And when in Rodney Bay ye shall climb to what used to be the fortified hilltop on Pigeon Island,

...and Pigeon Island, was actually once really an island which was artificially joined to the mainland (in 1972) by a man-made causeway from dirt excavated in making the Rodney Bay Marina, where we just spent a few days, but...

where way back when you could easily imagine how the soldiers would hoist the canons to the top,



or imagine the warships as they tried to slip past the rocky hillsides



to strategically sneak into the bay and attack the communities



and can you imagine a time when the uniformed soldiers were literally sweating to death in their battle uniforms before someone took pity and redesigned airier mesh breeches (seriously!), and this is where they slept,



with one section today showing serious signs of upgrades and renovations,



and couldn't you just imagine, perhaps with a few feng-shui type of decorations, this being a gorgeous backdrop for say, a wedding ceremony??

But first, we should back up a tad n'est ce pas?

After leaving Rodney Bay Marina, we drove out the channel and motored over to Pigeon Island and anchored right in front of, behind Zero to Cruising,



as we couldn't take the chance of anchoring in front of them and incur their "Bitch Wings" after all?

The bottom is a bit "sketchy" (some sand patches amid lots of grassy areas) and it took us a couple of tries and subsequent swim inspections before our anchor was set to satisfaction.

Thankfully the skies held out until we were properly set and then the rains came down, thanks to the Tropical Wave we are currently hiding from.



The radio cackled to life and Mike and Rebecca were inviting us over for Wings and Fries, yumm !!



Not sure what Samantha had to say about it all even though we tried to bribe her with some chocolate chip cookies we'd brought over?

Waking up the next morning we knew we had to go walk all that off, and so we set off for a morning excursion, that as with all photo ops, begin with arriving at the dinghy dock,



where we found ourselves to be the only crazy ones up that early just to go exploring.



We followed the path where we watched the gardener lovingly sweep up the grassy fields of fallen leaves, flowers and branches,



in anticipation of the Sandals Resort tourists that would likely be walking by after morning wake up coffee's undoubtedly served under the shade of the umbrella chairs.

We purchased our entrance tickets and headed back along the red path-ed road (thanks to falling red flowers) from these,



meandering in S-shaped curves, heading steadily uphill, listening to the cacophany of tweeting birds singing their morning tunes,



and we couldn't imagine a time when this area was the scene of fierce battles between not only the Caribs and Arawarks,

...who by the way called this island "Ioüanalao" and "Hewanorra" (meaning "there where the iguana is found") and for the records, we didn't see a-one (Indian or iguana)...

and then the French and English (in battles too numerous to mention but the most in-famous of them all being Admiral Rodney himself, who took over Pigeon Island, got rid of the natives, built a fort here, called it (guess...?), Fort Rodney, and in order to see what dangers were coming at him, he ordered all the surrounding trees to be cut down, and on a clear day, from the higher peak called Signal Hill, he could see the Naval base on Martinique. Binoculars anyone?



And of course, barring the first settlers, and the warring peoples, and the iguana's, there was everything and anything in between;

...meaning the first Pirate to settle here was François LeClerc (a french-man perhaps?) who was known as Jambe de Bois (translates to WoodenLeg - gee I wonder why?) who would attack the passing Spanish Ships looting for treasure...

But today we spent a lovely, hot, read very sweaty morning walking, hiking, climbing and clambering, among the stone walled relics, ruins and remains of another type of era,



and felt so lucky that we were here to enjoy it in today's world where these are thankfully now rusted and unused,



in the green expansive lushness of a fertile flowering land,



and natural rock formation that allow you to climb, (no danger signs posted here folks!) and



where reaching the top was "almost" one rock too high and steep to continue



the views spectacular as long as you're not afraid of heights,



but oh so rewarding in the end, when we came back down,



where the ultimate reward, was a nice cold one



among the beautiful and colourful artwork



that adorns the walls in



the beachfront rustic hut that is famously known as Jambe de Bois.

We returned to our boat for lunch, lazed away most of the afternoon, and then refreshed ourselves by a cool snorkelling type of swim, when Dave suggested we should invite our neighbours to join us for supper but wouldn't you know it, great minds think alike, as the VHF cackled to life and they beat us to it.

And so we found ourselves returning to Jambe de Bois for some lamb and vegetable Roti (delicious, but perhaps, a tad heavy on the potatoes) and mango daiquiris, which filled us up so much we had no room left for dessert that mouth-wateringly read on the black chalkboard "banana crumble, mango and pineapple flan, and carrot cake", except for Mike, thank you very much, who feasted on chocolate chip cookies and vanilla ice cream!

A grand way to spend a day Rodney Bay, or better yet the whole day was very good, or in other words (local patois dialect), we would say SA BON !!