St. Lucia
02 May 2008
Bryan
St. Lucia felt like a turning point to us. Let me rephrase that. It felt like a turning point once we GOT there. The sail from Walliabou to St. Lucia was horrible. The winds were strong but nearly on the nose causing us to haul the sails in tight and bash into the 5 and 6 foot seas for 35 miles. We had to motor sail much of it and many a wave crashed over the bow sending green water sloshing over the decks. It was a tease to watch southbound boats having a great time riding with the waves and with sails eased out while we were shaking the boat to pieces going north. Getting poured on during a squall didn't help any.
But St. Lucia is the island that marks the dividing line between the Windwards and the Leewards. The rest of the islands going north start to peel off to the northwest giving us a much more favorable heading. Further, the winds are beginning to show signs of switching from their winter directions - NE to their summer directions - E and SE, further improving our sailing. Soon we'll be the ones with sheets eased out watching the poor souls going the other way.
As soon as we got in behind the lee of the island, everything changed. The water flattened out, the wind came more aft, even the sun obliged and came out. And we were directly under the Pitons, St. Lucia's two dramatic land features, each over 4000 feet high. After clearing in, we anchored right below Petit Piton. (photo)
The next day we hiked up to a botanical garden which also sported a hot mineral waterfall and soaking pools. It was a great walk down into the gardens through truly lush jungle. We had the pools nearly to ourselves for an hour. Just laying back soaking with the jungle noises all around was a treat I wish I had access to all the time. We hiked back out and as we arrived at the gate, three busloads of tourists were just beginning their way in. Ya get lucky sometimes.