Life on the Avenue: St Lucia

Tuesday, 20 November 2018

On the high seas of the Caribbean! Martinique, St Vincent, Bequia and more......

As you can probably see I haven't blogged in a little while. This was because I was on a sailing trip around the Windward Isles. It was an amazing holiday - a trip of a lifetime in someways.

Here's a few pics and a general report about the trip.

We left Ireland and flew to Martinique through Paris and arrived at the boat dock late in the evening. The boat was handed over to us and we were instructed to check in at the office the next morning and get sorted for taking her off to the islands.

For the first time, we had arranged a company to provision the boat before we arrived. This is a must and I would never go back to provisioning ourselves. It saves so much time - probably a few hours in total by the time you go to the shop, buy everything, load in to a taxi and then carry it all on to the boat.

Some of the spots we visited:

Soufriere, St Lucia
Keartons Bay, St Vincent
Bequia
Mustique
Mayreau, Grenadines
Union Island
Tobago Cay
Bequia Island
Cumberland Bay, St Vincent
Marigot Bay, St Lucia

Highlights of the trip:

Swimming with turtles in Tobago Cay
Seeing starfish on the sea bottom
Dolphins swimming alongside the boat
Bathing in a waterfall on Keartons Bay
Lobster dinner being delivered to our boat by canoe on Mayreau
Visit to Moonhole
Bequia
Taxi tour of Mustique Island
Cold strong drink once we were safely docked
Rum punch on arrival at Rock Side Cafe, Keartons Bay
Renting a speed boat for our last morning in Martinique
BBQ in Mustique in local hangout "The View"
Nautical gingerbread fronting in Bequia
View of the Pitons
Lobster pizza in Macs on Bequia
Tasting sugar apple
Arriving safely at port
Fresh Mahi-Mahi and Tuna for dinner

As you sail around the region, you will be visiting different countries when you land on certain islands. This means that you need to check in and out of customs and immigration or if you dock in a bay but don't set foot on land, you will need to raise a yellow flag to show that you are transiting. Getting through customs takes a little organisation as most of these offices work general hours - on one occasion our Captain and a crew member had to rush down to customs, passports in hand, the minute the boat was docked. Luckily they made it in time before the office closed!

Some of the places we ate at:

Frangipani in Bequia
Rock Side Cafe, St Vincent
Maria's Cafe, Bequia
Zanzibar in Le Marin, Martinique
Mac's Pizza, Bequia
Basil's Bar, Mustique
The View, Mustique (known as Lisa's by locals)
Le Petit Peak, Soufriere in St Lucia
Hurricane Hole, Marigot Bay, St Lucia
Doolittles, Marigot Bay, St Lucia

Swimming in a waterfall was like a dream come through. What a great experience and then I washed and conditioned my hair and made it sooo soft!

Hanging out on the ropes! I think this was the only time that I wore a jacket. It was chilly for probably 1 minute :-)

Look at this!

Obligatory provisions - Vodka and Gin!

A note about safety. We took usual precautions of not carrying large amounts of cash, leaving jewellery at home in Ireland and bringing phones and passports on to land with us when we left the boat. Overall we felt very safe even in places that we were advised were a little unsafe.