Home to the rainy city

The flight home was very pleasant apart from a rather shambolic stopover in Barbados where the passengers in transit were herded around and treated very disrespectfully by customs. To such a degree that one passenger felt forced to formally complain. The point at issue was whether we were actually entering Barbados as we were being confined to the departure lounge, as it was, any duty free booze was temporarily confiscated and even water bought on the plane was forced to be thrown away. I tended to agree with the German in that technically we were not entering the country. It is a real contrast to the friendly welcome we received arriving by yacht.

The landing at Manchester after an eight hour flight proved a real shock to the system, temperature was a rather chilly 4°c and it was grey and drizzly. Waiting on the station with our luggage I was listening to other conversations and my ear was remembering that in the north of England it seemed that people were prone to moaning a lot! The train journey home also proved somewhat depressing due to the inordinate amount of litter everywhere.

Later it even made a half-hearted effort to snow, this is the view from the front door of our house.

However we had arrived home and things did seem familiar but also strangely not. Both Lynne and I felt a little dislocated, which is what I suppose we were after so long away. I was particularly disturbed to be charged £6.60 for 4 pies!

It was lovely meeting up with friends and family, it did seem however that our alcohol intake was increasing particularly when we visited Alex in the Brewery Bar. He gave us a tour.

It is of course a working brewery and Alex is learning the whole process of production, his speciality however is working with customers and he seems to be making a real success of managing the bar. 

We had several meetings with friends and family and the atmosphere was always very pleasant. It was particularly gratifying to hear such praise for Alex from his customers once they discovered who we were ( and sometimes before they did ) we are very proud of him.

Of course it would have been churlish not to sample the many excellent cask ales that the Black Edge brewery produce.

From chocolate flavoured stouts, citrus golden blonde ales, hoppy bitters, we felt quite spoiled after  nine months of fizzy lager!

Of course much as we enjoyed it, the hectic social whirl had to cease briefly as we also had other things to attend to. Namely dental appointments, health checkups and replacing bank cards which were due to expire in the next year. I also replaced my laptop and bought a new mobile phone that would be slightly easier to keep swooping SIM cards with. We had a large shopping list much of which depended on how I was going to get back to Getxo. I had arranged to sail to Spain with a friend Peter who owned the junk yacht Malliemac, however when I phoned him he seemed to be in the midst of an emotional crisis and was a bit non- commital. I arranged to meet up in a few days when he would tell me the whole story.

So what's it like to be back?

It cold......very cold.

It can be quite expensive.

It's very dirty.

It has to be said that it seems customer service has improved ( Lynne assures me ) certainly Nationwide, Santander, Dell, have been excellent. Our Dentists have pulled out all the stops and have been brilliant. The Brewery Bar is superb! However I have still failed to get an appointment to see a doctor despite changing to Lynnes surgery. God forbid I was actually ill.

TV is just as I remember, appallingly bad.

My sisters dog Bonny still remembers me.......I got a delightful welcome.

We continue to visit with our friends and family and without exception that has been wonderful, we need now to go further afield and we are looking forward to that.

We both still feel a little like strangers at times but I suppose that's understandable.

We are both missing Dark Tarn and can't wait to continue our journeys.............

In preparation for which we have a collection of new flags, a new national ensign ( red duster ) courtesey flags for St Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada and Gyana. We are also finally in receipt of our flying fish house flag as we are both now officially full members of the Ocean Cruising Club having completed our qualifying passage.

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We also have a new ssb receiver ( for synoptic charts ) and other bits and bobs to install on Dark Tarn when we return.

Towards Vieux Fort ( and home )

We had paid the Marine Rangers the day before for our stay on their buoys so we were surprised to be visited early again by the Ranger boat. However they had only come to inspect and repair the moorings. We had noticed during our snorkelling expeditions that there was a mooring that ended six feet from the surface as the ball was missing. They had come to replace it.

We left the morning buoys and went around the headland into the bay of Soufriere which had the distinction of being next to the rather wonderful Pitons, grande et petit, although these are relative terms, as they are both extremely imposing. As we crossed the bay the rain clouds that had been a regular occurrence all morning gathered to swaddle the peaks in a grey cloud of rain.

