Short Video of Marigot Bay

Staging for a 12 Hour Sail to Bequia

S/V Christa
On a mooring Soufree St Lucia
Caribbean Sea
14’05.1N/60'57.6W

Current situated in the shadow of the famous Pitons. Another beautiful anchorage but surrounded by third world poverty and the bananna mafia. If you double click on the image you can just make out Christa on a mooring ball.

I left Marigot Bay around 10:30am for the short hop south along the St Lucian coast. The winds are NE at 15 to 20 knots, but the size of the island pretty much makes sailing in the wind shadow difficult. It took just over two hours to get all situated on the mooring. I am extremely close to shore with a little village of tin homes, naked kids running through the street, even pigs are foraging along the shore.

So I am ashore now, found an internet cafe to dash off a post to you all and check my email. I've now identified where the Customs and Immigration station is and plan on checking out tomorrow. Next move will be to Bequia, which is about 60 miles south. I'll need to pass between the islands of St Lucia and St Vincent and then St Vincent to Bequia. Generally it is an open ocean tradewind passage with the exception of the wind shadow of St Vincent. For curious folks, I am skipping St Vincent due to its crime rate. So Bequia is supposed to be an awesome little island located in the Grenadines. I look forward to another atmosphere as I have been in St Lucia for awhile now. I've got the itch.

More Later!

Capt Chris

Happy Easter!

S/V Christa
On a mooring Marigot Bay St Lucia
Caribbean Sea
14’05.1N/60'57.6W

Check out my new spot on the planet. Remember you can double click on the photo to expand it out. One of the nice things about this portion of my journey is the distances are easy. Take today for instance. I had the anchor up and stowed by 0 9am and just two hours or so later on was on the mooring in Marigot. Same island but a completely different vibe due to the large Moorings Charter boat fleet based here.
Upon arrival I had the usual interaction with what Tom Larson calls the "banana mafia." The boat boys come racing out to the bay entrance as soon as they see you. They offer all kinds of services and attitude. With the charter fleet based here everything is just about twice as expensive. Charter folks generally pay top dollar for everything. So the boat boy who approached me started to badger me about getting a mooring, telling me it may not be safe to anchor yadda yadda. I am in the mood for a couple days on a mooring so I asked how much. $40 US. I say no way buddy, do I look like a charter boat? On we go and settle on $15 US per night. Then he tries to pull a fast one with the conversion to Eastern Caribbean dollars which is the currency. I tell him, ya know what maybe I will anchor he quickly backs down and says "I not trying to rip you off." And I quickly remind him the original price for the mooring was $40 US. I've just about reached my limit with the boat boys.

So not that I'm taking a turn to negative town. The beauty of the bay is magnificient. Later on today I'll take the dink to the head of the harbor for a snokeling expedition and then wrap things up with the Sunday New York Times I downloaded to my Kindle.

Have a good Easter!

Capt C

Christa's New Anchorage/Sandpiper Departure

Sandpiper and Christa made a short move early this morning. If you click on the Goggle Earth image it will expand and then you can see the new anchoring spot. We are in the inner harbor of the Rodney Bay complex.

Sandpiper and I are heading to breakfast the last time for who now's how long?

More late

Capt Chris

New Video

S/V Christa
S/V Sandpiper 50ft off my bow
Anchored Pigeon Island, Rodney Bay
St Lucia Island
Caribbean Sea
14’05.1N/60'57.6W

Sailing South/iMovie compilation from Christian Allaire on Vimeo.

Sandpiper Renunion!

S/V Christa
Anchored Rodney Bay
St Lucia Island
Caribbean Sea
14’05.1N/60'57.6W

With much fanfare and a surreal bizarre feeling I blasted out in the dingy to meet Tom & Amy from Sandpiper. They rounded the point and through the bino's Sandpiper lines were obvious. Just like old times, it is as if I had just waved goodbye to them. So I shot this picture just as I was making my approach to Sandpiper and of course Tom was doing the exact same thing as me. True Amigos!

So Sandpiper is anchored just in front of Christa. We spent whole day sitting aboard Sandpiper and eating. It was and is wonderful. Right now Tom and I are having some breakfast ashore while Amy takes care of stuff aboard ship. Listening to her new favorite band, "Busy Signal" awaiting our return. After breakfast it will be a beach day for all hands. More later!

Capt Chris

St Lucia

S/V Christa
Anchored Rodney Bay
St Lucia Island
Caribbean Sea
14’05.1N/60'57.6W

Ahoy! I set sail Saturday morning from Dominica after waving goodbye to SV Buxom who set sail for St John. The weather was beautiful and calm. I was able to sail most of the way out of the large bay that makes up Prince Rupert but then got caught in the wind shadow of the large island. I fired the “iron genny” for a couple of hours before I picked up some wind. The wind was slightly south of east that put us on a close reach. The wind direction stayed south of east for the remainder of the 105 mile trip.

After clearing the south coast of Dominica the boat was jamming along between 5 and 6 knots. The current flows strongly between these islands, as trades drive the wind and seas and then is compressed resulting in a westerly set. So I had to sail harder on the wind to try and counter the set. I had dashed behind Martinique by night fall and the wind eased but did not die. So for the 30 mile length of Martinique I had to work the boat to keep us moving. For some reason I was very tired even though I had slept well the night before. So after clearing the south coast of Martinique I was once again in the open sea, I reduced sail to slow down so I could get some sleep. Usually I do just fine staying awake for 24 hours, but not this time. So with the boat speed at 2.5 to 3 knots I was able to sleep off and on for about 4 hours. With a start I awoke with, confused for a moment but then I felt a bit rested. I cracked on more sail and pointed for Rodney Bay.

I arrived around 9am and spent a good while meandering around the bay and then headed into the lagoon looking for Team Sandpiper and a mooring. Thwarted on both counts I headed back out into the Rodney Bay. I had a tough time getting the anchor in and never did get it to bight. The bay is very deep in some spots and then shallows up. The bottom is a sporatic composition of sand, rock and busted up dead coral. It took me several tries to get the boat anchor which is the last thing a sailor wants at the end of a long passage. Right now the anchor sits on its side on top of broken coral on a 10 to 1 scope. So basically the weight of the chain keeps us in position. But should the anchor drag, the hook will drag for ten feet and then hit a lovely sandy spot where it will dig in.

After this exercise I was very tired and passed out for 3 hours. I awoke in the late afternoon and started to secure the boat properly and that is when I heard on CH 16, “SV Christa SV Sandpiper over” and next thing you know I was talking on the radio with Tom. Amazing! They are in a bay just south of Rodney Bay and they will be here tomorrow afternoon. The last time I saw Tom and Amy was in Puerta Vallarta in 2005 where I flew down for a visit while I was still on active duty.

So very excited!

Capt Chris