ARC Done. First Stop - St Lucia

We’ve survived our first week in St Lucia. That may sound dramatic but at times during our first night on land after 21days I feared we may not! We hit it pretty hard in our euphoric state on Sunday night and partied through to Monday morning. The atmosphere in the Marina was fantastic, it was full of other ARC participants who greeted us with warm welcomes, congratulations and stories from their crossings. It was a great night but resulted in Monday being a wipeout. The one productive thing we managed to achieve was booking a rental car which would be picked up the next day… We went back to bed after that.

The long sleep meant we were up and fresh early the following day. We loaded ourselves in to the hire car (Suzuki Mini Van…) and headed out to Pigeon Island. Pigeon island is home to an 18th century fort built by the British to spy on those pesky French based at Martinique. The island is now a National Park with two secluded beaches and a small Caribbean restaurant overlooking Rodney Bay. We paid the small entry fee and wandered in. After making our way across the island, we picked up some fishcakes from the restaurant to take with us to the beach and then made ourselves busy with some lounging, swimming and snorkelling. As the sun was setting in to the bay we made our way back to the car. As we approached, Damo spotted that the shorts he had left on the front seat were now screwed up under the car. While away someone had jammed a screwdriver in to the lock and broken in to the car. Luckily, they had only made away with Damo’s favourite belt (A leather, gold and silver plaited number…) and a few EC dollars. We were more frustrated that we’d made such a silly mistake and now had to report it to what would be a very disinterested local police force for the hire car insurance… We made our way towards the town in search of the Police station and came across a lady in full police uniform, we stopped to ask for directions and she told the boys in the back to move over and jumped in. While chatting on our way to the station she told us that she used to live in Stratford and went to school in Lewisham. Can’t think what made her come back to St Lucia. Damo pulled the car in to the car park and headed in to the station, the rest of us waited in the car. An hour and a half later Damo was done filling in forms which would never be seen or read again and we were heading back to the Marina. The following morning we reported the damage to the hire company and they greeted the news with no surprise and promised to get it fixed up as soon as they could (Caribbean style). As we’d already made plans for another day trip in the car, they allowed us to keep hold of the keys and they’d fix it the day after.

So, another early morning and another day out. Today we were heading for what the guide book listed as two of the best beaches on the Island, just north of Soufriere. It was a long drive which took us twisting and turning up and down the islands steep and at times treacherous roads. We were amazed the Suzuiki survived the drive! It was screaming at us to stop at times as we climbed what seemed like endless hills which stretched to the sky. Shortly before reaching Soufriere we decided to give the car a break and pulled up outside a hilltop restaurant at the side of the road. We sat and ate some bbq’d jerk chicken and fish with the most incredible view of the Pitons and Soufriere. Amazing food and view - all for just $15EC (about 4GBP!). We finished up and jumped back in the car to make our way to the beach and the biggest test for the car yet… As we reached Soufriere we had to turn north on what looked like a section of road taken from the World Rally Championship. It was steep, banked, potholed and just simply non-existent in places, but the Suzuki mini van marched on and delivered us to Anse Chastenet which was a beautiful palm tree lined beach which was only occupied by a few guests from the beachside resort. A shady spot was found and the lounging, swimming and snorkelling commenced. After tiring of swimming we discussed the idea of walking along the coast to the next beach, Anse Mamin. A short 10minute walk later we were on another idyllic beach and were heading straight for the beach bar. We tucked in to more Caribbean Jerk Chicken and Roti’s and then found ourselves a spot on the beach to relax in. The drive back to Rodney Bay seemed to take longer than the drive down and somehow seemed even more dangerous in places! We were glad to see the Marina and be back on Rafiki.

Not a bad view of the Pitons for lunch

The car was taken away to be repaired the following day so we took the opportunity to tidy Rafiki and complete a few jobs. The next day we were back in our minivan though and heading out. After another long and adventurous drive we arrived in Dennery, which is located on the Atlantic coast of the island and is a laid back fishing town which felt far less intimidating than some of the other towns we had been through. After touring the town we made our way inland to the waterfall made famous by Superman! After a drive and a walk through the jungle, we crossed a small stream and found the waterfall tucked away. To say it was disappointing would be an understatement (I was expecting Niagara and got a very high garden water feature) but we’d enjoyed the walk and the scenery was impressive. We headed back to the car and set off in search of some more roadside eating. We were keen to get back to the Marina in good time as we were heading to the Gros Islet Jump Up that evening so we finished up and set off. The Jump Up is a street party which occurs in most towns around the island every Friday night. Locals line the street to sell food from their stalls and booze from their bars and the organisers set up hug speakers on street corners. Tourists are told to get there early, have a bite to eat, soak up the atmosphere and get out before things get out of hand. Having already made one naieve tourist mistake that week, we weren’t prepared to make another so we followed that advice! The food was good and the banter from the locals was great. Sadly the streets were full of tourists so although the atmosphere was good it didn’t seem authentic. We ploughed in to the local booze though and were having a good time, as we were leaving it seemed the party was getting going and a few of us didn’t want to leave it. Next week we’re heading to the Anse La Raye jump up and hope to be able to stay a little longer. The end to our jump up wasn’t the end to our night though - we went on to a few local bars with some of the other ARC participants we’d met and partied through to 0830 Saturday morning! We saw the sun rise while sitting on the back of Rafiki and then, exhausted, headed to bed.

Gros Islet Jump Up

The epic night, meant that Saturday was spent sleeping. Nothing else. Sunday, we made amends by getting up early and taking the dinghy round to the beach. We set ourselves up in the sun and started the lounging, swimming and snorkelling (we’re getting quite good at it now…). We’d been told about a fantastic fish shack at the end of the beach run by a large, toothless local woman. Cofone and Holland lead the charge and wandered down for a few beers and some of Marie’s fish. Damo followed shortly after and after an hour or so I became worried that they were having too much fun and I was missing out… I took off down the beach to see what was going on. I arrived to discover Cofone and Holland, drunk on rum punch and tucking in to some fantastic grilled fish and local veggies. Holland was busy tormenting Damo with the fish eye he’d plucked from his lunch (Damo doesn’t like food that looks back at him) and was full of praise for Marie - the large toothless woman he was now in love with! After a few more beers we wandered back down the beach to our lounging spot to see out the sunset.

Maries Shack

Sunset at Reduit Beach

The following day was a repeat of the last, beach, sun, swimming, marie’s grilled fish and more beers. We threw in a chicken Roti or too bought from Shirley on the beach (Shirley won the award for the best Roti in St Lucia, she tells us!). That night we headed out for a few beers in Rodney Bay - It would be the last boys night out as the girls were arriving the next day! Sadly, as it was the Monday evening before Christmas everyone appeared to stay in… Still we had a nice dinner and a few beers. In protest to the portion size of his starter and goat curry main, Pete ordered Jerk Chicken for desert!

Clodagh and Sofie arrive in the afternoon today (Tuesday 23rd) so today will be spent cleaning, finishing jobs and shopping for supplies to take in to the Villa we have booked for Christmas and New Years Eve! Our next blog should be filled with stories of christmas glee and NYE debauchery…

Merry Christmas all xx

Couch

P.S. We also met a man called Kent. He fixed our engine! We also have a full gas bottle too!!