St Lucia

St Lucia is a teardrop-shaped island, roughly 43.4km in length and 22.5km in width. The island’s interior is largely mountainous, with deep valleys, many of which are planted with bananas and coconuts. The southern part of the island has the best-known geological features: the twin volcanic cones of the Pitons, which rise up some 762m from the shoreline, and the hot, bubbling Sulphur Springs, just inland from the town of Soufriere. Despite this little show of geological activity, there hasn’t been a volcanic eruption on St Lucia since 1766. It is a charming rural island with authentic fishing villages and typical West Indian towns where life has changed little for half a century. Approximately 85% of all islanders are of pure African ancestry. Another 10% are a mixture of African, British, French and East Indian ancestry while about 4% are of pure East Indian or European descent.

We arrived early afternoon on Saturday 6 June and anchored in Rodney Bay, a bay on the North-West corner of the island. Rodney Bay is over a mile long and consists of a beautiful white sandy beach lined with upmarket tourist resorts and the St Lucia Yacht Club. Rodney Bay Lagoon which is accessible from Rodney Bay is a large and completely protected inner lagoon containing a recently renovated marina with slips that now cater for large white boats. The marina village services the yacht community well with Customs and Immigration being located there, bars, restaurants, a swimming pool, grocery store, chic clothes and souvenir shops, and a marine shop. The area of Rodney Bay is now catering for the tourist trade and one will find the famous Hooters Bar, an American franchise bar and restaurant, pizza restaurants, a reasonable size shopping mall containing an excellent supermarket and another large shopping mall under construction.

In strange contrast to this, is an area at the entrance of Rodney Lagoon designated to the local fishing community. There, brightly coloured fishing boats are hauled up on a landing and sheds provide storage and a meeting area for the local fisherman.


During our first afternoon while on board, we were approached by a local selling fruit or anything else that he thought we might need. We declined, but found his dingy interesting.


Moored in the marina and used for daily tourist cruises, was this wonderful square rigger, which was used as a prop in the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean”.


Our stay in St Lucia lasted two and a half days during which we saw as much of the island that we could. St Lucia is another island where we will spend more time exploring and enjoying next year.

A number of cruisers who we met in Martinique and who were travelling south arrived in Rodney Bay while we were there. Saturday afternoon and Sunday was spent exploring the area; Sunday Evening we joined friends for drinks at one of the Marina bars and Monday, we hired a car with another couple, Adrian (English) and Leslie (American) and toured the west coast of the island.

Some of the highlights were:
A stroll through the markets in Castries, the capital of St Lucia, was filled with colour, sound and smell. Local Store holders with weathered faces in the bustling market haggled prices with their customers. The streets were busy with traffic and people. Castries provided a visceral experience that rings of real St Lucian Life.


Following the coastline south, we drove high over mountainous ridges which led in turn to beautiful bays. The rain forest was thick, green and lush and reminded Mal of the Daintree forest in Queensland, Australia. The view of each bay as we turned on the crest of the ridge to drive down was spectacular. The fishing villages were simple villages lined with colourful shacks and beaches covered in long narrow fishing boats. Then in stark contrast, Marigot Bay had been developed and is lined with new small marinas, shopping villages and luxurious accommodation.

We visited the Diamond Botanical Gardens, where paths wind through gardens planted with tropical flowers and trees, including a large number of heliconia and ginger specimens, fruit and spice trees. Mal and I identified and named many of the plants as they are tropical plants also found in Australia. At the back of the gardens, a small waterfall drops down a rock face that is stained a rich orange from the warm mineral waters. The waterfall featured briefly in the movie Superman II as the site from where Superman plucked an orchid for Lois Lane. Mineral Baths which date back to1784 were built atop the hot springs. They were largely destroyed during the French Revolution but in recent times a few have been restored.
With a barren and somewhat moonscapish terrain, the Sulphur Springs are pocked with pools of boiling mud and steaming vents. The vents release great quantities of sulphuric gases, which are responsible for the yellow mineral deposits blanketing the area. The putrid smell, resembling rotten eggs is hydrogen sulphide.
Visitors used to walk up close to the vents and peer directly into the mud ponds until a local guide leading a group of German tourists stepped through the soft earth and plunged waist-deep into the boiling mud. He lived to tell the story, but everything is now viewed from the safety of viewing platforms.

