{"id":36191,"date":"2015-04-20T11:03:33","date_gmt":"2015-04-20T09:03:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/?p=36191"},"modified":"2015-04-21T21:22:11","modified_gmt":"2015-04-21T19:22:11","slug":"a-skippers-perspective-on-sailing-st-lucia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.boatbookings.com\/blog\/2015\/04\/20\/a-skippers-perspective-on-sailing-st-lucia\/","title":{"rendered":"A Skipper’s Perspective on Sailing St Lucia!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Caribbean island of St. Lucia<\/strong><\/a> is one of the jewels of the Windward Islands. With its endless banana plantations, picturesque hamlets and stunning harbours it is a constant reminder of an older Caribbean before tourism really took off.<\/p>\n

\"lucia-soufbay\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One of our guests, Andy, recently returned from a week of idyllic sailing, and could not wait to share his experience!<\/p>\n

When we got off the plane in Vieux Fort, St Lucia, I immediately noticed the wind. At first I was a little concerned; it was strong and as most of my sailing takes place on the Great Lakes in Canada, the Ocean seemed a bit daunting. We immediately departed to the boat in Rodney Bay, which meant that we got to see some of St Lucia before we boarded.\u00a0It\u00a0is a truly \u00a0beautiful Island with high and low winding roads through rolling banana plantations and old volcanic mountains covered with lush plant life.<\/p>\n

<\/strong>The staff at the marina\u00a0in Rodney Bay were very friendly and the skipper that\u00a0we hired for the first 2 days, Liz, was a real treat. We sailed down to the Pitons in Soufri\u00e8re. I became comfortable with the wind very quickly; although it is heavy, it’s also low and steady. I found keeping the sails one third\u00a0reefed was a great way to keep the boat steady and sailing at 5 to 7 knots. At times we even got up to 8 to 9 knots.
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\nAfter the second day, Liz had to leave us to sail to Antigua so we departed to Martinique<\/strong><\/a> on our own. It was a beautiful 4 hour sail with tons of flying fish. We anchored in St Anne Bay for 2 days and went to shore in the little dingy for two glorious French dinners in restaurants run by retired Parisians. We also made a wine and cheese run up to Le Marin. As part of the French Republic, Martinique has much of the wonderful wine and cheese you would expect on mainland France.<\/p>\n

The last leg of our journey brought us back to the Pitons in Soufri\u00e8re, which has to be our favorite sailing destination in St Lucia. We went for dinner at the Hummingbird restaurant \u00a0under a full moon, looking back out at the Pitons. It was divine!<\/p>\n

The snorkeling off the boat was fabulous. We swam with sea turtles, a school of barracuda, trumpet fish, a moray eel, there were angel fish every where and several other beautiful fish and plant life. The coral in St Lucia takes a little getting used to, but when I \u00a0saw it as a rough kind of desert look, in a sort of Sante Fe style, I really began to enjoy it!<\/p>\n

I would say we felt safe at night especially in Martinique. The St Lucians in Soufri\u00e8re are not too affluent, but very friendly as you get to know them. When you leave the boat for dinner in town take all your money with you and keep some change\u00a0for boat security at the dock. Bear in mind that boat security is generally teenage boys waiting at the dock for a little tip to watch your dingy.<\/p>\n