January-1 2006

January 2006

We stayed in northern St Lucia for the New Year and anchored out in Rodney Bay for the midnight firework display with friends Jane and Jim from the catamaran Lady Jane III. Jenny and Richard, friends from England, joined us in early January and we organised a visit to the fishing village of Anse La Raye for the Friday night fish evening. Bob and Kim from Northern Winds joined us as well as their neighbours in the marina. Unbeatable fun and good food in an excellent atmosphere right next to the beach. Our children had earlier found a reliable taxi driver named Munrose and he is the one who has crept into the back of the bottom photograph. An excellent driver and at a very reasonable price. We found ourselves talking to lots of locals as well as tourists and the music is always playing in the background so that it is impossible to keep still!

Finally we left St Lucia having checked out in Marigot Bay. We had a brisk three sail reach in 25 to 30 knots of wind across the gap between the two islands and headed down to Wallalibou. This is sheltered bay about half way down the west coast which has served for the location shooting for Pirates of the Caribbean. We picked up a buoy and Joel took our stern line ashore to a tree. He caught tuna at 05.30 am by rowing across the bay trailing a fine line with a piece of white plastic drinking straw pushed onto a small hook! And we thought our gear was low tech! Our friends in Northern Winds (Farr 56) soon arrived to join us and we went out to eat with the ‘Twins’, Ron and Ronnie who feature in Doyles Guide. We had good simple food and learned to like Pigeon Peas. The cook came to see us after the meal and was totally plastered! A rasta sat out the back with the chickens, some of whom had probably just fed us... We arranged for a day trip to Dark Head Falls with Ronnie who is a great fixer!

St Vincent is covered with rain forest and we certainly saw plenty of rain there! As we walked up to the falls we came across one of the pipelines to the local hydro-electric plant. It was made of wood, just like a continuous barrel and held tight together by threaded bars which were bent around it. An incredible piece of technology and quite unexpected.
We were introduced to Callallou from which the locals make soup and to the wild yams which have vines climbing up through the canopy of the forest. There were wild varieties of lemon, grapefruit, guava and passion fruits. All tasted better than the shop bought fruit but were less attractive to look at generally. Ronnie was a mine of information and keen that we should miss nothing.
There were two levels to the falls and both were beautiful if rather wet! There was much leaping and scrambling over wet rocks but all was OK.