High swells due to the strong Atlantic winds continue to impede our speed, so much to our frustration we motor sailed all the way from St Vincent to St Lucia.
As we approached St Lucia's you can't fail to notice the twin Piton peaks that greet you from the distance but we had decided not to stop in the town of Soufreire (or rather I had a fear Bill would have me doing another mountainous hike) but continue along to Marigot Bay.
Marigot Bay Lagoon is a modern marina resort and Sylvester helped us onto one of the mooring buoys. We paid our money for two nights and were pleased to be told that we could use the Capella Hotel pool and facilities. We had to check in with immigration and customs first and then popped into the marina office for further information. The girl behind the reception desk asked us which buoy we were on only to tell us that we were on a private mooring not the resorts mooring and therefore could not use the swimming pool. Can you imagine my disappointment, I was by now looking forward to lazing on a sunbed around a luxurious pool. Sylvester had also charged us $20EC more plus we gave him a small tip! The receptionist went immediately to the Port Officer and explained our situation. The Port Officer wasn't happy with Sylvester. "Don't worry" he said " I'll find him and get your money back". We paid for a resort buoy and went back to our boat to move position. Sure enough half an hour later Sylvester came back with his tail between his legs and refunded our money. To be honest if he had charged the same price we probably wouldn't have bothered moving. Anyway I did get to lie on a sun bed and swim in the pool but only after we had walked up the Billy goat trail.
After two nights we moved further up the coast to Rodney Bay where we could anchor in the huge bay. We chose to tuck ourselves up close to Pigeon Fort which is now a historical site and we duly paid a small fee upon landing and had a lovely day walking around the fort and enjoying the views.
While at anchor we decided our poor boat was in need of a good clean, so we got up early two mornings while it was still cool to dust and shine the inside. Since being in the Caribbean we have only anchored or moored on a buoy. Without shore power we cannot use the vacuum cleaner and I have had to rely on the old fashioned dustpan and brush. Enough was enough we needed power so went into the huge Rodney Bay Lagoon marina to enjoy the luxury of using a vacuum cleaner. I think it must have been Bill's over zealous use of the machine that blew a fuse along the whole of D pontoon leaving us no power for the rest of the day. Ah well, what do they say ' best laid plans and all that!
What is nice about cruising is the people you meet and as time goes by it's not unusual to meet up again by chance. Rodney Bay marina was no exception, as soon as we arrived we were helped onto our finger pontoon by Sarah and Darryl who we met in Grenada and the next day we met Sue and Peter who we last saw in Tenerife. Of course we all had a sundowner together and exchanged stories before Krabat moved on the next day to Martinique.