Stepping onto solid ground after 23 days at sea was an indescribable feeling. The catamaran isn’t small; you can move around comfortably enough, but land is land. Anyone who hasn’t experienced something similar, I think, would struggle to truly understand. One of the first welcoming experiences happened at Immigration, where I needed a visa for St. Lucia, which is issued at the British Consulate. Luckily, we were in the Caribbean, and the phrase “For you, my friend” seemed to smooth over any potential misunderstandings; everything could be easily arranged.
We spent the first few days at anchor because the marina was packed like sardines. We were, after all, quite slow getting there; many boats had arrived before us and snagged the available spots, plus the participants in the ARC rally had pre-booked reservations, which created an additional challenge. As our journey will intersect with the ARC rally again, we should probably take a closer look at their schedule.
After a few days, as many boats continued their journey, we managed to secure a spot in the marina, which made things significantly easier. I think we spent the next few days just washing and cleaning the boat – a much-needed task after the long crossing.
The Caribbean, as the Caribbean is, offers beautiful seas, lush green islands, and intense sunshine… in a word, fantastic. Zvone Petek’s description of his Caribbean experience, “Havana is the best the Caribbean has to offer,” started to make more and more sense. There are hordes of people who seem to do nothing but wait for an opportunity to sell you something you don’t really need. It’s a paradise for opportunistic thieves. They don’t actively steal, but if there’s an opportunity to take something that’s readily available, they will, so it’s essential to stow everything away, lock things up, and be extra vigilant.
On a small dock near the center of Rodney Bay, where the town and shops are located not far from the marina itself, a kid charges two dollars to watch your dinghy. Of course, you don’t have to pay, but your dinghy might just happen to come untied and drift across the bay to the shore and get a hole poked in it :).
Around the marina, many prefabricated houses in American style have been built, with lawns stretching down to the sea, where small docks hold speedboats and luxurious fishing boats – completely unattainable for the island’s residents. A newly paved road runs from the marina to the town, but there are no sidewalks, so when it rains, you walk alongside the road in mud and puddles, and no one seems to mind. Here, I realized that the level of development of a society, not to say civilization, is directly proportional to the number of sidewalks. Thankfully, the rain comes in short bursts, lasting about half an hour and often being very localized. If you get caught in a shower, you can probably run about 300 meters, get out of the cloud, and be back in the sun, allowing you to dry off nicely before the cloud catches up with you again.
Not far from the marina is Pigeon Island, with a fortress dating back to the second half of the 18th century, built by the British to monitor French ships. Fortunately, St. Lucia officially freed itself from British influence in 1979, gaining independence. This is one of the island’s landmarks, so we plan to visit it. We decided to inquire about renting a car to go shopping and explore this beautiful island with its lush vegetation!
