Pigeon Island

Pigeon Island is the distinctive headland forming the northernmost flank of Rodney Bay, it consists of two distinct steep hills joined by a broad saddle. At one time it was a separate island but is now joined to the main island by a long flat peninsular which is walled across the base.

The left hand hill in the above photo is the site of Fort Rodney, and the right hand and higher hill is the lookout towards Martinique and the dastardly French 25 miles away.

When we asked one of the marina security guys about walking to Pigeon Island he just laughed, he told us to get the bus into Gros Islet and ask the bus driver if he would take us from there. As you can probably figure out the bus doesn't actually go to Pigeon Island. Buses on St Lucia are basically people carriers with green number plates and a yellow sticker in the windscreen, (if the number plate is blue it's a taxi). You simply flag one down at the side of the road when you see one and if it's going in the right direction, bobs your uncle. There always seems to be room for one more inside, we have so far not been treated to the wooden plank that is sometimes used to squeeze an extra body in! The relevant bus is the1A Castries to Gros Islet.

It's probably fair to say that Gros Islet is the less salubrious end of town, and on reaching the terminus at the market square our helpful cabbie took Lynne and I on a fascinating detour down some very bumpy and deeply rutted tracks to eventually emerge on the small bit of tarmac that borders the Sandals resort. We were dropped off outside the wall of the National landmark the whole trip costing us the grand total of $10EC or about £ 2.50.

We quickly paid our entrance fees and hid under the eaves of the building as a tropical downpour made life a bit wet, these things are over fairly quickly in the tropics and 15 minutes later it had not just stopped it was difficult to tell it had ever happened!

Pigeon Island is St Lucia's only National trust monument. It has a fascinating history of piracy and military  occupation. A famous French pirate named Francois Le Clerc was known as Jambe de Bois    ( wooden leg ) he gives his name to the islands restaurant, of which more later.......

We began to explore the grounds which are full of ruins all of which are itemised in our handy guidebook. Paths wander all over the place and the map in the guidebook is pretty essential.

This would be a great place to have a picnic, however the cultivated lawns soon give way to wilder country and the numerous paths all seem to descend towards the coast.

There is alternative access here if you are lucky enough to own a boat. The Jambe de Bois is just a bit further on in the above photo.

We climbed on still feeling fairly fit and climbed up towards Fort Rodney.

Unfortunately another brief downpour gave Lynne a bit of a moment on the steep climb and she wasn't keen to accompany me to the lookout.

I assured her it would soon be dry as a bone but as you can see from the above photo the last section is quite steep.

We hung around a bit as the rain squall clouds vanished to the west and admired the rusting cannons on the Fort parapets, this was proper Pirates of the Caribean stuff!

I was determined to reach the summit of the Lookout regardless of the fact that flip-flops are not really suitable footwear for mountaineering even on this small scale.

The views from the top more than made up for any anxiety however. Martinique was clearly visible in the distance and several yachts were making the windy passage.

Soon I descended to rejoin Lynne stopping to admire the Gun Slide.

 

This was a precipitous drop down about 600 feet to a secluded bay where in the days of yore the hardy British sailors would haul up cannon from a frigate anchored in the small inlet below. A double round of grog apparently usually got the job done. 

The views over Rodney Bay were superb and once I was reunited with Lynne we quickly descended as it was becoming uncomfortably hot to have a refreshing beverage in the beachside Jambe Le Bois.

This is a brilliant little bar, restaurant, art gallery, library....

The views out beyond the balcony are truly lovely with the typical azure water and white sand beaches that you would expect from a Caribean beach bar.

The vegetation provides cooling shade.

As we enjoyed a cool Piton beer the smells of food were making us very hungry and we didn't need much persuading to order a couple of lamb curries which turned out to be delicious.

After lunch we wandered on finding hermit crabs on the pathways through the trees.

We decided to walk back to the Marina, which turned out to be fairly straightforward when fuelled with lamb curry!

 

We also got to take a close look at Gros Islet which had some brilliant buildings.

One of which we determined to come back too as it seemed so welcoming if a little run down!

It was a fascinating day out. Sometimes it's just nice to be a tourist. We also had the last laugh with the security guy.............it is quite feasible to walk to Pigeon Island.

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.

Lovely spot, apart from a slightly hostile waitress.

Happy hour was from 5-6 so we had a couple of Mojitos and then walked to the Razamataz restaurant for a curry.

Dave elected to have a killer Vindaloo.

We didn't. It was a very enjoyable evening as we hadn't had a curry for over 9 months.

