LAST DAY IN RODNEY BAY

One of the highlights of being in Rodney Bay has been seeing the ARC boats come in. Now that most of them are in it's interesting to see what happens around the marina. Some of them have decorated their boats for the

holidays, dragged out the ripped sails and broken equipment as they lined up in Island Water World, the chandlery here, to order new. There are a whole slew of events planned for ARC participants including bringing in the schooner used in filming Pirates of the Caribbean, a Pan Band competition

and today, our neighbor in the anchorage, Chris Doyle, spoke about places to visit in the Caribbean. Chris Doyle, to all you non-sailors, is a well known author of numerous sailing guides to the Caribbean. As for what the ARC boats are most involved in once they have successfully crossed the Atlantic and arrived in party central.....I'm sure you guessed, LAUNDRY

and lengthy showers. John walked by the showers as a couple met outside just in time to hear their remarks of, '' boy that was good''. Sparkle Laundry is booked out a couple days and not answering calls over the VHF.

Sunday was the day we saw J24s racing in the bay crewed by kids from the ARC.

Gros Islet Walk

Our last day in Rodney Bay was spent touring Gros Islet. It was windy and a bit on the cooler side so we knew the heat of the day would be comfortable. So after depositing our Mighty Dingy dockside we walked a quarter of a mile from the modern mall style built especially for the cruisers coming in to the more real setting reflective of island life in Gros Islet.

We passed a number of homes that covered a broad range from the tiny little compact home along the main road to a group that were very brightly decorated with paint and tiles.

Overall we thought it was much nicer than Castries was. There was little litter, yards were swept, people were friendly and organic lawn mowers were apparent

along with the ever present chickens.

After a walk that took us past a Catholic Church with Joseph, the worker, painted behind the altar. The church was HUGE,

well maintained and is the choir we've heard on Sundays is any measure, well attended. The waterfront found some fishermen cleaning some fish

and drying their nets. A bit farther down the road John found his way into a Rum Shop where he was able to get some good news about friends he'd met on a previous visit to St. Lucia. A couple of older Rastas who had run a restaurant were both alive, one it was rumored had died, so a bit of good news in the end. Unfortunately they had moved elsewhere.

Lunch time? We found our way to a Rastafarian Restaurant,

Seven Stitches,

for lunch. Ital Food (Rastafarian food is vegan and fresh) was about the safest thing around for us to eat. So we settled in to our chosen meals sitting at a picnic table outside the restaurant as we watched the entertainment across the street. John had a bowl of ''bouillon '', a very thick soup with vegetables and dumplings, and Jan had something that was very good and shall go unnamed-because I forgot! The part I didn't forget was the dark chocolate roll I had that morning......and as you can see John went looking for one

after finishing his soup, but even begging didn't help him!!
Now for the entertainment that was right before our eyes, on the other side of the street. Jan amused herself trying to capture the attitude our neighborhood rooster

was trying to convey to the ladies.

John noticed the contrast of women doing laundry by hand in plastic drums outdoors

while another woman worked on a computer.











MARTINIQUE BOUND ON WEDNESDAY. Cul de Sac du Marin if we get a good slant but we might just finish in Grande Anse D'Arlet. We need to be somewhere with a good internet connection by Friday as Jan has a phone interview that day.