che Figata was in desperate need to a stem to stern cleaning. We were delighted to learn that we could rent a slip for $54 a night. Sold. We returned to Che Figata with our dinghy, pulled up our anchor and happily settled in to slip Foxtrot 12.
We spent the next 3 days and 4 nights at the marina. The first few days were devoted to cleaning and provisioning and a truly epic search for a new vacuum cleaner. (Let’s just say that our beloved Shark died unexpectedly after we took it apart for a cleaning and one of us inadvertently dropped a screw in the motor. Hey, it happens but it was a very sad day). As you might imagine, the vacuum cleaner search was not successful. Appliances sold in Saint Lucia have different plugs and work on different voltage and there were no plug converters available. Go figure — all the converters sold on the island were designed to convert a local plug to a US plug for travel to the States from St. Lucia – not vice versa. In the end we ordered a new vacuum on Amazon and Jill will bring it back with her when she takes a brief trip to the States in April. No, unfortunately, Amazon does not deliver to St. Lucia. But once we got our chores out of the way (which also included the important task of restocking our liquor cabinet with duty free gin and rum) there was time for exploring. We walked through the local streets of Gros Islet (the beach front was covered with local bar/restaurants made from little more than what appeared to be brightly painted plywood) and also visited nearby Pigeon Island National Park where we toured an old British fort and hiked a challenging mountain trail (more hand over hand bouldering) leading up to a peak with fabulous views of the surrounding bays.
After 3 full days at Rodney Bay Marina it was time to head for Marigot Bay Resort where we met our friends from Connecticut, Manon and Dan. Marigot Bay was a short hop from Rodney Bay, just about 7 nautical miles. After a leisurely morning we arrived there early afternoon. That gave us time to dock and get settled before our friends arrived. We weren’t sure what to expect at the resort. Though there are beautiful pictures online, pictures can be deceiving. While the resort was much smaller than it had appeared from photos on the website, the property was quite lovely. Being located on a volcanic island, the resort was built into the hillside creating a terraced effect. As you walked to the resort proper from the marina and climbed a few steps there was a small pool and an inviting bar/restaurant called the rum cave. After climbing another set of steps you reached a level with two pools. One was a large and attractive traditional pool where you could just hang out submerged in the water or do laps. The other was a large shallow pool — probably less than a foot deep — that was built right against the edge of the level so that water flowed down from that pool to the pool below creating an infinity pool and waterfall effect. The main feature of the shallow pool though were the floating lounge chairs that allowed you to read, sunbath or enjoy a cocktail surrounded by water. Of course this upper level also had its own bar where — in addition to an array of beers and cocktails — you could get sushi, salads or snacks. One more level up and you reached the most elegant of the 3 restaurants on property where you dine with a commanding view of Marigot Bay. The marina took up the waterfront adjacent to the resort so there was no beach there but across what was a very small and narrow bay (almost like a pinky finger, making it a great hurricane hole) was a lovely wisp of a beach accessible by a quaint ferry that could carry just a few passengers at a time.
We treated our time at the resort as a mini vacation. While there we took two excursions: one by land and one by sea. The land excursions took us to two different fishing villages and to the Tet Paul Nature trail. This trail was developed and is maintained by the local community to provide jobs and financial support for area residents. A guide accompanies you on your hike up the hill sharing information about the area, plants (including their medicinal properties) and the organic farm that is part of the community project. Though it is a relatively short hike up — and this well developed path includes none of the hand over hand rock scrambling we are use to — the views, including a panorama of the Pitons, are truly spectacular. (Our feature photo for this blog entry was taken while on that hike.) Following our hike we enjoyed lunch at a local restaurant serving home cooked local fare buffet style. Like most of the establishments on the island, this open air restaurant was build into a steep cliff so you had the sense of being suspended air as you looked out over the surrounding water. Our sea excursion allowed us to get a water view of the two fishing villages we had driven through on land, giving us a whole different perspective of these communities with their brightly colored homes. We also stopped at two different locations for some snorkeling. While we wouldn’t say it was the best snorkeling we had ever done, it was nice to get back in the water and we did see lots of marine life — all the usual suspects including parrot fish, the infamous triggerfish, cuttlefish, angel fish (the list goes on and on) — something that was not as abundant in most of the snorkeling we did on other islands earlier in the season.
Our most memorable experience while visiting Marigot Bay though was the evening we walked up the steep hill leading out of the resort to reach a restaurant called Roots 2. Roots 2 is a small restaurant — it has four tables and just one seating each evening — that serves dinners made from locally sourced meats, vegetables and fruits. When you make a reservation, which is required (all others are turned away), you are given a choice of three main course plates — vegan, chicken or fish — which you must choose in advance. There is no menu, no starters and the exact nature of the entree is not shared because it depends on what the owners can buy that day. You can be sure, however, that whatever you are served will be an authentic, fresh and delicious Caribbean meal. We practically licked our plates clean that evening. You can arrive as early as 6 PM to enjoy a cocktail and the glorious views from the open air porch that serves as the dining room and when your meal is ready the host, Sue, invites you to sit down at your table. The experience at Roots is more like eating a meal on a friend’s front porch than at a restaurant. We continued to linger at the table for hours and though we were the first to arrive, we were the last to leave. The evening ended with Sue driving our friend, Dan, down the hill back to the resort after hearing that he had injured his toe earlier in the day. As always, the experienced was enhanced by the interaction with new people, in this case our hostess Sue. We learned that she was an electrical engineer from England who came over to St. Lucia — possibly for holiday? We didn’t get that far — and ended up falling in love with and marrying a local named Fluff. (There has to be a story behind that name as Fluff is a very tall, thin, man). Today they operate the restaurant — Sue as the host, Fluff as the cook and his daughter as helper and server. It was fascinating the hear about how they survived COVID when the tourist industry dried up overnight. We were so impressed by her positive attitude and resilience. We will be back in Marigot Bay in early May when our son, daughter-in-law and oldest granddaughter visit us on St. Lucia and we can’t wait to go back to learn more about Sue’s fascinating life. We will definitely write more about Sue, Fluff and their restaurant after we visit in May but, in the meantime, if you want to learn more, you can find a link to season 1, episode 6 of “Restaurants on the Edge” which features Roots on YouTube.
