St Lucia

So my transatlantic crossing was very different to the boys...

Thankfully I had no engine problems and I never ran out of food or drink. My biggest dilemma was what chick flick to watch courtesy of virgin Atlantic airways. My crossing took nine hours in total and it was one of the most enjoyable transatlantic crossings to date. James' girlfriend Sofie was on the flight with me. On arrival to St Lucia we weren't very well prepared for the unbelievable heat that met us when the plane doors opened. Jeans and black tights were not the attire to be wearing at all. We were both sweating and dying to strip off while waiting to go through immigration and customs. I was slightly worried as the lads had sent a list of things to bring over with me and my mum had given me stuff too which consisted of three sides of smoked salmon and a large fillet of beef. Luckily we didn't get stopped and happily went on our way to finally meet the sailors.

Our taxi ride from the airport to Rodney bay marina was our first experience of "Caribbean time". Jeffrey our taxi man stopped for a beer in his friend's bar (we obviously joined him for one 'cause it'd be rude not to) and stopped a second time to buy his groceries. There's no such thing as rushing.Welcome to the Caribbean!

We met the boys in the marina all who were sun kissed and in flying form. It was so good to see them safe, sound and still all talking to each other. We had pizza and beers over lots of chats and hit the hay early enough because myself and Sofie were exhausted from our travels. We had rented a villa for ten days over Christmas and New year's as rafiki would have been way too cramped with all of us and I think the lads were sick of the sight of her. The villa was fab and luckily had good WiFi so the lads could catch up with Facebook, emails and not forgetting tinder. Our days in Rodney bay mainly consisted of eating far too many calories, lounging and drinking copious amounts of Caribbean beer and rum. Not too far off what most people do over the festive season at home really. Christmas day was brilliant and very different to what we had all experienced before. We had a big old breakie, made the necessary calls to home and then hit the beach with all of us dressed in Christmas t-shirts. Adam looked particularly good with his beard, red t-shirt with buttons and a belt drawn on and matching red shorts! Sadly being a party pooper he wouldn't allow us to powder his beard so he could look like the real deal!

Anyway we all chilled out, had a dip in the crystal clear waters and then visited Marie's shack for one or two of her lethal, I mean local rum punches. Marie must have been about seventy, had probably six teeth in her head and was not scared of waving her rusty machete at anyone she felt needed it. She took a real shining to Andy and would do anything for him. She cooked him special food that none of us would get and between them they struck a deal and we bought all of our Christmas fish from her which included lobster, prawns and blue marlin. In ways she was like Andy's Caribbean granny really. Her shack is right down the very end of the beach and consists of two long benches around it with a few random plastic chairs scattered about the beach. If health and safety were to come to Marie's ,let's just say she'd be shut in two seconds flat. In saying that the food was delish and the rum punch certainly hit the spot. After Marie's we went back to the villa where our chefs Andy and James cooked up a storm on the BBQ and we ate and drank ourselves silly until the wee hours of St Stephen's morning.

Christmas Dinner...

Between us all we decide to go down the coast to soufiere for two nights on the 27th until 29th. It was a lovely sail that only took four hours. Now ,when I say it was a lovely sail I mean the weather was fab and rafiki wasn't bouncing about like a mad yoke, making me nervous. I don't think I've mentioned it but I'm not really a sailor. I'm more the Mrs. Doyle of the boat keeping myself busy making cups of tea for everyone. Soufiere is located beside the Pitons mountains. Its a beautiful little town with typical Caribbean colourful houses and street vendors selling fried or BBQ yummy chicken with hot sauce that would kill a small child. While in Soufiere we parked rafiki on a mooring bouy just off the town. I felt very sailory as this was my first experience of bouy parking. We befriended a local water taxi man Kendal who kept an eye on the boat while we were out and ended up being our chauffeur over next two days. The group had decided that we'd tackle the easier of the pitons and Kendal hooked us up with Abdul a tour guide. We decided it would be best for us to start early and avoid the sweltering heat so we arranged to be picked up at eight am on the 28th. After organising the pitons we decided to hit the town for dinner and one or two beers (if only!). By chance, we happened to be in Soufiere on the last Saturday of the month when the town holds a big jump up fish fry! We said it would be rude not to have a look so off we went. We followed the sound of country & western music (they love country & western here) until we came across the jump up. We were pretty much the only non locals there which was awesome. Everyone was super friendly including the lesbian who I thought was a man while I danced with him, I mean her, until the lads pointed it out to me. The cuisine at the fry included turtle, dolphin and sea snails along with normal fish like conch which we all tried. When in Rome and all that. Obviously the rum was flowing and maybe that's why we tried everything on offer. The night ended at silly o'clock with all of us forgetting about our pick up at eight am for our piton hike.

