A Longer Than Planned Stay

Our purpose for going to Rodney Bay was to order a couple of parts and have them installed. System maintenance never stops on a yacht. There is a particular mechanic Dennis wanted to use there. We had emailed several weeks prior to get on his schedule and get the parts ordered so they would be there when we arrived. Oh, I forgot, we are in the islands. That is not going to happen as planned!

And it didn’t. The parts had not been ordered. We struggled to get anyone to finish what they had started. They like to tear the boat apart and leave to go work on another one. Frankly, I get very tired of tools and parts sitting all over the place whenever we are in a “maintenance” mode. Everything is torn up and cluttered. We aren’t talking about a workshop here. This is our living space! Maybe it is a gender issue?!?

Fortunately, there are a lot of good restaurants at the Rodney Bay Marina Village: Italian, Seaford, Thai, Pizza, Indian, Japanese and local cuisine. So we ate out a lot! It was great to get out of the mess on the boat.

One of the highlights was going to the Friday night Jump Up in the Gros Islet district. Individuals, as well as a couple of restaurants in the area, set up their food stalls on the street. If you are lucky, you can find a table to sit at while eating. The scene is fun and friendly and the food is good!


Of course, we chose lobster, but there was fish, chicken and conch available. The side dishes include many local root, or as they say “ground,” vegetables along with breadfruit made into fritters and other dishes, macaroni and cheese, and salad. Some desserts were also available.

The second time we went to Gros Islet on a Friday night, we walked through the Jump Up to the end of the street where we found the beach. To our right, we found a highly recommended place called Dukes.

There long grills made from oil barrels were covered with chicken and fish. I don’t know how many people they served while we were there, but the grillers kept the food moving. We did not see any lobsters so I had the fish and Dennis tried the lambi (conch). Salad, which is usually coleslaw with a little shredded lettuce and some tomato are the usual side dishes. And rum punch to wash it down.

I wanted this pot!

Our first trip to the grocery store was an experience. We were going to ride the bus, but my Captain thought the store was just “down there around the curve.” NOT! We walked, and walked, and walked some more before finally seeing the store ahead. I bought enough to ensure it would be necessary to get a cab ride back to the marina. Later I noted that the bus stop was across the street from the store!

For our second attempt at provisioning, we took the dinghy to the far end of the bay and walked between two building to find the mall. There we found Massy’s Gourmet, which had a lot of what I wanted, but I should have gone to the one in the mall on the other side of the road where the locals shop. Oh, well, it is just food. I don’t even look at the total of the bill anymore as it is what it is and then you must convert it to USD. Then you feel bad!

Heading across Rodney Bay to provision

Once nice thing about the Rodney Bay Marina is that they have a fresh market every Saturday morning. The local ladies, who appear to work in coalition, set up tables and put our all kinds of local produce. There is no price on anything so they just total it in their minds and give you a number. It always seems high compared to other islands, but … At least, I didn’t have to walk a long distance or take a bus or cab.

I have seen some of the strangest things people eat!

We ended up in the marina for three weeks! The parts finally came in. They weren’t right. Work did not get done. We left hoping to complete the project in Antigua or Tortola. Fortunately, it is not critical. We were disappointed in the mechanic’s failure to complete things. Dennis had that discussion with him and told him that his reputation on the dock is hurting his business; he needs to finish a job before starting another one as cruisers want to get going. It’s too bad because he was so good four years ago.

Will we ever leave here?