Bequia to St. Lucia

When we finally departed Bequia, we proceeded north past St. Vincent to St. Lucia. 

 Admiralty Bay, Bequia

We left at first light trying to be as quiet as possible so as not to disturb our neighbors.

St. Vincent

Like many other cruisers, we always give St. Vincent a pass because of security concerns.  The U.S. State Department warns, “Crimes of all types, including violent crime, occurs in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  From time to time, property has been stolen from yachts anchored in the Grenadines.”

St. Vincent Passage

I am not sure what this sailboat was doing for wind, because we were not experiencing much.

St. Vincent Passage with St. Lucia’s Pitons in the background

Most of our day looked like the picture above.  It had to be one of the calmest passages we have experienced.  There were no wind waves to speak of, and very little swell.  Additionally, the current was in our favor, so we made a fast passage.

The island of St. Lucia offers several options for cruisers.  Vieux Fort at the south end is a charter boat base.  The anchorage has experienced boat robberies.  A single handler has his boat broken into, ransacked, and his computer stolen.  The robbers turned on his movie camera and then dropped it on the floor managing to video themselves.  Even with the video, the local authorities were not too interested solving the crime.

Soufriere, St. Lucia

We visited Soufriere and the Pitons on a previous pass (see: blog archive, Migration North dated 12/2/2012).  The city has some interesting older architecture, but seems to have fallen into being a bedroom community for workers for the nearby resorts.

Entering Marigot Bay

One of our favorite stops is Marigot Bay.

Cardea a DeFever 56 RPH

On this stop, we found that our friends Marilyn and Kent had beaten us there.

Marigot is a busy little bay with an active charter boat business and a hotel serving as a vacation destination.  We think we have checked into a resort when we visit Marigot.

Rainforest Hideaway

There are numerous restaurants ringing the bay.  The Rainforest is rated as one of the best in the Caribbean, however it is rather pricey.

RJ’s Restaurant

This time we settled for dinner at RJ’s where Pollie had the jerk chicken and I had the maui maui.

Our next stop on St. Lucia was 9 nm north of Marigot Bay at Rodney Bay Marina where we plugged into “condo mode” for a few days.  Rodney Bay is a modern marina that can handle megayachts up to 250 feet.  It has its only little village with restaurants and various specialty stores.  But, our main reason for stopping was fuel.  Motivator took on 2,070 liters – ouch!

Jambe de Bois Waterside Café

Our favorite café requires a dinghy ride out to Pigeon Island.  The funky little Jambe de Bois serves some great curried lamb.

Unicorn

The highlight of our visit to St. Lucia was the Unicorn.  The Brig Unicorn was built in Finland in 1946.  She was the Black Pearl in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies and was also used in the TV series Roots. 

 “Junior,” the bartender, on the Unicorn

Today she is a bar.  But, more on the Unicorn at a later date as I intend to write an article about her.