This is a view of one of the twin volcanic cones of the Pitons, which rise up some 762m from the shoreline.

On Tuesday morning, 9th June, we pulled up anchor and sailed to Wallilabou Bay, St Vincent. Winds were E/SE at 20 knots and our speed reached 10 knots and more. Mal said that it was the best sail that we have had yet!

Martinique

Martinique is volcanic in origin, topped by the 1,397m active volcano, Mount Pelee, which last erupted in 1902, gaining an infamous place in history by wiping out the capital city of St-Pierre. Today, the ruins of St-Pierre are Martinique’s foremost tourist sight.

80% of the islands’ visitors hail from France and all locals speak French or Creole. They say that Martinique could easily be mistaken for a provincial region of France and is home to a fascinating and dynamic Caribbean society, with a distinct culture and a long history of resistance to French authority.
We arrived at St-Pierre, midday, Saturday 30 May, but as it was the weekend and everything was closed, we decided to motor on to Fort-de-France, the capital of Martinique.

Fort-de-France is a busy city, the largest in the French West Indies. Most of the island’s other large towns are modern and suburban, linked to the capital by multilane highways and fast-moving traffic. Nevertheless, nearly a third of Martinique is forested. Other parts are given over to pineapples, bananas and sugarcane fields.

We were surprised on our arrival as to the size of the bay and the city and suburbs surrounding it. Fort-de-France looked to be a beautiful city and we agreed that we would look forward to exploring it. As everything, including customs, was closed for the weekend, we remained on the boat until Monday, only to find out that it was a public holiday. We found a grocery store which was open, purchased a few supplies and returned to Hasta La Vista.

View of Fort-de-France, Martinique, from Hasta La Vista.

A beautiful sunset, Fort-de-France, Martinique.

As the next day was a normal working day, we cleared in and explored the narrow busy streets of the area immediately in front of the harbour. The streets were lined with a mixture of ordinary offices, bargain-basement shops and crumbling early-20th-century buildings with wrought iron balconies. We discovered the spice market, filled with colourful stalls piled high with herbs, spices and local flowers as well as a huge range of souvenirs. Further along, was a farmer’s market offering island grown fruits and vegetables, drinking coconuts and cut flowers.

On returning to Hasta La Vista around Midday, we found that the anchorage was not a good one as there was a large swell and ferries passed continuously. We pulled up anchor and motor sailed south for Marin on the south coast of Martinique.

On the way, we passed Rocher du Diamant (Diamond Rock), a giant offsure monolith, which is centred around a great story in history.


This 176m high rock is a volcanic islet just off the south-western tip of Martinique. It was once home to 120 British sailors who, for 17 months in 1804-05 used it to harass French vessels trying to navigate the passage. Having registered the rock as a fighting ship, the unsinkable HMS Diamond Rock, the British Royal Navy was finally outwitted when French Admiral Villaret de Joyeuse allegedly cut loose a skiff loaded with rum in the direction of Diamond Rock, and as the isolated British sailors swilled down the prize, the French forces retook the island. Even today, British sailors salute the island when passing.

Four hours after leaving Fort de France, we were anchored in Cul-de-Sac du Marin on the southern tip of Martinique. Cul-de-Sac du Marin is a large deeply indented bay, surrounded by hills and lined with mangroves with Marin, the township, situated along its shores. We were surprised at the number of yachts anchored. We would guess at a couple of hundred. There is a large marina from which seven charter yacht companies operate and a large haulout facility further around the bay.

Three days were spent exploring the streets and discovering the supermarket to check out the meat and vegetable supplies, as we always do on arriving to a new island. I desperately needed a cut and colour and spent one afternoon in a lovely little salon whose hairdresser spoke no English. We both fumbled our way through the language barrier and I was happy with the result.

Mal enjoyed relaxing in the cockpit of Hasta La Vista watching the many yachts either leaving or entering the Harbour and late afternoons were spent in the water side marina bar and restaurant meeting other cruisers, talking about our experiences and discussing future plans.

We agreed that Martinique would be an island where we would spend more time next year. On Saturday 6 June, we motor sailed to the northern end of St Lucia and anchored at Rodney Bay.