Parked Petween the Pitons
13 March 2010 | St. Lucia
Bob
We finally pulled out of Rodney Bay this morning after clearing out of customs. Our main sail is back, our prop is back and our charge controller is doing its thing. All is well on Lucky Bird.
We are happy to be leaving St. Lucia, honestly, the place and the people really were getting to us. It is expensive, car rentals are the highest we've seen, laundry is costs are atrocious, people have their hands in your wallet everywhere you turn. And, buyer beware. I made the mistake of not arriving at a price before agreeing to have a diver pull and then replace our prop. Well let me tell you I nearly dropped my pants on the rear deck of Lucky Bird when he told me what he wanted. I was flaborgasted. He did the work and did a good job, not loosing or breaking anything, he even scrapped barnacles from our keel, so I gulped and headed in to the ATM for more EC. We've worn a path to the ATM. And then yesterday, I had to pay a customs broker an outlandish price to get our main sail out of customs in Casteries and delivered to Rodney Bay. This time I stood my ground and told the broker no way. I would have the customs guys hold the sail and I wouldn't pay him anything, I would work it out Monday. He thought about it and we talked some more. He came down a little and then I asked how much he was charging to transport the package. Yikes!! Again no way Jose, I told him I could take a bus to town and back for $4 EC and he wanted 25 times that. So that was negotiated down as well. We needed the sail so we could Get-out-of-St.Lucia, so I gave him my final offer and he accepted it. Live and learn.
We sailed south along the island to the Pitons. Twin volvcanic columns rising right out of the sea. Incredibly beautiful and this afternoon and tonight we'll be staying right between them, awesome.
Tomorrow we'll sail to Bequia, skipping St. Vincent. it seems the crime rate is alarmingly high and most cruisers like us are just bypassing the island. It's too bad for I'm sure there are decent people living there and equally,I suspect there is lots to see on the island, but better judgment says skip it so we'll be off to the Grenadines.
Alice cooked up a bread fruit the other evening, tasted and looked like our potatoes but man that one fruit would have fed a crew of six. She's getting pretty good with her tamrind tea. With our 44% rum it makes for some pretty tasty afternoon libations. Right now while I'm typing she's cooking up a storm making us some banana bread, umm, can you smell the bread baking?