Days 62 through 64, Year 1: The Kids Arrive Safely in St. Lucia
Date: Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Weather: Sunny and 83 degrees F
Location: Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

Yesterday, our daughter Heather, her husband, Jed, and our son, Justin arrived here in St. Lucia. They had a bit of a delay in San Juan, but still arrived before sundown. We are so excited to have them here for a week and to be able to share some of our adventure with them. But here it is, another beautiful day in paradise, and the parents are up and the children are sleeping in. Of course, it is not yet 0800 Eastern Standard Time, but it is an hour later here, and it is probably time to get them up. Some things never change!

A topic of conversation last night was the weather. The temperature varies only a few degrees here from morning through the night. It is just in the mid-80’s all the time. Clouds float by and sometimes drop a quick rain, but then the sun is always back out shining full tilt. Justin said to me last night, “Mom, I don’t think you understand. You weren’t just transported here in a few hours from Boston. It’s really cold back there.” I know. And that’s one reason we are here. There’s not much you can be sure of, but I think I can safely say that we will not have snow here on Christmas day.

I need to go back a couple of days and catch up on things. On Sundays, everything but the restaurants are closed here, so we spent the day here on the boat getting ready for the arrival of the kids. I baked bread, made salmon cakes to store in the freezer for quick meals, made spinach balls, and cleaned the boat. Just like home. Well, it is home. Anyway, after a busy day we treated ourselves to dinner out on Sunday night. There is one restaurant out here where we anchored. It is located in the national park on Pigeon Island and is a little more than a stone’s throw from where we are anchored. We dinghied over and enjoyed a fantastic evening. Caf� Jambe de Bois is owned by Barbara . The restaurant is an internet hot spot (check your e-mail via wi-fi while having your favorite drink and watching the sun go down), a bit of an art gallery, and on Sunday nights, it becomes a live jazz music center. Tables are scattered out on the lawn, on the deck, as well as inside. We sat on the deck overlooking the water, enjoying fantastic food, and listening to great music. Monday was spent grocery shopping, replacing the starter battery (the cell was cracked), and getting the boat ready to house three more adults for a week.

The kids arrived in Vigie, a few miles south of here around 1700. We kept in communication during the day via sat phone. Heather’s cell phone works here, so she was able to call us with flight delay information and the new arrival time. They took a taxi from the airport to the Rodney Bay Marina where we met them at Scuttlebutt’s, the marina bar and grill. After a round of rum punches and local beers, we hailed a water taxi to take the massive luggage to the boat. Heather and Jed brought all of their dive gear, so the bags were many and large. We got everything tucked away on Windbird and just enjoyed the evening together.

Today we sail down the coast of St. Lucia to Soufrierre. I’ll check in tomorrow evening to let you know how the sail goes today and to recount tomorrow’s day of diving and snorkeling.

051220 Days 62 – 64 Rodney Bay to Soufriere, St. Lucia–Kids Arrive