We have had a great week at Rodney bay in the marina. It is a first class marina, great docks and facilities. You can walk to most places here, all the shopping and marine stores. It is a bit more expensive here than Martinique. If you want Marine hardware, Martinique is the place to get it, not counting Trinidad.
We are still waiting for some mail, namely our new Visa cards as the old ones have expired. Instead of just sitting in Rodney Bay we decided to take the boat 8 miles down the coast to Marigot Bay. We anchored in here and got lots of good walking in. The place is nice enough but a real tourist hole, lots of boat boys around. Some of them meet you a mile out to try to get some business from you before the others. After two nights here we went back to Rodney bay and anchored out and then took the bus into the main town of Castries. Our mail was there! Apparently there had been a government worker slow down causing delays in the mail.
The next morning we sailed down to Soufries at the south end of St Lucia. This is a less touristy place and a interesting place to walk around, people hanging around asking for money. We were on a mooring ball by a cave that housed hundreds of bats. You could see and hear them if you took the dinghy close. Also did some snorkeling here.
After a couple of days here we cleared out with customs and immigration and at 5:30am the next morning we left for St Vincent. This is about 37 miles to the South. After a hour of motoring we had a great but robust sail to St Vincent. We had 2 reefs in the main all the way with the wind just forward of the beam. We arrived early afternoon at the town of Chateaubelair. There was no other yachts here, that should of told us something. I rowed the dinghy in to clear in with customs, only the captain is to go ashore they say. The clearing in process went okay. The customs was done in the living room of the guys house and immigration in the place station. Then I was glad to get out of town. It was a creepy place with people just hanging around and not much happening and everything run down. This area is suppose to be a big marijuana area, the government allows it as long as they don't sell it to the locals, but they do. Our Doyle guide book says it is not safe to stay over night here.
We left as soon as I got back to the boat and went another four miles down the coast to Wallilabu where part of Pirates of the Caribbean was filmed. We spent the night on a mooring ball here and had a short walk on shore, and not sure how safe we were. There was a number of yachts here but not a lot to do here. St Vincent is not in our top ten places.
The next morning we left for Bequia which we have heard good things about. It is about 10 miles to the South and we had a good sail there. We anchored in Admiralty by amongst dozens of other yachts. This is a nice place to spent a few days. lots of good walking. Th shopping is a bit expensive, but we did not need much. After a couple of days here we took a ferry back to Kingston on St Vincent. It is a lively town with lots of character and better shopping than Bequia and a little cheaper. St Vincent and the Grenadines are all the same country including Bequia. Bequia has a nice walkway down the waterfront as well will lots of small restaurants.
INFO
-Marigot Bay anchored in 30ft at 13 58.02N 61 01.69N is mooring buoys here as well for a cost. Can get diesel here and water at fuel dock
-Soufries, we took a mooring at 13 51.38N 61 04.01W
- Anchored in 40 ft at Chateaubelair at 13 17.62 N 61 14.32W Rolly here and need a stern anchor for dinghy to use the town dock as big swells and it's a rough dock. A beach landing would be difficult in the surf. Kids said they would look after dinghy for a small fee but they got it full of sand and water, playing around.
-Wallilabou we took a mooring at 13 10.96N 61 16.03W Can get showers here with the $20 ec you pay for the mooring.
-April 20 2013. Admilalty Bay Bequia anchored in 12ft at 13 00.62N 61 14.55W We managed to get free internet here from unsecured sites. We actually got free internet at every place we stopped from St Lucia down, using our small wifi booster. Good dinghy dock here and seems safe.
Tuesday, April 23, 2013
Sunday, April 7, 2013
St Lucia
The day before we left Martinique we rented a car for 43 euro's and drove up to Mt Pelee. This is a volcano that erupted in 1902 and killed 30 thousand people. We took the longer route up for the hike because it was a shorter drive. It was a four hour round trip leaving us with tired legs. We are slowly getting back in shape after our 33 day crossing of the Atlantic. The peak is 4500 ft high. We cleared out with customs at 730am before our hike in case we got back late.
The next morning we were off by 730am for St Lucia 22 miles to the South. The wind was just South of East making it a hard beat all the way. We motor sailed the last half as a current was pushing us to the West. We arrived just after lunch and dropped the hook in Rodney bay and dingied in to clear customs and check out the marina.
The skipper only is to go ashore to clear in here and when I got in after a longish dinghy ride I realized I had forgot my sandals. I apologized for the bare feet to the officials, but they did not seem to mind. They are dressed in nice neat uniforms. Later in afternoon we moved into the marina for some easy living. It is a beautiful marina, nice new docks and free wifi. There is Canadian yachts all around us, mostly French Canadian.
INFO
-anchored in 18ft at 14 04.94N 60 57.58W Good protection.
-Clearing in is easy, all 3 offices are in same room on 2nd floor by docks in Rodney bay marina, beside marina office.