We also became targeted by the notorious Soufriere boat boys. These are possibly the most persistent in St Lucia and had been regular visitors to us on the mooring bouys, even though these are several miles from Soufriere.  However when they were told we were headed to Vieux Fort they seemed to lose interest! We approached Petit Piton and the rain cleared long enough to get a good close up look at the mountain. One of the odd things about Petit Piton is that it is actually larger than its brother Grande Piton.

You may recognise it from the movie " Pirates of the Caribean". We approached Jallousie bay which sits between the two peaks and as we located a free mooring buoy ( still in the Marine reserve so no anchoring allowed ) we discovered that the valley between the two hills creates a bit of a wind tunnel effect as the wind speed climbed to 28 knots. This made picking up the buoy a bit more difficult than it needed to be. Luckily the rain had ceased and the sun came out long enough for me to take a photo.

We stayed just long enough to have lunch and enjoyed watching a " super yacht" along with obligatory multi millionaire on a satellite phone pick up another buoy, larger than ours of course, for super yachts only.  The yacht then opened its " garage at the back and revealed a fast ski boat and jet ski parked inside, how the other half live eh? We had discovered incidentally that to stay at the Jade Mountain Hotel that owned Anse Marin beach that we had enjoyed swimming and snorkelling from a couple of days ago cost £10,000 per person per week. The cost for Hocus Pocus to stay in the Marine reserve ( which includes the use of mooring buoys ) was $58EC per day, about £12. I think we had the better deal!

After lunch we moved on and soon encountered strong headwinds as we rounded Grande Piton. The strong wind continued all the way to Vieux Fort. We also had about 1.5 knots of current against us. It took a little over 3 hours to cover the 11 mile trip from the Pitons.

As we got nearer to the breakwater of Vieux Fort we spotted what seemed like a good anchorage away from the harbour and headed towards it. We dropped the hook in 7 metres in a small bay and Dave ran Lynne and I ashore to the small fishing harbour so we could find out the quickest way to the airport.

Vieux Fort turned out to be a fascinating place, well off the usual tourist track. The people were poor but very friendly. The town itself as our pilot/guide described it " didn't have a tourist bone in its body ", the architecture was shanty chic, and the number of sleepy dogs and grog shops made us feel once again we were in an Alexander Mcall-Smith novel. I felt slightly disappointed that we wouldn't have enough time to explore as it looked wonderful. I was particularly taken by a shop that advertised itself as " superior broom sellers ", fabulous.........The best way to the airport turned out to be by bus, $1.50 EC, which is about 40p. The driver joked with a pregnant passenger that she would have to pay two fares. The bus we caught took us to the airport even though it didn't actually go there.

The airport was fairly modern but basic, unfortunately the check in desk for Thomas Cooke was closed so we would need an early start tomorrow.....

When we got back to the fish dock we radioed Dave to come and pick us up and he arrived in the harbour towing  a guy in another dinghy he had discovered being blown out to sea as its outboard had failed. Hocus Pocus to the rescue once again!

The undersea world

After our day diving off Anse Marin we thought it may be worth diving from off Hocus Pocus. There were several buoys marking areas of no anchoring etc. We thought these might indicate the presence of a reef. The following morning Dave and I donned snorkelling gear and swum off the stern, at first there was just a flat sandy bottom full of sea grass.As we headed towards the shore soon out of the blue water loomed a small reef. It was if anything better than the one we had explored the previous day. I did a quick orientation recce and I hurried back to get Lynne. Soon we were entering a whole new world.

Because of my prior exploration I had a reasonable idea of the labyrinthine layout and we swam between rocky cliffs and over precipices that fell away to a sand bottom. There was life everywhere.

The water was clear as glass and the dappled sunlight made the colourful corals extremely vivid.

I am afraid my photos don't really do it justice.

There were sunken gardens of fan coral and anemones, the coral had built up amazing formations, some looked like pottery and others resembled giant clams.

There was one particular brain coral that I swear was looking at me.

We swooped and swam through this wonderland for what seemed ages before heading over to the jetty for a rest.

Even the pillars supporting the jetty were full of tiny plants and creatures.

