Here we are in Sainte Anne enjoying the beautiful waters and
calm anchorage so much so that we decided to stay an extra day before heading
to St Lucia.
We saw plenty of reddish/orangey crabs and Manchineel trees.
They bear a small apple type fruit from a beautiful yellow flower. The flower
bud is pinkie/purple in colour but when it is in full bloom is bright yellow.
The fruit is extremely poisonous. Even sitting under the tree when it is
raining is quite dangerous as well.
Manchineel trees are found all over the Caribbean but we had
never seen so many in such a small
area as we did while on our walk. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchineel
It was a great sail as the wind was aft of beam – i.o.w
coming from behind us so we didn’t really feel the strength of the wind which
was over 20knots at times. We even had a bite on our fishing rod BUT it was a
barracuda and although we were tempted to use it as bait so we could hopefully
catch some Mahi Mahi, we released it. Fata Morgana had more luck than us and
caught a rather big Mahi Mahi which we enjoyed eating for dinner.
As we were walking back to the boat we noticed that there
were about four brightly painted fishing boats pulling in this HUGE fishing net.
Along the shore line, on the beach, were men and women waiting with HUGE
buckets and tubs, for the fishermen to pull in their catch.
Tuesday morning bright and early – 6.00am to be exact, our
anchor was up and we were heading south to St Lucia.
We arrived at Rodney Bay by 12.30 and put down our anchor.
Mel dived the anchor as he usually does but he wasn’t happy with it, as it had
lodged behind some loose rock and we knew that by the end of the week (Thursday
and Friday) a tropical wave was passing over us, so the anchor had to be secure
to prevent any mishaps.
After lunch we upped the anchor and moved to a spot we
thought would be better and where there was a bit of sand for the anchor to dig
into. Unfortunately when Mel dived the anchor the second time, the anchor had
lodged under a huge rock. The only comforting thing was that the anchor was
very unlikely to drag, but it may take a while to lift the anchor when we eventually
leave Rodney Bay.
Later that afternoon we found the HUGE shopping centre close
by to check the weather and to enjoy a bit of window shopping.
Information taken from the official guide to St Lucia
“Paradise St Lucia”2014 edition – it a free copy from the Tourist Information
Centre.
St Lucia is the largest of the English speaking Windward
Islands. It was inhabited by the Arawak Indians way back in 200AD which referred
to the island as “Iouanalao “or the “Land of the Iguanas”.
The Arawak Indians lived peacefully until the Caribs, who
were a fierce race over came the Arawaks in about 800AD. The Caribs called St
Lucia “Hewanarau” – the airport in the south of St Lucia is called Hewanorra
Airport.
The first record of European explorers was in about 1500 by
a Spaniard, Juan de la Cosa. Surprisingly there are no records of Christopher
Columbus setting foot on St Lucia.
Later that century, a colourful and interesting character by
the name of Francois Le Clerc – a pirate, who was also known as “Jambe de Bois”
due to his wooden leg, based himself at Pigeon Island where he and his men of
330 attacked any of the passing Spanish ships for their treasure.
Pigeon Island is now connected to the main land and two huge
hotels are located on the landfill. Where the Rodney Bay marina is, was once
swamp land. When the marina was being built and dredged, everything from the
dredging was deposited between the main land and Pigeon Island – hence the
island now being connected to the main land.
Back to the history of St Lucia….. the Dutch arrived in
about the 16th century and built a fort in the south which is now
called Vieux Fort.
The British tried to land here in 1605 but were forced to flee
by the vicious and terrifying Caribs. There second attempt was in 1639 but they
failed once again.
The French claimed ownership of St Lucia but didn’t try to
colonise it until 1651. In 1659 there was huge animosity between the French and
the English over St Lucia and in 1660, the French signed a treaty with the
Caribs and named the island “Saint Lucia” after Sainte Lucy of Syracuse. In
1665, Thomas Warner claimed St Lucia for England which started the many battles
between the French and the English. The French had a strong base in Martinique
while the English had a strong base in Barbados.
