Arriving in the Caribbean, St Lucia to St Vincent.... I hope you're all enjoying the festive season and those of you in England aren't letting the cold weather get you down. We heard today it was snowing in Essex, and boy did we laugh as we were cooking in around 35degrees!!!!
Our arrival in St Lucia 2 weeks ago almost feels like a lifetime and up until a few days ago I would have probably chosen to still be out there than on land. We were greeted by Ali on the dock when we moored up. She flew out 2 weeks prior to that and had been checking out the spots to hangout. The first night was started with a few rum punches with Craig and is wife, Emma who came out to meet him and then the five invinsible Disco crew members headed for the Le Nouveau Bistro, where fresh seafood, and a huge surf and turf (lobster & steak) had our names on!! It was a strange evening as we were all quite tired and also it was the end of our time together. Everyone was invited to stay on the boat till after Christmas but Paul, Suzannah and Matt decided to take an apartment for their last month on the Island, (they all fly home on the 12th January).
On the Sunday we all headed up to Pigeon Island for some brunch which was very nice as we had a wonderful view across Rodney Bay. On the Monday, the three of them departed for their apartment and where not seen again till the Friday night!! Matt and I were busy doing our boat jobs and discussing what we were going to do next, by Wednesday our feet were itching and we were deperate to get out of Rodnay Bay. We ventured by bus down to Castries where we found the locals to be a little desperate, we were chased down the street by a little lady shouting 'White man give me a dollar!' It really was a third world type of place and certainly wasn't what I had expected, you wouldn't want to wander far on your own!!
Saturday 22 December was the Prizegiving, we came 5th in our class, out of 30 and 90th Overall, out of 225. Most importantly we won the prize for best mural, Matt B went up to collect the award, seeing as it was all his hard work in Las Palmas. He won a jungle tour for two and can you believe he wanted to give it away, we're hoping he didn't as he worked real hard on his mural, it was amazing and he deserves his prize, (I'll upload the photos when I find somewhere to develop them!!) he has however promised to put all the details of his jungle tour in an e-mail so hopefully it will be here soon???
We headed out of Rodney Bay Marina Christmas Eve, and spent Christmas Morning looking across the Bay and of course took a quick dip in the sea!! Then we sailed down to Marigot Bay, all of 8nm away, can you believe we got a little sunburnt - On Christmas Day!!! Marigot Bay was charming, and luckily there was a nice lady to sell us charcoal for our BBQ, unfortunately we had purchased coal for a gas BBQ, so this lady was our lifesaver!! Our Christmas dinner was divine although I'm not too good on the cooking for 2 after cooking for 5 for so long!!!
Boxing Day we spent on the boat and come 5pm Happy Hour we ventured to The Big Bamboo a Martini Bar - MMMmmmm my favourite. They are making such a come back its my second in the last 4 months. Anyway we tried a few and then down went a couple of rum punches and then it was back to the dingy to head over to The Shack for dinner, Matt fell into the dingy, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time, because in the process the boat had come untied and it wasn't me that tied it!!!
Late the next day we headed down to Soufriere, all of 10nm, and I saw jumping Marlin, OH WOW, I now have so much hope of seeing a whale at some point! On Friday we sailed to St Vincent, which is where we are right now. It took 9 very pleasant hours and we saw fish jumping, we think they were tuna, followed by 3 dolphins!! St Vincent is so different to St Lucia and is definately the prefered island, the people here are so happy and not trying you for a quick dollar everywhere you turn. Tomorrow we're off to Mustique, where I'm hoping Victoria and David Beckham will be spending New Year with us. Then we're heading to Bequia!!!
Everyday I thank Matt for sharing all this with me, the same as Matt B and Ali thanked him for their time, the three of us all understand that what we had or have is something very special, and the time on the Disco is the best time you'll ever have and the best people you could wish to sail with. I'm sure that over the next 4 months, I'll still thank him everyday, the Caribbean is such a beautiful place, where dreams are made....
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