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 !

Marigot Harbour

Late afternoon seemed a good time to pop down the coast another five miles or so to Marigot Harbour.

We jumped in the dinghy and left the hustle and bustle of Castries behind.

The winds were light but after we had left the channel and we're heading south down the coast we

pulled out the Genoa and ghosted along at 3 knots or so for an hour and a bit.

We passed the Grand Cul de Sac bay where there is a large oil installation.

As we approached Marigot harbour there were a large number of mast visible in the outer harbour.

Also the " boat boys" were lurking in inflatable boats around the entrance to ' help' us to find a place to anchor or moor. They have gone to the length of putting in their own moorings which mimic the official ones apart from the safety aspect. We avoided falling into the trap of paying for the use of a mooring which could be a piece of string tied to a car axle for all we knew, unfortunately they have put these dodgy moorings in all the best anchoring spots, however Hocus Pocus has a trick up her sleeve for these occasions, she doesn't draw very much, so we anchored in a perfectly ridiculous 2 metres of water. We could risk this as the tidal rise and fall was only about 10 inches. Still grounded at low water though, but it does no harm to the boat.

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Our anchor spot put us just opposite Doolittles Bar and restaurant, so named because this was the very bay that the Great Pink Sea snail made an appearance with Rex Harrison in the famous movie. Doctor Dolittle. Doolittles is spelt with an extra "O" for some reason, possibly copyright.

Even though it has seen some development since it is still very pretty and is what most people's idea of a Caribean anchorage consists of.

As the sun set we took the dinghy and toured the numerous restaurants for dinner, we first tried the " jungle Hideaway.

This has the distinction of being the only restaurant on St Lucia to serve Lionfish, this is becoming a bit of an ecological disaster on the local reefs as it decimates local fish and lobster stocks. It's only predator is man and luckily it tastes good! However the restaurant was fully booked so we had a beer while admiring the fish swimming under our dinghy in and out of the mangroves that the restaurant is built into. We crossed to the other side of the inner bay and found a table at Chateaux Maygo.

We had a very acceptable meal apart from my disappointment at the fact that there was no Red Snapper ( St Lucias national dish ) a double fishy disappointment! Mind you the steak was nice.

Marigot Harbour is a great anchorage if you are well heeled, otherwise it's very pretty but a bit of a honey pot anchorage for which the locals charge you an arm and a leg for everything. The constant distraction of boat boys in dinghys asking if you need anything is a bit wearing. As Lynne and I fly home in a few days we are determined to make the most of it, tomorrow the beach!...

Castries

After a bit of a skittery night at anchor in Rodney Bay, the new anchor was performing well but the wind was gusty and changeable so it was overall a peaceful night with the occasional noisy ten minutes. We had already decided to move a few miles down the coast to the capital of St Lucia, Castries. Our neighbours who had shown some annoyance the day before at our proximity turned out to have 50 metres of chain out as their engine wasn't working. That's a ratio of 10:1 a little OTT in our opinion. I think that they had scoped out extra chain when the wind was stronger and just left it all out. In the two miles of open water in Rodney Bay there were probably 50 boats at anchor. Everyone had plenty of swinging room however, It was true that due to the wind shifts we had fetched up fairly close, but that was understandable once we figured out why she had the swinging circle of a supertanker, bloody French!

The weather was decidedly changeable and one of our main worries was how crowded the small inner harbour of Castries would be, we needn't have worried as it turned out. We had an alternative plan of action in any case. That was to anchor outside the harbour, the Caribean is full of snug anchorages.

We got a good view of Pigeon Island as we left the bay then we headed south past the lush landscape of the north coast, hidden bays and houses in spectacular positions afforded constant interest.

About the only navigational hazard was the rock known as the " barrel of beef ". Fairly easy to avoid really, as was the small cruise liner coming down the narrow channel from Castries.

We travelled along the marked channel after contacting port control and anchored right at the head of the harbour past a giant cruise liner that was docked at the outer quay.

By this time the dark clouds had begun to gather and a bit of rain could be felt.

We dropped anchor and were surprised to find ourselves the only boat at anchor in Castries.

We tidied up and went ashore to find somewhere to eat, it didn't take long to find a little restaurant called Chef Robbys. We had a nice lunch and suitably fortified we set off to explore the town.

Castries is in St Lucian terms, the big city. It certainly feels that way even though in real terms it's a small town, it is busy, noisy, dirty in parts and full of people everywhere. Most selling something from small wooden shacks, some begging, some obviously smoking marijuana, every other shack seemed to be a rum shop or bar, some only a few metres square. We walked into the market and found it was a warren of tiny stalls and colour. Please don't ask me to explain the edifice in the photo below, I have no idea!

Outside the covered section among the fruit and vegetables, the heavens once more were threatening to open. Compared to Rodney Bay this felt a little more like the real Caribean, not really geared towards tourism the people were however still very friendly and welcoming, at one point a large lady ran out of the market to say our friends were looking for us, quite concerned that we had become separated but just at that moment we spotted Dave, she was quite relieved. Dave had been distracted buying some local herbs.

We made our way along the harbour front until the heat and humidity proved too much and we headed back towards the dinghy and Hocus Pocus, recce over we determined to explore further tomorrow.

We were still the only boat at anchor, quite amazing. Dave bumped into the woman from the market who had been so concerned when we became separated, she asked if Dave was off a boat ( the large cruise liner had just left ) yes he said, that one, and pointed out Hocus Pocus " Ah ", she said " Mafia!" 

I am sure Dave reassured her we weren't drug runners......