After a crazy morning, we enjoyed a really nice sail day! I took the helm since Matt swam to shore to remove our stern line and Wayne got us off our bridle and anchor. Luckily, I changed to my suit, lathered up sunscreen and grabbed my jacket before too long as it was brisk without the sun and the very frequent ocean sprays created chills. We ran the engines until after dawn and then enjoyed good winds and some big rollers. It will probably be our last big sail opportunity as we are heading up island/wind the rest of the trip so I am glad I was able to helm. I felt so bad for Beny at our last stop as he worked hard to help us secure our med mooring and we were not able to pay him–so we will have to go back and pay him in April when we return. The other unfortunate thing is Charlie eluded us yet again and we are low on food. Luckily we re going to port.

We arrived in Souffiere and to our amazement there were no mooring balls and no anchoring is allowed. So we dropped Matt off in the dingy and Wayne and I circled the marina watching all of the crazy boat traffic, charters, and day trip boats come and go. After Matt returned we headed the short distance to the Pitons and again encountered a lack of mooring balls, but some nice young boat boys told us the rangers were working on a new ball. We anchored for a few hours and watched the giant yachts come in as the new ball was put in place. We have seen some huge yachts before but not this big or close–it’s high season.

As you might recall from last year, this is the same place where a rather large mono came down on us taking with it the mooring that did not hold. So we tested our new ball with 2k per engine and she seems to hold.

A lovely boat boy sold us some fresh avocados, tomatoes and bananas! I love the avocados here as they are as large as a cantelope and so yummy!!!

With such an early morning we all sort of petered out early. It is black outside and the stars are aging bright! We confirmed our arrival in Rodney bay and scheduled a walk hru for work. The boys are asleep and I am enjoying some me time.

Fended off a couple boat boys on the way in, one was persistent and followed us all the way to the dock, we were just going to grab a ball ourselves or drop the dingy and I’d go clear customs while Christine and Wayne circled in the Shack and kept making water. We ended up with the later as there were no balls available close into the town. Cleared in with the overtime fee as it is a holiday and quickly to the store for some beer / water and what ever else I could find. Since it was a holiday the normal store was closed but did manage to get some snacks and beer and some water too and head back to the boat. Spotted em and easily chased them down and loaded the dingy and we were off to the next bay over. As early as we were, all the balls were taken, and our boat boy was just giving the last one away. Damn should have let him run me to customs and all that jazz. But we decided to give it some time to see if anyone would leave, the boat boy suggested anchoring, most of the bay is 100 feet deep or better. So we found a shallow spot between a couple of mooring and dropped the hook. Left the engines running as the swell/current/wind was playing tricks with all the boats on the balls and us too. After a while we shut em down, and learned from the boat boy that the divers over ‘there’ were working to put a ball back together after the located the base and we could have that one. 4 hrs later and we are on the ball, a super nice day up until we head to the ball. Rain coming over the mountain, wind from all directions, but we get hooked and test the connection with some pretty good reverse. Seems like it’ll hold and after last night we all need a good nights rest. Its now 6:42 and the crew is a sleep in the salon avoiding the rain. I’m tired to, but if I go to bed now, I’ll be up before the sun.

All is good in St Lucia.