Billy and Claudius, our boat boys!
08 March 2011 | Approaching St. Lucia's lee coast, ala the Pitons!
Becca
It's 6:20a, AST, being greeted by one of the most breathtaking scenes in the Caribbean...the Pitons! This is Billy and Claudius and they came way out here to greet us too. We are an hour away from where we enter Soufriere Bay, on the lee coast of St. Lucia. The 'boys' are wanting to help us with a mooring but we are tired, can't see them very well other than they are very young and the circular motions they are both making can only mean one thing. They are brave too, coming our here in an inflatible with an outboard engine that is coverless. They are persistent too. We are planning to use our beautiful new windlass to put the anchor down and decided this would be the time to pull out the guide book for Soufriere Bay! We didn't look at water depth, only customs and immigration office locations when checking out our next stop. We are here to tell ya that the water is 60-160' deep and the whole area is a park and strongly enforced! No anchoring...we're taking a mooring.
We are in awe of the terrain! The last time we explored here was two years ago on our way south to Grenada! We are also relieved that our first night sail on this journey north, was whale free, no containers bobbing just under the surface to do unthinkable damage...sans sailing and the only thing that didn't go as planned was that Dudley didn't sleep well. Actually it's two things, we always plan to sail. So much for our on 2/off 2 hour watch routine. I on the other hand can probably sleep through a hurricane...!
It was actually a pretty uneventful night, really! We still have a leak we've been chasing during this entire adventure, and the latest saltwater intrusion is the anti-siphon device which has a crack and threatens to spew more salt water where we don't want it!
This is new territory and we're excited to check it out! Tomorrow!
Dudley and Bec