Needless to say most of us woke with sore heads the next day. Personally I didn't want to climb the piton in the first place but everyone was in so I felt I should. I would have been happy to see the others photos after having a nice day working on my freckles. Off we all went at eight am with Kendal and Abdul, the mute tour guide who was shoeless and there we were nearly kitted out in hiking gear. He must have thought we were some eejits. So the climb began. After about three minutes I thought I was going to collapse but no one was complaining so I kept my worries to myself. As we went on I could see some of the others were struggling. Then after about twenty minutes James complained of chest pain. Being a nurse, I knew this was my only get out so I advised him to turn back and being the caring person I am I'd go with him! Then Sofie being James's girlfriend felt it would be wrong to leave him so she came too. Pete also thought being my boyfriend that he couldn't go on not knowing if I needed help if James became sick so it was safer for him to turn back also. Andy, Damo and Adam continued on. I thought they were mad and the four of us knew that we'd never hear the end of how we bitched out of the pitons. Hungover or not I wouldn't have made it and there is nothing enjoyable about walking up a vertical mountain, you can't even chat because you're concentrating on not dying!

James and his minders chilled out under a palm tree until he felt up to tucking into an overpriced local dish. The real men did the climb and descent in four hours. I have never seen such sweaty and smelly fellas in all my life, their clothes were soaked right through. Far play to them though,it was another great achievement to add to their list.

The three sweaty and smelly fellas at the top of Gros Piton...

View from the top of Gros Piton

Post pitons we all headed to Sugar Beach resort (famous for importing white sand from other islands to form their beach) which was lovely and over priced like most resorts are! The snorkeling was fabulous there. The next day we sailed back to Rodney bay to prepare for the arrival of my best friend Kate and her sister Babs. I'm not sure if the boys were ready for either of them..... Babs was holidaying for ten days and Kate would be joining the crew until she or we decided it was time for her to go. We got back into our Rodney bay routine of chilling, beaching it up and visiting Andy's Caribbean granny's place most days. We introduced Kate and Babs to Liz's famous rotis ( 10 ec) and her yummy banana bread which Andy got for free. I was starting to get suspicious of these older ladies giving Andy free food! What has he been up to?!

New years eve arrived and was spent on the beach for a change and surprisingly we had a BBQ too. We rang in the new year at Marie's shack where St Lucia's best DJ was playing. He was so good he managed to blow up two of his speakers by about ten thirty. We could see the fireworks perfectly from pigeon bay and thankfully no country western was played. The night ended in the early hours of new years day. New years day comprised of getting up at five pm and heading for a delish Indian in the number one Rodney bay restaurant. The service was the best we had experienced in St Lucia so far.

Maries Shack

Over the next few days the crew would reduce from ten to six. Andy was the first to go. I could hardly watch Nacho say good bye to him. He would be a big loss for the lads. Then Sofie left which was tough on her and James. Then last to go was Babs which now meant I was responsible for Kate. God help me. January 7th arrived which was a great day in history for the Connellan's. It was my birthday and I was spoilt rotten. Kate treated me to a pedicure then Pete bought me scuba gear which I loved and couldn't wait to use. We all had lunch with Nacho and the others embarrassed me with a cake and magic candles which don't blow out and make you dizzy while trying your best....

Birthday Girl blowing out her candles

We got the boat ready, said good bye to our ' unbelievable' Spanish friend Nacho. Yet again I nearly cried with him saying adios to the boys. Then we hit the high seas for Kate's first sailing trip that evening ,to head to beautiful Bequai. Let the real adventures begin.

Crewwoman clodagh