Leaving the Pitons behind!
April 17, 2009
Friday
Our last few days in St. Lucia...................
The last sunset, between the Pitons, in St. Lucia....what would be your worst nightmare? Yes.....a huge cruise ship,
Serenade of the Seas, decided to motor directly into the middle of the bay, do a 360 (so all their guests could see the sunset) and conveniently block
the sunset for the entire anchorage and the ritzy Jalousie resort between the Pitons! Jim hailed the ship, but was given a curt reply and "have a nice sail" from the captain. Emails will follow!!!!
But, in spite of the huge block of a ship, the sunset, after the sunset, was beautiful!
The following morning, the 16th, we were able to motorsail South with the main up, just 30 degrees off the wind...but the seas had calmed down and the wind was only 16-18, instead of the 26K gusts we were seeing on the previous attempt! We decided to continue on to The Maria Islands, which are on the SE corner of St. Lucia. It was reported by Don Street in a "Cruising World" article that "it looks nice". So....we decided to check it out! 
Entering between the reefs was not difficult, the reefs were very easy to see with breaking waves over the portside and the island on the starboard. It was a beautiful anchorage with a beach on Maria Island on the N side and a view of Vieux Fort and the airport N of the anchorage. 
There was a bit of a swell when we first arrived, but the water was blue and clear. We spent one of the rolliest nights ever in that anchorage (still not as bad as Statia last year) with swells hitting us in two directions. By the time we awoke the next AM, DIGNITY was gone and we followed shortly thereafter!
Maria Island is a bird sanctuary....so not only were there swells, but alot of bird noise as they screeched overhead and along the islands!
We motored around the S end of St. Lucia 
and went to the nice, flat anchorage off of Vieux Fort, St. Lucia. 
We checked out at Customs for departure on the 18th....which was conveniently located at the port, right where we anchored. But....we needed to go to the airport to check out with immigration....which was alot closer to the anchorage at Maria Island!!! But, we made a day of it! We met Helen and Steve (DIGNITY) at the docks.....and also were met by a bunch of local kids...just curious about our dinghy and our activity. Steve shared candy with them...and off we went......on our hike to the airport.
Vieux Fort was very busy that Friday morning....alot of activity in the streets. There were fish vendors, fresh fruits and vege stands and alot of little shops with people and cars darting all over. Once again, the people were very friendly as we passed thru their town, turning down offers to hire a taxi. This way we get exercise and get to greet the people! Jim and Steve couldn't pass up a little trailer with a woman offering chicken rotis....so they got a couple and we sat in the shade, eating lunch and just relaxing. Then off to the airport....which was nice to finally reach due to the Air conditioning!!! Whoohoo! We were followed by the same taxi driver....who again asked us if we wanted a ride back....but we decided to walk in the scorching sun.....but had a great time, talking, walking...then stopping at the grocery store to gather, once again, more food! After the grocery store stop, we stopped at the vege market and got some green onions and carrots....then scored some fresh tuna for EC20....four steaks for about $8 US.
We decided to finally leave St. Lucia the following day and got an early start (for us) about 0700.
We were able to sail in about 10-12K of wind, about 60-90 degrees off the wind.....until the wind started to die. We started the engine twice to get thru some dead spots just on the NE side of St. Vincent
....but were able to sail again. We saw a couple of whales breaching way off to the East......but wasn't quick enough with the camera!! This area is full of pilot whales, but these were much larger than pilot whales. We also drug out fishing line...but only caught a small barracuda, while off soundings (deeper than 200').....but nothing else. We made it to Baliceaux, an island on the SE side of Bequia, by sunset. 
DIGNITY anchored on the NW side of the island, close in....and we continued on a little further South and pulled in between two reefs, anchored near a beach.
The next AM we kayaked to shore to walk on the dry, desert-like land....just to explore a little. Not much there other than big cows....so we kayaked back and prepared to leave. The anchorage was, once again, a bit rolly from the swell coming around the S end of the island. We sailed under headsail and reefed main around the N end of Bequia
and down the East coast to Admiralty Bay. As we were approaching, under sail, a man in a dinghy came by taking pictures and would whistle when he was ready to shoot! (He later brought by a framed picture of us under sail....ours for $65 US!!!! It was $50 US just for the file!!!! So....we opted NOT!)
So....we'll spend the next few days in Bequia
then move on to the South and other Grenadine Islands!
