Escape from St Thomas and a home for the summer.
Been a while. Sorry. WiFi not so hot in most of the places we were at. Back home now so I will update.
Joined by the usual suspects, Merc and Bob, we left St Thomas bound for Les Saints. A small group of islands just off of Guadeloupe. And proceeded to get our brains bashed in for the next 48 hours. 30 knots on the nose a 3-6 foot seas. What a bash. No sleep for a couple of days on that one. What fun!
But WOW! Les Saints is incredible. Idilic little french town. Very few cars. All bikes and scooters. Locals were very friendly and there was about zippo english spoken there. Also no locks. Not on the bikes, the scooters, dingies for the most part. I felt like a crud for locking up my dingy. Like I didn't trust anyone. The stores close from noon till about 1:30. But close is kind of a miss-statement. They just leave. The store is open. All the stuff is out. Just no body to take the money. Everyone just goes out and has lunch and visits. This place is WAY CHILL. Absolutely loved it there.
Off season. Cuts down on the crowds. A lot. Lounge chair at the pool? No prob man!
Beautiful little town. Loved it. Going back for sure. I could spend a month there.
Only one problem. We kept getting these drinks that tasted like gasoline. I mean awful stuff. Same bad taste no matter what you ordered. Then finally figured it out. They don't have Rum drinks. They drink Rhum. And they drink it like water. Horrible stuff. 100 proof. And they sell it by the case in the grocery. Stuff will knock you on your butt. Local moonshine really. Made in Guadeloupe. Use with extreme caution.
Scooters everywhere.
So here is how chill this place is. This was a demolition and construction permit that was posted on a gate and a construction site. Just a hand written note. Try that one out in your home town. What a cool vibe.
This was a pretty cool house we went by on the way to the beach. Which was also very cool. Am I using the word cool to much? Its just that this place is SO COOL!!!
OK. Yes. I am a dork. We dingied over to an adjacent island to snorkel and found this swing on the beach. Pretty nice snorkeling as well. Saw some marine life we had never seen before. And I kind of thought I had seen it all.
And she is a dork, too.
So we are exploring this little island. There is a very rugged old beat up cement dock there and a hurricane destroyed old hotel. And, as it turns out, one resident. This french guy comes down the path wearing his best, go to church meeting, banana hammock, carrying these ceramic masks. Sells them I guess. To who? Don't know. Must be maybe 11 people a year stop by.
This is where he lives. He hung up the masks and went back up the hill. No idea what the inside looks like. We just kind of looked at each other and said hmmm. How about that.
Someones pride and joy at one time. A little rough now. No idea how long it had been there. Very typical of the local, hand built, wooden skiffs.
Dawn and Merc were on a mission. Find a place for dinner where we can get an explanation of the menu in english. Bertrand, the owner spoke quite good english and they served up a dinner that gets about eleven stars on a scale on one to five. It was spectacular. Had a blast. And a nice buzz.
Then, unfortunately, it was time to move on. We were bound for St Lucia where Vivo would spend the summer in a marina in Rodney Bay. And got our brains beat in again. This whole season it seems wherever we want to go is up wind and into the seas. 24 hour bash. No sleep. But didn't break anything and got there.
So we go to do the island tour. Not really a whole lot to see on St Lucia. Very nice people though. Here we are in the caldera of an active volcano. Sulfur fumes, bubbling pools of 350 degree water, the works. To bad Paige was not with us. I can just hear her now....... oh great..... another pool of boiling water.
This is a well spring of 100 degree water. Is it just me or does this make you have to P?
This entire creek was 100 degree water. It looks so cool and refreshing and then you stick your hand in it. The whole area is a geo thermal hot spot. I hope it never goes the way of Monserrat. Their volcano erupted and about destroyed the whole island.
So then we get to the famous mud baths. I had never heard of them and was really not expecting it. They say they are better than the ones in Turkey or Israel. But I had never heard of those either. I guess I'm just not in the mud bath crowd. So the volcano boils up the mud in the 350 degree pools and spills it down hill where it cool to about 100 degrees. Which is still frigging hot. When you put your foot into this pool here you instinctively recoil. Its that hot.
