Celebrations in St Lucia

We stayed about a week and a half in Rodney Bay Marina.  It was a week of celebration, welcoming of other boats, cleaning and of course boat work.  Once again lots to do.  It was very hot and humid, as you would expect in the Caribbean.  In some ways it was like still being at sea, because rain squalls would come over, dampen everything and blow anything not tied down away, then the sun would come out and the Caribbean blue sky would reappear.

For Hayley and Megan it was a week and a half of reuniting with friends, re-establishing the rules for hide and seek/ sardines now that the family boats were more spread out and games in the pool.  Reunion started the morning after our arrival, when while we were having breakfast La Cigale arrived at the marina.  The girls leapt out of the seats carrying their breakfast with them and ran over Pontoon D to greet Isabelle, Francis and Catharine.  Within minutes the Plus Plus was out and the fun picked up where they left off 3 weeks earlier. 

A few days later, in the early hours of Thursday 14^th December, Indian Summer thought they would quietly slip into their berth and go to bed.  The Swedish contingency and S Pontoon families would not allow that, so they were greeted with song, cheers and of course rum punch at 3 in the morning. 

Indian Summer arrive

Thursday night the Raftkin crew decided to embrace the party boat culture and joined the ARC group on a large sailing catamaran that took us down the St Lucia coast to Anse la Raye fishing village.  Every Friday night is Fish Friday at Anse la Raye, where there is a big jump up party, lots of big speakers in the street playing loud music and a market selling all sorts of local seafood meals.  This was a special occasion and the Fish Friday was held on Thursday.  The music was indeed very loud, the fish fresh and the entertainment spectacular.  We rather serendipitously found ourselves travelling with a group of Australians from Tranquillo and AEDIS (a boat name you may recognise as we tag-teamed across the Atlantic).

On board the party boat

Anse la Raye fishing village

Fish Thursday

Team Australia

Carnival - stilt walkers

The amazing stilt walkers of Anse la Raye

Friday we caught up with the S Pontoon families at the Gros Ilet Jump Up/ Fish Friday, which we walked to from Rodney Bay Marina.  When we walked through the small village of Gros Islet in the early evening there was some music playing and a sense that things were happening.  We found our friends at Dukes Place, the place for fish and we soon joined them to enjoy a delicious meal of fish and rice. As we walked back through Gros Islet at around 8:30pm the atmosphere had changed completely.  The music was pumping, deafeningly so, and the street was packed with people – mostly local families and friends, mingling, dancing, eating. 

Gros Ilet JumpUp

Fish Friday

Pontoon S at Jump Up

Jump Up

We all went back to La Cigale as tonight was a special night.  The last of the S Pontoon family boats, Infinity, was due in around 11pm and we were all staying up to welcome her in.  We were all impressed by Infinity’s perseverance.  Two adults, two kids and 27 days at sea. 

The kids assumed their positions around the Plus Plus table and the adults congregated around the navigation table, listening to the radio.  There was much excitement when we heard them come around Pigeon Island and when radio formalities were complete we let them know we were waiting with an almighty cheer.  A similar procedure followed as they crossed the finish line.  When they arrived into the marina we ran to the end of the marina to blow air horns, whoop and cheer as they motored past en-route to their berth.  We then raced over to Pontoon B and the kids hid on Indian Summer, sardines like, so that they could spring out and surprise them.  Much fun, and the S Pontoon families were all reunited once more. 

Waiting for Infinity

Infinity arrives

Shenanigans as Infinity arrives 

Saturday 16^th was the ARC Prizegiving ceremony/party. Lots of music once again, steel drums and other traditional music.  The Prizegiving was in two parts, to allow celebration of the achievement of everyone involved.  In the first half prizes were awarded for 11^th, 7^th and 3^rd, because the ARC team figure this is not something people are not necessarily aiming for and to encourage participation, so some were pleasantly surprised.  There was lots of cheering and stomping. The second half of the ceremony celebrated the winners of each fleet, including the boat that won the race division, Talanta.  Prizes were also awarded for first family boat (go Nereida!), best blog (well done La Cigale and AEDIS!), spirit of the ARC (well done Hilmer and Hampus from Indian Summer!) and the amazing ARC Kids.  The biggest cheer came for the boat that used the most engine hours, our S Pontoon neighbours Triton Tides, after what had been a particularly challenging crossing. 

ARC Party entertainment

RAFTKIN ATLANTIC CROSSERS!

Prize giving

Go Hayley and Megan!

SFF

Pontoon S games at ARC party

Too much party

 With the prizegiving over, the ARC 2017 was officially closed and it was time to start saying goodbye to friends.  Sunday morning we had a pontoon party to celebrate Aiden’s (Tranquillo) 9^th birthday, before Tranquillo set sail for the BVIs. Sunday afternoon we went over to the beach at Rodney Bay where there was an inflatable amusement ride.  Nereida and Indian Summer kids had won passes for the ride, so we decided to join them (adults too!) for a bit of a laugh.  Lots of fun and such a work out after weeks on a boat doing very little 😊. Late Sunday afternoon John arrived with Brigid, bearing gifts for the girls and new parts for Raftkin.  It was time for John to leave Raftkin too, the end of this part of our adventure.

Last pontoon S party - happy birthday Aiden

Inflatable fun in Rodney Bay

 Tubing with Nereida

Girls on tube

 On Monday Bo (Nereida), Isabelle and Catharine (La Cigale) and Hampus (Indian Summer) came to Raftkin to bake gingerbread.  The gingerbread was tasty, but too soon it was time to farewell Nereida.  La Cigale was departing on Tuesday, so Monday night we had the remaining S-Pontooners over for a BBQ.

All hands on deck

Gingerbread factory

Gingerbread kids

Farewell La Cigale BBQ

Tuesday we joined Indian Summer and Infinity in two taxi-minibuses for a trip down to Soufriere.  We had the best taxi driver in Rodney Bay (or so he told us many times) and his friend.  We drove down the west coast, stopping at a few scenic points, at the banana plantation for ‘the sweetest bananas we will ever eat’, and on to Soufriere.  In Soufriere we were taken to the waterfall, which was warmer than waterfalls I have stood under in Australia (even more so for our Swedish and Danish companions), then to a small restaurant hidden in the jungle where we had a typical creole style meal.  The food was simple, but delicious – Hayley even went up for seconds!  After lunch the treat was a visit to the mud baths, where we dipped out bodies into the blackwater bath, temperature 38 degrees, then hopped out and covered our bodies in the grey and black mud provided in buckets.  We waited for the mud to dry, then it was back into the blackwater to clean off.  A strange experience, but surprisingly relaxing and our skin definitely felt softer afterwards.

The best taxi driver in St Lucia

Castries

Banana plantation

The Pitons and Soufriere

The Waterfall

Time for a mud bath

Getting ready to get muddy

The Pitons and Soufriere

The beach at Soufriere - Megan eyes of the palm tree

Sunset over Soufriere

After one more day of readying the boat, we left St Lucia on Thursday 21^st December, bound for Le Marin, Martinique.