In 1746, the French established the first town in the south
– Soufriere. In December 1778, the Battle of Morne de la Vierge took place with
the British landing at Cul de Sac and taking control of Morne Fortune in
Castries. The French were defeated by a relatively small army lead by Admiral
George Rodney and fled to Martinique. Admiral Rodney built Fort Rodney on
Pigeon Island as from the higher of the two peaks, Signal Hill, one can easily
see clearly anything coming from Martinique.
It was only in 1814, when the British finally won St Lucia
which had changed hands over fourteen times in less than 150 years – hence its
nickname “Helen of the West” after Helen of Troy.
St Lucia gained independence in 1979 (22 February) but
remains part of the British Commonwealth.
There are a few anchorages along the west coast of St Lucia
that we are able to anchor but unfortunately St Lucia has not been the safest
of places to anchor in of late. There has been quite a lot of dinghy theft –
they are after the outboard motor and unfortunately a murder of a yachtsman
took place in the south, in Vieux Fort, late last year. We have also read about
some “boardings” and the stealing of property in some anchorages. Rodney Bay
seems to be the safest spot to anchor and there are lots of yachts around which
makes it safer as everyone is watching out for each other.
Wednesday we went into the marina – Island Water World is
there so Mel bought a new water pump – better one than what we had, plus a few
other bits and pieces.
The Cathedral of Immaculate Conception |
Thursday, we caught the bus down to Castries which is now
the capital of St Lucia and also known as the shopping capital. It is the
largest town in St Lucia and is the commercial and governmental centre of the
island. In 1948, a huge fire destroyed many of the builds in Castries although
several landmarks still exist today like the Cathedral of Immaculate
Conception. It is also where there is a HUGE cruise ship anchorage and dock,
accommodating up to five cruise ships at a time. There was only one cruise ship
docked on Thursday.
We walked around like many of the other cruisers, looking at
the local market and the high end touristy market where prices are ridiculous.
Thursday night was a sleepless night as the wind howled, the
heavens opened and we rocked quite a bit – Friday all day was the same except
for the rain. Mel installed the new water pump while I worked on the computer.
Saturday we decided to catch taxis/buses to Soufriere and to
the Pitons. We had to catch a bus to Castries, to the main bus terminal and
then another bus to Soufriere – 45kms away.
When we were dinghying to the marina so we could leave the
dinghy there while we were in Soufriere, we saw a disturbing sight – along the
main fishing dock where all the local fishermen are, we saw two up-turned very
large turtles. Their heads had been chopped off. On Sunday afternoon when we
went to the marina, we stopped at the dock where we had seen the two dead
turtles, to ask a fisherman about the turtles – this is what he said….. “October
is the only month the fishermen in St Lucia can catch turtles but they have to be
over a certain size”. Since speaking to
this fisherman, I have found the following link and info:
Queen Elizabeth II square and the main cathedral |
Soufriere is a small, quaint town with the Pitons towering
over the town. In the town centre is Queen Elizabeth II square with the main cathedral
overlooking it. While we were there, the Saturday market was on so all the
street vendors were plying their trades and goods. We managed to find a taxi
driver who didn’t want to charge us an arm and a leg to take us to see the
Pitons.
The Pitons are a
UNESCO World Heritage Site and consist of Gros Piton(771m) and Petit Piton (743m) – they are
two HUGE mountain peaks that can been seen from many km’s away.
The Pitons |
After seeing the Pitons and returning to Soufriere we thought
it was best to catch a bus back to Castries and then onto Rodney Bay as the
last buses were round 5.00pm and it would be a very long and strenuous walk
back to the boat if we missed the bus.
Sunday was spent preparing for our sail to Barbados - yes we
are off to Barbados on Monday morning after we have checked out from St Lucia.
Mel has started singing the song – “We’re going to Barbados”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyfaB8SW5Sw&noredirect=1
…. So that is it for Week 42.
Until next time, take care.
Love
Captain Mel and Admiral Caryn/xx
One of the many secluded beaches on our walk from Sainte Anne |
A very chuffed Ivo and his catch |
We tried some "raw" cocoa beans. |