As we had to get in the daughter from the captain in Castries, we had to leave Bequia after 5 days. Our passage would drive us along the coast of St. Vincent up north to St. Lucia. St. Lucia is known for its landmark the Deux Pitones. Our captain told us that there is a bay with a private resort in the middle of the Pitones and that we can go there for anchorage.
Our passage started early in the morning with very good sailing conditions. Clear blue sky, enough wind but no high waves. I and Martha were very motivated as we didn’t sail that much so far. Our sailing maneuvers had improved so far and our teamwork runs pretty smoothly.
Shortly after we left the area close to land, we got some pretty good wind and also the company of some seabirds. These seabirds were really fun to watch as they are amazingly talented in flying, hunting, and diving. I’m not sure what they do, but it looked like the ship makes the flying fishes run in front of the boat. Also, it looked like the birds use the terms of the sails or the shadow to get a good position for their hunt. Once they see a fish, they rush down like an arrow, dive up to 1m deep into the ocean and try to make their catch. Wonderful to watch.
Also, the Deux Pitones was cool to watch. Already from 20km away they were very well visible at the horizon. As more close you come as more impressive they are. Then when you finally pass them, its hard to keep the mouth closed while watching them. Inside of the bay is a private resort & spa. The houses looked like build from matchsticks or taken from the build mode in The Sim’s. Unreal in this nature and unreal is the difference wealth between this spa and the local people.
A not that nice side effect from leaving St. Vincent was, that the locals who offer you vegetables, fish or help with the moorings ins St. Lucia was quite pushier than in St. Vincent. A young guy comes with his boat already when we were nearly 2 SM far away. He told us that he is the boat guide and that he will guide us to the mooring. Later on a boat with marine rangers appears and they also take a payment for the anchorage. So we paid twice!
Cool Guy 
Distant Thunder 
How to buy vegetables in the Carribeean 
Unreal housing 
Sunset 
Light on the one Piton
Next day we drive our vessel around the corner to the city Soufriere. Once this was the main capital of St. Lucia but today is not much left from that time. You found a lot of old houses but all in not very good conditions. Also, the people on the streets looked more desperate then on the other Islands where we had been so far. We found a cafe where the owner of the cafe plant, peel and roast the coffee himself. Also, he had a friend in the Cafe (Zaka, Caribbean Totem, and Mask) who sold self-made soaps. „Forever young,“ says the promising title but sadly cost of import is so height that it might stay a local product. Anyway, the iced self-made coffee was a really good one and definitely worth the 5€ that it costs.
Streets of Soufrier 
Streets of Soufrier 
Streets of Soufrier 
Streets of Soufrier 
The queen was here 
And her son 
Streets of Soufrier 
Streets of Soufrier 
Streets of Soufrier
As we had to get the daughter of the skipper from Castries, we left Soufriere quickly and headed north. Castries is the main capital of St. Vincent today. As we sail along the coast it was clearly visible that as more north we sail it more touristic it becomes. This impression was crowned when we entered the harbor of Castries as we have to pass along a very big Cruiseship. The dimension of this ships is simply not from this world. Everything seems to be too small next to them. Approximately 2900 people can drive on one of this ships and when you pass the side you see balcony next to the balcony. I totally can’t understand why people do such a trip. We pass one side of the Cruise ship and found our selves in the middle of the „harbor“ which was located in the middle of the city. Our view mixed with an area where container ships and containers were managed, three cruise ships in total, a street with 4 lanes, and some very big buildings around us. Ashore was a karaoke bar, and we were able to hear the singing also on the boat. I’m not a singer but this sound was the worst I have ever heard. The mix of all these impressions colors the whole scene in something unreal.
Castris Harbor 
Crusie Ship Maniac 
We are downtown 
We are downtown 
We are downtown 
We are downtown
The next morning started with a bad surprise for me. As our captain breaks down the cost we had so far, it turned out that he wants us to pay a shared for the cost of the boat too. 50€ a week plus a contribution for each hour the engine is running and the shared cost for food on top. This ends up that the cost for the month was somewhere around 950€ instead on the earlier announced 650€. As I also spent some private money for drinks, food, and stuff when we were ashore I end up on costs around 1300€ for the whole month.
This was definitely not the budget I have planned for the trip. The fact that our captain and I obviously had different ideas about where to anchor and what places to visit, I started to consider my possibilities. On top, it started to rain heavily.
Rodney Bay is the bay where the ARC (The race to cross the Atlantic) ends up. It was over touristic, ugly and boring. The ongoing permanent rain, my thought about the situation and the fact that there was not much to see ends up in the situation that I only take one picture. It is this one:
