St. Lucia - Dominica

After two weeks spent moored at Rodney Bay in St. Lucia, our saildrives were finally fixed. We also managed to fix an oil leak we had in the port engine that was caused from a pitted drive shaft. Besides being attached to the dock, we did quite a few things in St. Lucia.

The swimming pool in the marina was paid regular visits by each member on board, as well as the Ocean Club besides it for their Internet. Joshua was the most frequent visitor as he enjoyed their fast Internet as it meant computer games for him!

View of petite piton

One of the days, we finally convinced Alex and Josh to climb one of the Pitons. So we hired a car and my mother, Alex, Josh and I took a day’s trip to the lower end of the island. We began climbing in the heat of the day, around 12:30pm. I had climbed the piton before, earlier on in the year; so I knew what I was in for . . . Josh and Alex on the other hand . . . well they knew nothing. I was shocked when our two guides pitched up in a pair of slipslops. One of the guides turned around with my mother at half way, but the rest of us pushed on. My brother had signed a contract with my dad that if he didn’t make it to the top, then he would be assigned boat chores for a week, on the other hand, if my brother made it to the top, he would receive a surprise that was suitable in his eyes. We made it to the top, with a lot of groans coming from them, but we made it. We were sweating waterfalls the whole way and here is our guide (laughing at us on the inside I’m sure) who was in slipslops and hadn’t even broken a sweat at all; nor had I seen him take a sip of water from his water bottle either. It took us four hours to reach the top and come back down again. The minute we reached the car, Joshua lay down and spread himself across the ground. As we piled back into the car and started our long drive back, we saw our guide sprinting down the road in his flip-flops! We were shocked . . . here we were, absolutely exhausted and there he was running! We drove back, only arriving back in the marina at night.

Alex, Josh and I at the top

Three mornings were spent game fishing. On the first morning, we went out for four hours. One of the rods went off, which held an estimated 220-pound marlin that threw the lure. The rod went off again 10 minutes later and I ran to sit on the chair. They gave me the rod and I started fighting. My arms burned but I wasn’t giving my rod to anybody else! After 15 minutes of fighting, a 60-pound Sailfish was pulled on board. I ran to stand behind it and held its slimy sail out whilst the camera was flashing. I said goodbye to my fish as it was put back into the blue water, swimming away to safety. That night, three excited girls and a not so excited boy, headed to the movies to watch the premiere of Breaking Dawn part 2. It was a major disappointment as half of the dialogue was missed due to screaming fans and all of the screams Edward and Jacob got. I was ready to run out of the cinema at the end of the movie. I decided to wait until it came out on DVD and then I may understand what actually happens in the movie.

My sailfish

The fishing crew
The next morning, Alex, Josh and my mom went out fishing. This time, Alex was the lucky one who fought for 30 minutes until she reeled a 120-pound Marlin on board. Josh offered to help her reel in her prize if her arms got tired but she was also not letting anyone touch her rod!!! Once the cameras flashed, she said goodbye to her fish, ecstatic for her catch.

Alex and her marlin

The third fishing day, happened to be Joshua’s 20^th birthday. He hadn’t caught his fish yet, so he went out with my dad and Alex to fish on his birthday. Joshua caught a 40-pound long-billed spearfish (a mixture between the Sailfish and the Marlin, apparently a rarity). Josh was happy to have caught his fish. We left the marina that afternoon and anchored outside, ready to sail to Dominica early on Saturday morning.

20th birthday

They gave josh a fishing t-shirt!

Josh's long-billed spearfish

We departed St. Lucia at 4 am and sailed to Dominica. On the way, we saw a pod of 4 sperm whales and picked up a black tuna on one of the fishing lines. The wind was finally in a good direction for us to put up the sails! We sailed with the screecher and the main sail all the way past Martinique, averaging around 9 knots. We then sailed all the way to Dominica with the main sail and the genoa before putting them away and motoring to Roseau Bay. As we were attaching to a buoy, we saw a few more sperm whales near the bay. It was a great sailing day and will be a great few days to come of exploring a new island!