We returned to the  reef in the afternoon, Dave took Carole out in the dinghy so that she could look through our glass bottomed viewer " the all seeing eye", I decide to surprise her which resulted in possibly the only photograph ever taken of Carole smiling at a camera.

It really is a fabulous privilege to dive on these reefs. On our return home Lynne and I will retrieve our diving gear and load Dark Tarn down even further!

Anse Chastanet

We enjoyed a very nice Valentine's Day dinner in Doolittles restaurant even though it rained half way through. There was an issue with our booking which meant we had to wait at the bar for a table, we got to meet the owner who seemed very nice although we failed to find out if he could talk to the animals. He did have a great dog though which unlike anywhere in the UK was allowed free run of the restaurant.

We all had basically the same choice from the menu, Lobster salad followed by a steak and shrimp main, the only difference was Dave who opted for the teriyaki starter and the girls went for velvet cake for a sweet and the boys stuck with strawberry cheesecake. All very touristy. They stung us on the drinks bill too!

We had a game of free pool, Lynne and I drew one game each. It has to be said Marigot Bay is very nice but you need to be well funded, us poor yachties are happier with the poor folk down the way.

During the night Hocus Pocus behaved at anchor but just as the French Cat next to us left we dragged our anchor, coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. When we reset our anchor the night before I had got to practise my French when he pretty much insisted we let out more chain as he was in 14 metres and had 40 metres of chain out, I explained that he was in the channel and we weren't consequently we were in 5 metres of water and had 20 metres of chain out. The ratio for both of us being 4:1 however to keep him quiet we let out 30 metres upping our ratio to 6:1. We also think it probably lay over his anchor chain. Chest la vie, as they say.

So an early morning session with the anchor and we decided to just up sticks and leave, unusual for us these early starts, just like proper yachtsmen!

We continued south intending to stop at the famous Pitons near Soufriere. I was steering, an unusual occurrence on Hocus Pocus which is invariably on autopilot. However it did give Dave the chance to get the binoculars out and he spotted a small but very pretty bay just before Grand Caille Point, called Anse Chastanet.

We decided it was worth a look.

As we entered the usual boat boy on a surfboard directed us towards the one remaining buoy of a pair but of course we were wise to this ploy now and carried on into the right hand end of the beach which seemed rather tight for our considerable bulk but which we managed to pick up a mooring buoy and have some breakfast. The boat boy continued to hassle us but we politely refused all offers of help coconuts or waterline scrubs. The dive boats for which this bay is well known were all crowding into and around us making it a very busy place, but quite stunning.

The development has a faintly James Bond villain type of a feel with an extraordinary jungle high rise just visible in the photo above.

Breakfast eaten we were debating what to do when luckily a marine warden happened by checking on the dive boats licences etc. The area we were in is a closely controlled Marine reserve and anchoring is strictly controlled, normally you would be required to pick up an official buoy. We asked if it was ok to be where we were and he said it was but it would be much quieter out on one of the two buoys that the boat boy had pointed out earlier! Oops.... Anyway without feeling too guilty about it we motored over and picked up the one remaining buoy next to a small charter yacht sailed by a couple from Gibralter of all places.

It was handy for a small jetty placed equidistant between the bay and its neighbour Anse Mamin. This seemed to be a lot quieter so after lunch we decide to take the dinghy ashore and possibly do some swimming.

The beach was everything you expect of a tropical island and even though obviously raked and manicured by the Hotel which owned it, still retained that beautiful if cliched charm.

As we walked back from the shore there were several buildings set back, a beach bar and what seemed to be a kitchen and dining area. There were a few loungers and thatched shades each equipped with a small,yellow flag presumably to call for service, all very posh but no one was telling us we couldn't be here so we made ourselves comfortable.

The heat was becoming a little oppressive so Lynne and I were keen to get in the water, Dave had brought a couple of snorkelling sets so Lynne and I would share one for the afternoon as Carole isn't the keenest of swimmers, she did however have a try later in the afternoon.

There seemed to be a great place to begin by some small stacks so we got in the water and I put on the mask and snorkel ( fins were the wrong foot size ) it was astonishing! The water was crystal clear and as you swum along surrounded by colourful fishes and coral in abundance.

In the photo above you can probably see brain coral fan coral and bright yellow tube worms.