The next morning we were off by 730am for St Lucia 22 miles to the South. The wind was just South of East making it a hard beat all the way. We motor sailed the last half as a current was pushing us to the West. We arrived just after lunch and dropped the hook in Rodney bay and dingied in to clear customs and check out the marina.
The skipper only is to go ashore to clear in here and when I got in after a longish dinghy ride I realized I had forgot my sandals. I apologized for the bare feet to the officials, but they did not seem to mind. They are dressed in nice neat uniforms. Later in afternoon we moved into the marina for some easy living. It is a beautiful marina, nice new docks and free wifi. There is Canadian yachts all around us, mostly French Canadian.
INFO
-anchored in 18ft at 14 04.94N 60 57.58W Good protection.
-Clearing in is easy, all 3 offices are in same room on 2nd floor by docks in Rodney bay marina, beside marina office.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Now in Martinique
We left Barbados about 8am for Martinique about 110 miles to the NW. This should just be an overnight voyage. We motored for an hour and then sailed slowly until we got out of the lee of Barbados. Soon were sailing along nicely on a beam reach in 10 to 15 knots of wind. Then we got a call on the radio to change coarse as there was a survey ship in front of us towing a 5 mile long sonar cable. He asked us to pass one mile astern of him and all would be okay. We had to start the engine again to do this as the wind was wrong. After that we had an idyllic sail all the way to Martinique, a full moon and a light breeze and we glided along nicely all the way, never had to touch the sails all night. Occasionally we would give the self steering a slight tweak but that was all and that only takes 2 seconds.
Had a small black sea bird hitchhiking on our rail all night. At dawn we could see the outline of Martinique clearly and St Lucia in the distance as well. Martinique has more protected anchorages that Barbados and also small mountains where as Barbados is flat. We motored into a deep bay as a lot of yachts were coming out being the start of the Easter weekend here. A helicopter flew over and must of noted our flag because 15 minutes later a inflatable with 4 guys in uniforms in it came up behind us and asked where we had come from in French but luckily one of them spoke english. We then carried on, no problem and dropped anchor deep in the bay amongst 100's of other yachts.
What a difference from Barbados. We dinghed ashore, tied up at the dinghy dock and cleared in with customs. All that was required was us to sit at a computer terminal and fill in a basic questionnaire and then hit print and then give form to lady in marina office. The computer terminals are in the marina office upstairs. This cost us 5 euros which we got at ATM out in parking lot.
It is now noon and everything is closing up as it is Easter Friday. We went for a long walk down the road by the waterfront. Lots of marine stores and boating stuff here. Far more that Barbados and the walking is a lot better here too. After our first night here we were amazed at how quite it is, though that is partly to do with how far out we are anchored. Many anchorages around the world you here night clubs blaring away until early in the morning including Barbados, as out on the water there is nothing to block the sound. This is the most yachts we have seen in one place in a long time, and they are mostly french.
We have already noticed it is cheaper to shop here than Barbados. The grocery shopping is quit a bit cheaper on most things and apparently things get cheaper as you get further south on the other islands. A car rental is half the price of Barbados, which we hope to do in a couple of days.
INFO
-See Above notes
-Anchored in 58ft at 14 27.54N 60 52.51S at SW cornor of island at le Marin
Had a small black sea bird hitchhiking on our rail all night. At dawn we could see the outline of Martinique clearly and St Lucia in the distance as well. Martinique has more protected anchorages that Barbados and also small mountains where as Barbados is flat. We motored into a deep bay as a lot of yachts were coming out being the start of the Easter weekend here. A helicopter flew over and must of noted our flag because 15 minutes later a inflatable with 4 guys in uniforms in it came up behind us and asked where we had come from in French but luckily one of them spoke english. We then carried on, no problem and dropped anchor deep in the bay amongst 100's of other yachts.
What a difference from Barbados. We dinghed ashore, tied up at the dinghy dock and cleared in with customs. All that was required was us to sit at a computer terminal and fill in a basic questionnaire and then hit print and then give form to lady in marina office. The computer terminals are in the marina office upstairs. This cost us 5 euros which we got at ATM out in parking lot.
It is now noon and everything is closing up as it is Easter Friday. We went for a long walk down the road by the waterfront. Lots of marine stores and boating stuff here. Far more that Barbados and the walking is a lot better here too. After our first night here we were amazed at how quite it is, though that is partly to do with how far out we are anchored. Many anchorages around the world you here night clubs blaring away until early in the morning including Barbados, as out on the water there is nothing to block the sound. This is the most yachts we have seen in one place in a long time, and they are mostly french.
We have already noticed it is cheaper to shop here than Barbados. The grocery shopping is quit a bit cheaper on most things and apparently things get cheaper as you get further south on the other islands. A car rental is half the price of Barbados, which we hope to do in a couple of days.
INFO
-See Above notes
-Anchored in 58ft at 14 27.54N 60 52.51S at SW cornor of island at le Marin
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
