St. Lucia! At Last!!!

Leaving Mt. Pelee behind.

There were times when I didn't think we were going to make it to St. Lucia for the start of the World ARC! I know Dennis was confident, but I was extremely frustrated with the repairs and the wind/weather situation. When Loretta showed me the weather she had been watching before flying down to Guadeloupe, I saw the extremely strong Sahara winds (that are still blowing) and understood why we were struggling with the wind. It didn't change anything, but it helped me put it into perspective.

A welcome site: St. Lucia!

Following our two nights and a day of sightseeing in St. Pierre, Martinique, it was time to raise anchor and head south again. As we passed the port of Fort de France, we knew we had made the right decision to stay in St. Pierre. The bay is huge and it would have added hours to our trip just to get in and out of there.

When passing on the lee side of an island, the winds are calmer, but somewhat squirrely. The mountains affect the way the air flows down and out to sea. Once you pass the headlands and reach the open channels, the wind is totally different - and almost always, much stronger. We had a good sail across the Martinique Channel to St.Lucia. With some motor sailing, we were able to maintain our course against the east to west current and the heavy swells.

Entering the Rodney Bay Marina while passing the
local fishermen and their boats.

On our way south, we were approached by a northbound yacht. As it came into view, I noted the burgundy sail cover and wondered if it could be our friends, Rick and Julie on Altier. Sure enough, it was! What fun to see someone you know in the middle of a passage and pass within a few hundred yards of each other. Dennis got on the VHF and had a great chat with them.

Rodney Bay Marina office

Wow! We finally have arrived in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia! It is a great marina and we were able to dock opposite our friends on Nexus, a 60' catamaran. It was good to see them again.

We had just tied up when a dinghy pulled along side. It was friends from Callista, whom we had met in the Caribbean 1500 Rally in 2010. They live in Switzerland most of the time so we haven't seen them since we left them in Nanny Cay, BVI. Just as they pulled away, David and Julie from Mahalo. another Hallberg-Rassy, knocked on the side of our boat. Again, we had not seen David since Caribbean 1500 in 2011. What fun! It was like "old home week!"