Capt Greg's downtime: Rodney Bay

Words to live by and the new moto of my life. Lol.

I went for a jog this morning to see some landscape outside of a marina. The island is very mountainous and the first hill was a KILLER. But when I got to the top it paid off. There were hundreds of acres of banana trees and sugar cane. Beautiful. I wish I would have taken the camera. I actually felt good and ran quite a bit further than normal. My turn around point was a sugar cane stand. You know the type, a lil shack on the side of the road and a woman there to cut and slice it fresh right in front of you. Mmmmmm. Nothing like a little sugar burst to help me climb those mountains on the way back.

Coral from our previous day's snorkeling trip.

Capt Steve at the cliff side while snorkeling. Shear cliffs 400-700 ft. straight down, awesome views!

Once back, a little swim, shower and then rum drinks at the local cabana. The owner of the cabana happens to be Indian and lived in the states for 30 years. The Captain’s wife is Indian too, although she is not with us it gave us common ground for conversation and of course…..in an hour Doreen, her brother Jai, sister Gloria and the crew are exchanging information and planning a BBQ in a couple of weeks on our way back through. Gloria even went out with Michael and I last night and showed us around some local pubs off of the beaten path. Low key night over all but, it’s always fun to make new friends and contacts in exotic places. We needed the early night after several late nights in a row and we are planning on sailing on up to Rodney Bay. An early morning of massages, make ready, filling of water tanks. Its odd to have to pay for water. Something we all take for granted in the states. It’s not much, .35EC per gallon (about .15 cents) but, when you fill up with fuel and then take on 300 gallons of water it all adds up.

The rainbow at Marigot Bay...Life is good!

Arrival at Rodney Bay and….. yet again another beauty. Rodney Bay is the biggest port of Entry (Why I didn’t fly in here???? Delta???) and it shows. There is an international marina company called IGY that I am familiar with which recently purchased the Rodney Bay Marina. Recent renovations have made it very Florida-like. Composite/Aluminum docks, Mega Yachts, slips for about 400 boats, a major marina complex with 3 or 4 restaurants, etc. There is even a Sandals resort across the bay. I saw a boat from Gulf Breeze, FL! For those who don’t know that’s right next to Destin, FL. The couple was very nice and we talked about an hour since they haven’t been home in 5 or 6 years. The Cinnamon Girl weighed anchor outside the marina to save on expense. You can see the terrible view we have.

View from out anchorage at Rodney Bay.

It is interesting how tight the sailing community is. I always heard about it but, didn’t realize how tight. As you pull in and become recognized the other s/v’s dinghy’s are launched to come pay you a visit. I mean they really seek each other out. While doing a “wrecky” of the harbor to find clear and safe anchorage, South African for doing a reconnaissance of an area, we saw several boats that the skipper knew. He saw a few as recently as a week ago and other not for years. We heard rumor that an old acquaintance of the skippers was in the marina, s/v Unique which is single handed by a 61 year old French Canadian, Diana. To hear her speak English is sweeter than honey. It’s like a massage for the ears. We went to visit with gifts of wine and ended up making dinner plans and then the street party. Diane was moored in the marina and of course she knew several other yachties who all came along for the fun too.

THE BEST snapper I've ever tasted.

Street Party St Lucia style.

Capt Steve, Diane and Michael.

Taking a local bus ride here is easy, clean and cheap. Cost is only $1.50EC (about .60 cents) the whole crew hopped a bus to the street party and what a great time. It was the first public place that there were lots of non-natives, bout a 50/50 ratio. Exactly what all of you in the snow are dreaming of. Live island music, cool enough to wear a long sleeve shirt and be very comfortable, lobsters on the grill as soon as you walk up, grilled chickens, livers, gizzards galore. I choose the red snapper on the grill. It was unF’n believable. At a place like this you would expect a paper plate and walking around while picking at your food. Not here, served proper like on real plates, real silver and a place at a table help open for you. The fish had a flavor that I never had before so I can’t tell you what was in it but, take my word it was to die for. The night was full of dancing to everything from Michael Jackson to Bob Marley.

We finally got our dives tanks. They need a little TLC so tomorrow will be filling dive tanks, cleaning the boat, and ummm, who knows, maybe a nap. J OH! I forgot, had my first experience with a foreign medical facility. Nothing big so don’t worry. I’ll tell you about it in the next blog. My battery is about to die.