There is a superyacht called St. David in the Rodney Bay marina. They are filming “Below Deck” on this superyacht. There was a videographer shooting B role of boats going into the channel. Who knows, our boat may show up in the background of one of their episodes.
Many of the bays that we have visited have local vendors who stop by the boat to sell souvenirs, bread, or fruits and vegetables. This is a picture of Gregory’s boat, which visited us several times in Rodney Bay as well as in the marina. His boat is more colorful than most.
In Rodney Bay we like to anchor off of Pigeon Island. Pigeon Island is a park which contains an old British fort. It has many walking trails on it, a beach, and snorkeling. When anchored there, we get into a routine whereby we walk on the trails and up to the lookouts in the mornings. It is really important to us to get off of our boat, and onto land, to exercise and stretch our legs. There are a couple of different restaurants onsite or just outside of the gate and one day we met friends for lunch.
Marigot Bay is probably the calmest bay that we have ever stayed in. It is no wonder that it is used as a hurricane hole. We ended up staying on the marina’s mooring ball, which was about thirty feet from the dock. We went to the lovely pool one afternoon to cool off since there wasn’t much wind throughout the bay. And, we went to the Hurricane Hole restaurant to watch part of the Super Bowl. It just wasn’t the same watching the game without our home team or TB12 playing in it.
We also took a nice walk to the ridge that overlooked the bay. Part of it was quite steep and we had to hold onto ropes to ensure that we didn’t fall.
Here is a fun fact about Marigot Bay. The movie, Dr. Doolittle, was filmed here. So, every day tour boats sailed into the bay to look around. Someone even had a drone flying above us, though I’m sure they were more interested in looking at the super yachts.
After two nights, we decided to head back up to Rodney Bay.
After three nights, we left the beautiful Pitons and sailed north to Marigot Bay, St. Lucia. The bay is cute, with palm trees, mangroves, and several restaurants. We are tied up to a mooring ball and have access to all amenities in the marina, including their beautiful pool, spa, and internet. We are going to spend three nights here before heading north to Rodney Bay.
We’re currently staying at Soufriere Bay in the southern part of St. Lucia. I’m sure there will be many pics later of the beautiful scenery, so I’ll just tell a quick story instead.
I was sitting at the inside table last night watching a movie on my laptop with the sliding glass door to the back open, so the breeze would flow through. It was after dark, which means that you can’t really see anything beyond the confines of the boat.
About 8pm, I hear a little noise right off the back of the boat and then someone says something like “excuse me.” I’m really not a fan of having someone (or something) sneak up on me in the dark in a new location that I’m unfamiliar with, so I hesitantly stand up and walk to the rear. I see the outline of a dinghy and the faint whir of an electric outboard engine and then I see a guy. I tentatively say “hi”, he says “hi”, and I say something like “how are you”?
He says fine and would I be able to trade a package of cigarettes for a bottle of wine. A million thoughts go through my head, like, what type of wine? Is this a fair trade? And, what the hell are you doing sneaking up on someone in the still of the night and assuming bartering is an acceptable activity?
Anyways, I mumble that I don’t have either cigarettes or wine (not really true, but I wasn’t going to part with my prized 3 liter box of wine that easily).
He kind of mumbled something in response and then closed with “OK, have a good sober evening!” Classic.
Oh, yea, star fruit. Fantastically delicious. Like a cross between an orange and a mango.
After a 12 hour sail, we decided to anchor in Rodney Bay, outside of the marina. We planned to enter the marina the next morning when we were not so tired. That enabled us to leisurely prepare the boat to dock. (We need to prepare the ropes and put out the fenders before tying up to a dock.)
We have anchored in Rodney Bay before. Our favorite place to anchor is near the Sandals Resort. It is a relatively safe anchorage and we are usually lucky enough to hear steel drum music throughout the day.
After Bequia, we sailed to St. Lucia. It was a 12-hour sail, much with the motor and sails up. We were lucky enough to see dolphins frolicking about the boat between Bequia and St. Vincent.
As we were sailing north along the coast of St. Lucia, we passed Castries, which is where the freights unload their goods. It is also where cruise ships dock. We encountered two freighters and two cruise ships. We were watching vigilantly, as we needed to give these large ships a wide berth as we passed.
The cruise ship in the picture is the Norwegian Cruise Line’s ship called “Epic.” It was huge! You can also see one of the freighters in the picture. Another cruise ship was still in at the dock when we passed.
After Chatham Bay on Union Island, it was time for us to head to Bequia. We had heard a lot of great things about Bequia and were looking forward to exploring the island. We ended up anchoring off of Princess Margaret Beach in Admiralty Bay, and it turned out to be a lovely anchorage.
Bequia has a main town at the head of Admiralty Bay which is lined with restaurants, food stands, and souvenir stalls/shops. There were a couple of grocery stores as well as other yacht services such as chandleries (boat supply stores), propane refill services, garbage disposal, etc. Boats also drive around the bay asking if yachters need services like laundry (free pick up and delivery), water, diesel, banana bread, and lobsters. This town was set up to welcome yachters and made the anchorage quite pleasant.
The water where we anchored in Admiralty Bay was fairly calm and clear. And, the water along the shore was even calmer and clearer. One day I took the stand up paddleboard to Princess Margaret Beach and simply luxuriated in the calming water.
There was also some good snorkeling on the side of Princess Margaret Beach. I believe Steve posted a video from that adventure.
Town of Admiralty Bay, Bequia
Fishermen are seen throughout Chatham Bay during the evenings. They work in groups of two boats, where men throw out the nets. They also have at least one person in the water “spotting” for the fish. It was interesting to watch.