I also think we had earned it. 

We all had a very early night as Lynne and I in particular were knackered and running on empty.

Creatures

 Anyone who has ever sailed any distance with my wife Lynne will know that she adores her creatures. It is a real privilege to be able to observe them in their native habitat, especially if they choose to interact with you. Lynne will wait for hours for dolfins to reappear, or simply watching flying fish. Our recent trip across the Atlantic aboard Hocus Pocus also gave us the opportunity to see creatures that were completely new to us along with some old friends.

I think the most constant companions we had on our voyage was the surprising flying fish.

Surprising because they have a real ability to fly, they will swoop up and down waves and change direction at will. They can also lower their undercarriage ( tail ) and accelerate back up to flying speed in a flurry. I think we saw them every day as well as finding them on the deck in the mornings.

A real indicator that we were in the tropics was the appearance of the white tailed Tropic bird.

This rather beautiful bird began to shadow us as a solo bird but later became a pair and was a daily visitor. We had to bring our fishing lures in when he began to take an interest in them! An obvious identifying feature is the lovely long tail.

Another visitor was a small black gull we think was some kind of Petrel, it's behaviour suggests this as it would swoop just above the wave tops, skimming the surface presumably looking for fish.

A rather prehistoric visitor reminiscent of a terradactyl was the frigate bird, also a bird of the tropics.

Famous for having a distinctive red crop it can inflate when breeding, it is a rather piratical scavenger.

An indicator we were approaching land was the appearance of several gannets, identified from their distinctive diving behaviour however their markings were slightly different from the birds we are used to.

We saw quite a few dolphin, mainly two types the Atlantic white sided.

And the bottlenose.

Both of which were delightful and would accompany Hocus Pocus while playing under her bows.

We were also shadowed by a small whale which we still can't identify with any certainty.

However all these creatures entertained my wife and the rest of the crew for hours on end, it certainly relieved the tedium of a long crossing.

We also saw lots of ( and caught some ) fish. Large predators like the Dorado and Bonito.

The Atlantic is simply alive with life..........

Bridgetown

Due to mischievously dragging her anchor in the middle of the night Hocus Pocus was in a slightly different place than originally, however it did mean we were closer to shore and the marina facilities.

We had already had one trip into Bridgetown but as we were on a mission so to speak we didn't really have the opportunity to explore as we would have liked. We decided to return and have a good look around at a later date.

That evening we went ashore to eat at the yacht club restaurant, which turned out not to serve food on a Sunday or Monday. So we adjourned a little way down the beach to the Fish Pot restaurant where despite not having booked we were found a table.

The food was very acceptable and after eating we moved down the social scale to the tin hut of Braddys Bar where we had a few beers with rum chasers. Unfortunately this turned into a bit of a "session" and most of the following day was lost to history.

A sober night allowed us an early start to catch a bus back into Bridgetown. As Dave was looking for a courtesey flag for St Lucia we had to find a chandlers, which we did, it's near the immigration office and the Jolley Roger party boat. It's very comprehensive and carries a good selection of essential spares. We continued to explore the harbour area and were surprised to discover an old acquaintance, the Swedish yacht " Archipelago" who we had met in the Canaries and Mindelo. I chatted with the son of the owner and discovered they had taken 15 days to cross from Mindelo.

She was berthed in the inner harbour which is adjacent to Independence Park, a very pleasant green area in the centre of the town. We were under the impression that yachts were not welcome in the harbour it being reserved for commercial boats., in this we were wrong, a quick chat with the harbourmaster revealed that given a minimum stay of three nights they would raise the bridge and for the princely sum of $50 a night you can stay in the heart of Bridgetown.

There is easy access to the main shopping areas including the covered and open markets. The quality of the produce is excellent. Also the fruit and vegetable stalls that for some reason are sited outside the bus station.

There are bars and tourist shops by the outer harbour. This is also where you book your game fishing trips if you fancy being Ernest Hemingway for a day.

On a sunny day it is really a very pleasant part of town.

On returning to Hocus Pocus we were all very tired and no one needed much persuading to give the yacht club another try. It turned out to be very good indeed. There was some live entertainment in the shape of a four piece band and the food was first rate.

Our table was next to the sunken bar which itself was next to the swimming pool. To be honest the swimming pool seemed superfluous given that the sea was just a step of the decking.

The floodlights under the surface illuminated the many fish swimming around the marina.

Here is a photo of the yacht club in daylight.

our table is just under the conspicuous tower in the photo. Nice eh?