They say that every mud bath treatment will take 10 years off your age. And if you stay to long you will turn into a "Bay-Be". Diapers and all. I think Bob was close to that stage anyway. So we got muddy! Kind of weird and fun at the same time.
Joke was on us though. This S%$T does not really come off. Your left with this film of mud for days. It was in the showers on Vivo. The beach towels were trashed. Dawn still had it on her when she went home. I think I might still have some in a crack or two somewhere.
Check out these babes!
This adventure is all about the places you see and the people you meet. Seen some beautiful places and met some interesting people. To say the least.
So anyway...... meet the Garner family. From Green Bay Wisconsin. In Vivos dingy to go grocery shopping at the next bay over from the marina. This is in St Lucia.
Hmmmm you think. Not the typical family from Green Bay Wisconsin.
So heres the story. Grab a bevy. Its a long one. This 50 foot cat called One World pulls into Les Saints a day or two after us. Kids all over the place. More activity on that boat than the rest of the anchorage combined. By chance met the parents at the dingy dock that evening and they came over for a drink. They are on a three year circumnavigation of the globe with their 4 kids. Three adopted and one biological. The adopted are from Vietnam, India and Ethiopia. They left the next day for Dominica and we never expected to run into them again. Anyway, fast forward, now I'm in St Lucia, Dawn, Merc, and Bob head back to Chicago and I stay to put the boat to bed. That evening who comes passing by my slip? One World. Went to dinner with them that evening at a local restaurant. Had a lot of fun and got to know them and the kids a bit. Next day we took our dingy to the grocery and the local food court for lunch. I am guessing that by now both have recovered from the visit. These kids are a whirlwind. I bet they still talk about it there in St Lucia though.
So, you may know that I like to post about food. So here is one. When we were grocery shopping the kids were scheming up a way to make candy sushi. Make a rice crispy treat, but a gummy bear on it, and wrap it in a fruit roll up. Good plan. Very creative. Would have worked out fine except for the lack of gummy bears and fruit roll ups. So they adapt the plan, like good sailors, and call for a dipping into melted chocolate. I say its going to look like poop. So later that evening the two girls deliver a sampling to Vivo of their creation. Why, that doesn't look like poop at all does it. They were very proud of it. It was, and remains, one of the nicest things I have ever been given on board Vivo.
They invited me to join them on a sail down island to go to a little fishing village that they knew of that held a Caribbean style fish fry every friday night. They were heading to Grenada and this was a stop along the way. They shut down the whole town for this every friday event. Had a blast. We were the only boat in the anchorage and when we came in in the dingy it seemed like about 1/2 the town came out on the dock to greet us. They are 98% friendly and 2% Bat S$%T crazy. The kids got lessons in net repair from some local fishermen. And steel drum that night. Note the Vivo Tee shirt. I gave them to the four kids and they will sail around the world with them. Had a blast. It was really sad leaving them. Got to really like that family over those couple of days. Big group hug and tears in the middle of the street. Locals must wonder what the heck that was all about. But, I'm telling ya, they are NUTS!!! But in a good way.
And Garner family, if you ever read this blog, remember.....
Its not my fault, I said to throw poop on her! Miss ya. Be safe.
Getting back to Vivo that night was a whole nother issue. They were going south and I needed to get back north. I probably used up a little bit of sailors luck on that one. Caribbean version of planes trains and automobiles. Thats a long one and maybe I'll post it another time.
So back at the marina..... They are having sailboat races. These little guys are darting all over the place. Pretty neat. Watched them for hours. They do use a wee bit of sailor language though. "Room at the mark MotherF$%er" "Yield! Yield! MotherF$%er". I love sailors.
I have seen some really strange things people float around on down there. And this is one of them for sure. This is at the dingy dock in Rodney Bay, St Lucia. They came putting in one afternoon. From where, I have no idea. Would have loved to have met them!
All for now. Actually this will be it for a while I think. Probably not back to the boat till august or maybe even November. Hope she is still there!
peace
M
