St. Lucia - Work Weeks

Saying goodbye to the crew or Tahawus

View of Rodney Bay and Pigeon Island

Local youth enjoying the steel band

Vincent installing our newautopilot

St. Lucia

Work Weeks

March 9, 2017

It seems hard to believe that we have been in St Lucia almost two weeks now.  Most of that time has been spent doing boat projects, especially the ones that get put aside when you are travelling as much as we did. The layers of ground in salt have been removed and new polish put on the hull. We have stripped the teak in the companionway and doors and are now building up to 8 layers of varnish. Each storage area has been emptied and cleaned and organized. It is amazing the things you find! Many minor items have been repaired or replaced. We had planned to do most of our work here, as the marina is easy to get into, and there are many services and a chandlery on site. Even a swimming pool!

The remaining work on the engine has been done. We have purchased our new dinghy and set it up for raising on the davits. We also purchased lots of thick chain to get everything locked up well. After a service call on the autopilot, we decided to purchase a new one. That is why we stayed longer to wait for delivery. It is being professionally installed right now, but not without some challenges. Hope it all works when done.

Right before leaving Martinique, a bad weather system came through that brought the winds into the west for a day. This is rare and dangerous as most anchorages are open to the sea in that direction. Even the morning's weather forecasts didn't see that frontal system coming that far south. A few boats dragged up onto the beach in St Lucia and Martinique, and a number of dinghies were damaged. It was stormy about 5 hours with the choppy seas that come with high winds. No one was getting much sleep. The winds are now back into the east but have been higher than normal. So we are enjoying being in the marina for some of that.

We can usually count on meeting someone we know in the sailing community here. That has been the case, again, so have enjoyed a few "happy hours". We had another chance to visit with Tahawas as they passed this way.  For years there has been a ladies' lunch at one of the local resorts. And there is a cruisers' net in the mornings. Both are good ways of finding out who is around. There are a surprising number of Canadians at the moment.

We have taken a few hiking and shopping breaks, as well as trying some of the local restaurants. But it is not a sightseeing stop this time. When we leave here we would like to visit the anchorages at Marigot and between the Pitons.