Saint Lucia - Rodney Bay Marina

We left Martinique early on Saturday morning for Saint Lucia. We had booked a week in Rodney Bay marina. Alex parents arrived in Rodney Bay on Sunday for a two week holiday and Alex went to join them in their hotel, so there has been just the three of us on board.

Most of the week has been taken up by boat maintenance. So its not all fun and rum punches,we have been working hard and spending lots of money. The marina has a very good and helpful chandlers, 'Island Water World'. William has replaced the water maker's pump. We haven't been able to test the water maker in the marina as the water is too dirty but hopefully it should now work because we will need it when we cross the Pacific. The vang has been mended, the turning required for the plastic sleeve was done by a local engineering company very quickly, which makes a change from the usual Caribbean rather laid back time scale. New sails are on order from the chandlery, for collection in March, so we will come back to St. Lucia after meeting Richard and Hanna in Tobago. We have had our bottom scraped to remove the barnacles. A local man with diving gear did it, rather him than me in that dirty marina water.

I have been busy sewing. Mending the dingy cover and bimini cover which were torn during the Atlantic crossing. It was like sewing hardboard! I broke three needles and needed to use a palm (used by sail makers instead of a thimble) and pliers to get the needle through.

We have managed a couple of days off however. Thursday was my birthday and this year I broke with tradition and had a day off. We hired a car for two days and toured the island. On my birthday I chose where we went, so we visited the Diamond botanical gardens near Soufriere in the south west. They were very interesting with lots of local plants, hot mineral baths and a waterfall which cascaded over multicoloured rocks, coloured by the minerals in the water, very pretty.

We went to the town of Soufriere where we had lunch at a local snack bar for 10 EC$ (about £2). For that we got chicken, lamb or fish served with macaroni, rice and vegetables. I had flying fish, it had been expertly filleted so it wasn't boney and was very tasty.

We then went to Sulphur Springs, the Caribbeans only drive through volcano. Very smelly with pools of boiling mud. Apparently the whole region is a giant caldera (sunken volcano cone for the non geologists), extending for several miles and including the town of Soufriere.

We met up with Alex and his parents in the evening for a meal. They had been very busy going on tours organised by their hotel and Alex had been scuba diving (Paddy open water course).

Next day we went to Anse Chastanet. This involved traversing an interesting road, very steep and full of holes. It was however worth the trouble as the snorkeling in the marine reserve was wonderful, with a reef right off the beach.