Day 59, Year 1: Finally . . . A Perfect Day in Paradise
Date: Thursday, December 15, 2005
Weather: Beautiful Day, 86 degrees F
Location: Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

We made it to Rodney Bay here in St. Lucia around 1315 this afternoon. And finally, we have had a day with no challenges. In fact, it has been a perfect day. Yesterday continued to go down hill after I filed the log. To make a long story short, the Coast Guard from Guadeloupe came up beside us while we were having a very difficult time reefing the main. Our problem was the lazy jacks that catch the sail when it is lowered was caught under the sail, but we didn’t know it. While trying to talk to the Coast Guard and answer their routine questions on channels that were not clear and a language barrier to boot, we managed to rip the Doyle stack pack sail cover. This was the perfect ending to what had already been a very bad, no good, terrible day. But today was a different story.

I came on watch this morning at 0330. I was finishing reading Pat Henry’s story of her solo circumnavigation and motor sailing along the coast of Martinique. Because of the almost full moon, the night sailing was beautiful. At about 0445, the first light of a new day was just beginning to peak through in the eastern sky. There were shades of pink streaking through the sky that had been dark just minutes before. When I turned to look behind me, the almost full moon was getting ready to set. There were clouds on the western horizon and the moon just sunk into those clouds and ended the night. The sun came up and a new day was beginning. As soon as we got out of the lee of the land and headed across to St. Lucia, we were able to set sail and had a delightful sail in 20 knot easterlies. There was a line of sailboats heading into St. Lucia from the northeast and as we found out once we got here, the ARC boats were coming in one after another. The ARC is the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers and the boats had come from Europe by way of the Canary Islands. St. Lucia is the final destination and there is plenty of celebration in Rodney Bay tonight.

We decided to anchor out by Pigeon Island instead of going into the marina area in town. This was not our plan, but as we came into the bay and I looked over at the anchorage, I couldn’t resist it. There is a beautiful beach in front of us and lush, green hills to our left. There is a very fancy resort to the right and in front of us, but I am choosing to ignore that. As soon as we anchored, all of the tension of the past few weeks finally just slipped away. The water is deeper here than in St. Martin, so it is not the beautiful turquoise here at anchor, but we can see the shallow water closer to the beach. Mark had to go check into immigration alone as crew must stay on the boat until the captain checks in here, so I have not seen town yet. But there will be time for that tomorrow or the next day. Coming here was a good decision and now it is time to relax and enjoy.

The sunset here was gorgeous tonight with lots of red sails. The full moon is up in the eastern sky and there is music in the air. It doesn’t get much better than this.

051215 Day 59 Rodney Bay, St. Lucia–Arrival