Soon it was Lynnes turn and just like me she was entranced.

The water was very warm, when Lynne and I did our dive training in freezing Lancashire this was the diving dreams were made of!

It is difficult to capture with a camera the bright colours and endlessly changing dappled background that hides tiny fish and other creatures. In this instance seemingly unafraid of humans wearing strange masks.

Dave joined us for several swims through this magic garden. It's definitely something Lynne and I are keen to repeat.

The variety of small reef fish is amazing unfortunately difficult to capture with my limited camera.

We returned to the idyllic beach several times during the afternoon and at one stage I thought Lynne had turned into a mermaid so reluctantly did she climb out of the water. She has turned into a real " water baby"

Castries revisited

We couldn't leave without another visit to St Lucia's big city, Castries. Luckily the weather was not quite as threatening on this visit, also we set off in good time so everything was open ( things start and finish early in the Caribean ) Dave and Carol needed to stock up on duty free cigarettes and we needed some other essentials, mainly medication for Lynnes cold and mozzie repellent. It seemed a little silly to be waiting outside shops for each other so we split up and arranged to meet up in a couple of hours.

First stop for us was the Cathedral.

From the outside there is nothing remarkable about this building, in fact it looks like a small provincial church rather than a cathedral. However when you go inside its a different story. It's simply a riot of colourful frescos, stained glass and a quite astonishing painted ceiling.

It is simply lovely, the columns and roof supports are cast iron, the roof is corrugated iron clad on the inside with simple wooden boards, seemingly not a single square inch of which is unpainted.

You can get a real crick in your neck looking around. In the above photo the Saint in the first fresco on the right is St Benedict and the next one along is St Therese de Lisieux. I have to rely on Lynne for in depth information like this.

Hidden in a corner by the door was a statue of St Lucy.

After whom of course St Lucia is named. 

We walked back out into the heat and light of Castries, it was a Saturday so the markets were in full swing, the streets crowded with stalls and people. We were given the usual hard sell from the stall holders, we are getting used to this slowly and Lynne has evolved some rules for avoiding hassle.

1/ don't touch merchandise. It's fatal.......

2/ don't look too long at merchandise......

3/ don't stop moving.....

4/ avoid eye contact....

5/ if all else fails chat politely for a minute or so then apologise and claim you have no more room in your luggage for anything and no you don't need any more luggage.......

Theses few rules assimilated it's possible to negotiate the labyrinth of Castries market and hold on to most of your money!

It was while exploring the market we stumbled on Dave and Carol enjoying a beer in one of the many " grog shops" appropriately enough called " Pensioners Corner " .

Just up the way was a band playing a selection of reggae tunes. They were visually impaired and actually quite good when they could stay in tune, we popped a little change in their box anyway......

Of course what Lynne and I really wanted was some fried chicken, you can get four pieces of chicken and chips from the street vendors for $10 EC or £2.50, it's some of the cheapest and tastiest food you'll ever eat. Unfortunately we had to wait 10 mins for ours, freshly cooked and piping hot. Luckily we could sit and wait in the al fresco dining area outside the serving grill.

As well as the main market there are stalls along almost every street, and selling nearly everything. You can get your mobile phone unlocked, root around a mountain of second hand chargers for one for it, get a colourful cover, buy a bag to put it in, some shoes to match the bag.....etc.etc..

And that's before you get to the foodstuffs, almost every vegetable you can think of and some I have still yet to identify are spread out everywhere.

When you get bored of shopping you can just look at the buildings, it has been said of Castries that it lacks a unifying building style, that's true, but the resulting mish mash is very interesting and always surprising. The example above is usually referred to as " gingerbread".

The decoration is sometimes a bit garish, but the colours are always bright.

Some bits are downright elegant, the photo above is of the Central Park, the Cathedral is behind.

Of course it being the weekend there a fair number of " tired and emotional " people lying around sleeping one off. But that seems to be part of life in cities.......

Castries is the biggest small town I think we have visited, it's a colourful, noisy, maddening, frantic place that you will either love or hate. I loved it!

Of course we took our eye off the ball and Carole ignored the rules heading back to the dinghy and Dave bought Carole a dress she didn't know she wanted !