Plans Plans Plans: Towards St Lucia

The day broke with a distinct absence of wind. Dave went ashore to clear out and we were surprised at the cost, $90, for light fees etc. We were going to use the last of Daves Barbados dollars on diesel but there wasn't enough left to bother with so we upped anchor just after 11 o'clock and headed out under one engine only on a bearing that should bring us in to the north end of St Lucia just after dawn the following day.

The sea was glassy calm and what little wind there was ( 3 knots or so ) was coming from dead ahead.

We had planned to try out Hocus Pocus's spinnaker however on closer inspection it turned out to be an asymmetrical spinnaker or cruising chute, among many names it is also known as a Gennaker.

A useful discovery as it one of Dark Tarns favourite light wind sails. We may get the chance to fly it when we get to St Lucia.

The day turned to night and a set of lights was spotted in our radar " dead spot" directly astern, so it was clearly visible but not showing on radar, a good example why a visual watch needs to be kept at all times. After 15 minutes or so we established that it was on a constant bearing and heading directly for us. As we were stand on vessel there wasn't a great deal we could do so we eat a lovely shepherds pie cooked by Lynne and worried a bit!

As he approached it became obvious he was bigger than we originally thought and was in fact a large cruise liner, he seemed to change course a few degrees and passed within a half a mile of our port side.

A bit too close for comfort, we tried to contact him several times on channel 16 but got no response. The listening watch on 16 is no longer required and large ships now use D.S.C. as the listening watch.

Lynne and I had agreed to do the nightswatch from midnight until eight so we went below and fell asleep for a few hours.

The night was inky black and absolutely full of stars, the lights of St Lucia were visible from 40 miles away, through the binoculars it was also possible to see Martinique. The wind although swinging to astern instead of ahead remained light. Lynne and I shared the watch as it was probably going to be our last chance to enjoy a shorts and t-shirt watch in the warm tropical night.

As the dawn broke we were very close to the coast of St Lucia, a beautiful green island. Daves plotter course took us very close to the rocks off several headlands so I chickened out and disengaged the autopilot and steered by hand for the next hour or two.

It was a lovely morning and as we slipped around the north end of the island looking at the fantastic cliff top properties.

As we entered Rodney Bay we tried and failed to raise the marina on the VHF. It was also very difficult to spot the entrance which was a narrow channel marked by two I district poles. None the less we managed both things eventually and were directed to berth D28 which turned out to be on the end of a hammerhead. We were cut up and overtaken in the marina channel by an American catamaran called " El Gato" , not known for their originality in California, it's Spanish for the cat, should probably have a name change to " El Cerdo" as they had the manners of one! We berthed without incident and opened a few cans of breakfast beer to celebrate what turned out to be an extremely easy and pleasant 100 miles.

We tried to sleep but to be honest it rained, which kind of made the cabins intolerably hot as we had to take down the wind scoops and close the hatches. ....Dave went ashore to deal with the paperwork of clearing in ( be ready for writers cramp ! ) we had accessed the hole in the wall so we were once again in funds. Sleep forgotten, we went into town instead, first job get a local SIM card, luckily the mobile phone company Digicell had a retail outlet just opposite and further down from the marina. They were very helpful and had us internetting in no time. We then walked into town had a KFC chicken dinner and retired to the beach where the Spinnakers bar is located.