Bye for now!
Friday
Our last few days in St. Lucia...................
The last sunset, between the Pitons, in St. Lucia....what would be your worst nightmare? Yes.....a huge cruise ship,
Serenade of the Seas, decided to motor directly into the middle of the bay, do a 360 (so all their guests could see the sunset) and conveniently block the sunset for the entire anchorage and the ritzy Jalousie resort between the Pitons! Jim hailed the ship, but was given a curt reply and "have a nice sail" from the captain. Emails will follow!!!!But, in spite of the huge block of a ship, the sunset, after the sunset, was beautiful!
The following morning, the 16th, we were able to motorsail South with the main up, just 30 degrees off the wind...but the seas had calmed down and the wind was only 16-18, instead of the 26K gusts we were seeing on the previous attempt! We decided to continue on to The Maria Islands, which are on the SE corner of St. Lucia. It was reported by Don Street in a "Cruising World" article that "it looks nice". So....we decided to check it out! Entering between the reefs was not difficult, the reefs were very easy to see with breaking waves over the portside and the island on the starboard. It was a beautiful anchorage with a beach on Maria Island on the N side and a view of Vieux Fort and the airport N of the anchorage. There was a bit of a swell when we first arrived, but the water was blue and clear. We spent one of the rolliest nights ever in that anchorage (still not as bad as Statia last year) with swells hitting us in two directions. By the time we awoke the next AM, DIGNITY was gone and we followed shortly thereafter!Maria Island is a bird sanctuary....so not only were there swells, but alot of bird noise as they screeched overhead and along the islands!
We motored around the S end of St. Lucia and went to the nice, flat anchorage off of Vieux Fort, St. Lucia. We checked out at Customs for departure on the 18th....which was conveniently located at the port, right where we anchored. But....we needed to go to the airport to check out with immigration....which was alot closer to the anchorage at Maria Island!!! But, we made a day of it! We met Helen and Steve (DIGNITY) at the docks.....and also were met by a bunch of local kids...just curious about our dinghy and our activity. Steve shared candy with them...and off we went......on our hike to the airport. Vieux Fort was very busy that Friday morning....alot of activity in the streets. There were fish vendors, fresh fruits and vege stands and alot of little shops with people and cars darting all over. Once again, the people were very friendly as we passed thru their town, turning down offers to hire a taxi. This way we get exercise and get to greet the people! Jim and Steve couldn't pass up a little trailer with a woman offering chicken rotis....so they got a couple and we sat in the shade, eating lunch and just relaxing. Then off to the airport....which was nice to finally reach due to the Air conditioning!!! Whoohoo! We were followed by the same taxi driver....who again asked us if we wanted a ride back....but we decided to walk in the scorching sun.....but had a great time, talking, walking...then stopping at the grocery store to gather, once again, more food! After the grocery store stop, we stopped at the vege market and got some green onions and carrots....then scored some fresh tuna for EC20....four steaks for about $8 US.
We decided to finally leave St. Lucia the following day and got an early start (for us) about 0700.
We were able to sail in about 10-12K of wind, about 60-90 degrees off the wind.....until the wind started to die. We started the engine twice to get thru some dead spots just on the NE side of St. Vincent....but were able to sail again. We saw a couple of whales breaching way off to the East......but wasn't quick enough with the camera!! This area is full of pilot whales, but these were much larger than pilot whales. We also drug out fishing line...but only caught a small barracuda, while off soundings (deeper than 200').....but nothing else. We made it to Baliceaux, an island on the SE side of Bequia, by sunset. DIGNITY anchored on the NW side of the island, close in....and we continued on a little further South and pulled in between two reefs, anchored near a beach. The next AM we kayaked to shore to walk on the dry, desert-like land....just to explore a little. Not much there other than big cows....so we kayaked back and prepared to leave. The anchorage was, once again, a bit rolly from the swell coming around the S end of the island. We sailed under headsail and reefed main around the N end of Bequia
and down the East coast to Admiralty Bay. As we were approaching, under sail, a man in a dinghy came by taking pictures and would whistle when he was ready to shoot! (He later brought by a framed picture of us under sail....ours for $65 US!!!! It was $50 US just for the file!!!! So....we opted NOT!)So....we'll spend the next few days in Bequia
then move on to the South and other Grenadine Islands!Bye for now!
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