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Voyageur - Log day 278 - Landfall in St Lucia



13 April 2011

Oh me oh my! Last night we had rain, thundering, torrential, tropical rain. They are having wonderful weather back home in the UK. What on earth is going on with the weather here? The latest theory put forward is that it is a tropical wave, but as we have heard on so many occasions now "it is not normally like this"! Last night I could not sleep for the sound of the hammering rain on our coach roof. Normally it is the cacophony of sound from the wind that keeps me awake.

We slipped our mooring line from Young Island at 6am on the dot. Ah, my skipper is a stickler for time keeping is he not! We have 55nm to go and who knows what we are in for. We set off in a complete calm, moderate to poor visibility and under engine. We plod our way north up the west coast of the island which still looks spectacularly beautiful in the mist and rain. We glide past lush green slopes that plunge down into the sea, towering peaks rising high in the islands epicentre. Waterfalls come cascading down. Could be a Scottish island like Skye. We plug on into worsening conditions.The weather is quite simply atrocious. Thirty knot headwinds, driving rain and a two knot counter current to boot! We sit huddled in the cockpit wondering why we are doing this. It is another yet endurance test as if we need one. But tomorrow is the start of the World ARC programme for St. Lucia and we must be there in time for the parties!

At times we were only making two knots of boat speed. Level with the top of the island we set a reefed main and genoa and are sailing at last albeit hard on the wind. Now clear of the northern tip, we are feeling the effects of the Atlantic swell. Voyageur handles it with consummate ease. We pass through a huge slick of floating debris in the water, mostly tree logs. We are not too worried. If were motoring we would be a little concerned for the prop, but in the Amel it is set well down in the keel. We also know her hull is immensely strong and we have two watertight bulkheads fore and aft. If we do come into contact with anything it should be no more than a mere glance off her hull.
 
Just after 10am we could see the outline of St. Lucia, the two distinctive peaks of the Deux Pitons emerging through the mist and the rain. Halfway across between the islands, a tiny patch of blue sky comes peeping through the mass of thick cloud cover. The sun came out, briefly. I reached for my sunglasses for the first time in three days. At last we gather speed as we start to pick up a two knot favourable current and were are now cracking along at nearly 8knots. Voyageur knows she is on the home straight back to where it all started fifteen months ago, back to St Lucia and oh my goodness she has been superb. So reliable, so seaworthy and so strong, a real workhorse of a boat if ever there was one.

We enter the tiny harbour of Marigot Bay. You could almost miss it, it is such a narrow entrance. A boat boy is waiting to take our long line, Paul and Suzana there once more to meet and greet us on the dock. We hear the hotel is hosting a drinks and canapé party, completely unexpected but nonetheless welcome. I have just enough time for a quick shower and change. Bob and Melinda, the marina managers here for the last ten years, made us very welcome and we are looking forward to their other planned World ARC events here over the next coming days.

A water taxi ferried us across the lagoon to a restaurant where we had a great meal, all nouvelle cuisine but with a new price too and a very high one at that. John had the best steak he had had in a long time. We are now just 10nm short of our starting out point of Rodney Bay Marina where we waved goodbye to David's brother Erick and his partner Lorraine from the dock. Suddenly I am homesick for home. But, there is no need. We are nearly there. This time next week we will be home.....

We are presented with a flyer which announces in HUGE LETTERS, PARADE OF SAIL. It reads like this:- 'Last year the World Arc 2010-2011 started on the 6th January from Rodney Bay Marina, Saint Lucia to go round the world'..... Can it really be last year? Have we really gone around the world? Suddenly the time evaporates away and it seems like no time at all.....

Susan Mackay


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