After 4 nights and 3 full days our friends Manon and Dan departed for home and we departed for Rodney Bay to do provisioning and get ready for our trip to St. Vincent and the Grenadines where we plan to spend the next 4 weeks after clearing out of St. Lucia. Jill used most of the time during the short trip back to Rodney Bay to continue to make arrangements for our extended trip back to the States (late June through early October) — there were annual appointments with doctors to be secured, multiple flights to schedule, rental cars to reserve, AIRBnB places to rent, etc. While she is generally in the “zone” when she is concentrating on her tasks, Zack was able to get her attention with a whale sighting. This was our first whale sighting in the Caribbean (if you exclude the whale we saw as we sailed off the south coast of Puerto Rico that appeared to be in distress) and this whale, which appeared to be a humpback, was fairly close and straight in front of us. We got to see water shoot up from the whale’s blowhole as well as some great views of the whale’s tail as he (or she) dove down into the water. Just as quickly as the whale appeared it seemed to disappear but we were so thrilled to catch of glimpse of this magnificent creature. We also now had hope that we might have future sighting!
Our brief stay in Rodney Bay was incredibly busy, interesting and fun:
Busy because we had a lot to do to get ready to head for our next port of call, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. In addition to provisioning, we needed to get PCR COVID tests and take care of the myriad of “pre-arrival” general and COVID specific protocols and requirements. All of this took the better part of a day. We needed to submit an online arrival declaration through “Sail Clear,” complete an separate online form covering general and COVID related questions and we needed to submit numerous documents to different email addresses including a copy of the face page of our passports, our vaccination cards, our negative COVID test results and a copy of our Sail Clear entry documentation. This process was not difficult but, as mentioned, it was very (very!) time consuming and tedious. It certainly gave us an even greater appreciation for the laissez faire process in Guadeloupe and Martinique as well as the fairly straight forward process in St. Lucia.
Fun because our brief stay coincided with a “docktail” party organization by some of the cruisers who spend the entire winter season at the marina in Rodney Bay. It was a BYOB affair that started around 6 PM and continued until there was no one left standing. It was an international crowd with Americans, Brits, Canadians and Germans. What happens in Rodney Bay stays in Rodney Bay so we won’t share the details of what was a pretty raucous night. (In full disclosure, though we fancy ourselves hip — despite what our kids say — we were really more voyeurs than active participants). We will say that the evening included many tall tales of various sailing (and docking) misadventures and ended with one of the revellers (fortunately, not either of us) falling in the water. The unfortunate soul was quickly pulled out of the water, embarrassed but otherwise uninjured.
And interesting (but devastating) because we saw something we had never witnessed before: the very sad sight of a moored boat engulfed in flames in the lagoon that was just beyond the marina. As we were walking to take our PCR test on Saturday morning (3/26) Zack noticed dark black smoke bellowing up from what appeared to be the waterfront. On our walk back to the boat after completing the test we saw that the black smoke had not abated at all. Though were weren’t certain because we could not see the source of the flames we thought there was a good chance that it was a boat on fire. Burning fiberglass produces an angry black smoke. After entering the marina and before heading back to Che Figata we went to the dock with the best view of the lagoon. Sure enough, as we got closer we saw a white sailboat on a mooring with flames shooting up from the center and aft of the boat. Though the boat had been on fire at this point for about 45 minutes by our estimate, there were no rescue crews to be seen. Finally, after we had seen enough and headed back to Che Figata we heard a siren and saw a police boat arrive on the seen. The police boat was equipped with a water hose and started to spray but it was simply to late that that point to really do much good. As we approached our boat we ran into one of the seasonal residents who said that the owner of the burning boat had just picked up that mooring a few days ago and then left the boat for a trip back home. (We don’t know where home is.) That means that, fortunately, no one was on board at the time of the fire. Still, we all imagined the owner getting a call that his/her boat had been destroyed by fire. It’s every sailor’s nightmare. Though this fire is the center of the chatter on the FB St. Lucia cruisers group, it is unlikely we will ever learn the cause of the blaze.
We left for Bequia, one of the islands that makes up the Grenadines, at 4:30 AM on March 27. Our trip started auspiciously with the loud sound of water being pushed from a blowhole. Though it was dark and we couldn’t see a thing it was clear that a whale was within feet of our boat. The whale sounded like it was close enough to touch! While we would have loved to actually see the whale, hearing it so close to Che Figata — closer than we have ever passed by a whale — was pretty special. No further sightings (or “hearings”) during the day’s passage but it was still a great way to start our journey. We arrived in Bequia at 2 PM that same day. Just in times to clear with the health, customs and immigration authorities. After the hours we spent complying with the tedious entry requirements, the actual entry was quick and easy. Guess our per arrival efforts paid off. (While we were in customs we saw others, who did not do their homework, turned away). As mentioned, we plan to spend the next 4 weeks exploring the Grenadines before we head back to Saint Lucia. We will cover our experience in Bequia and the other islands that comprise the Grenadines in our next blog entry which we will publish at the conclusion of our tour of the area.
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