Rodney Bay Marina is quite an outfit.  A rather gigantic stretch of water having been drained and excavated out of a swamp with a narrow channel leading in from the bay.  Here we are moored for a week in berth D21.  Ashore are facilities of all kinds: washing and shower facilities of course, but also shops, a bank, a ship’s chandelier, a sail maker and a number of restaurants. We can have “full English breakfasts” and dinners from different cuisines.  Along the pontoons are moored all the ARC-bots and at irregular intervals new arrivals appear.  There a great hoorays, honking of horns and applauds.

Magnus leaves the day after arrival.  He has court hearing scheduled and is firing up already.  Stefan decides to leave after yet another day and Simon has a ticket on the forth day.  During these days we tend to the boat.  Ruptured sails are brought to the sail maker and he accepts to fix the new gennaker.  Stefan’s old spinnaker is ruptured all the way across.  The cloth is old and mouldy and in the end we decide to dump it despite Stefan’s generous offer: Fix it and keep it.

Sanna, Hans and Leif rent a car and drives around the island.  Castries, the capital is not all that appealing. We take the main road south along the eastern coast.  Quite deserted, really.  Way down south lies the international airport, Huewanorra close to Vieux Fort, which is a pioneer town, poor and dirty.  We did find a nice beach and ditto restaurant and enjoy both.  The restaurants served an excellent tuna fish.  The return road along the west coast is dramatic, beautiful, up and down to small villages along the shore line.  We pass close to the Pitons, the symbols of St.Lucia.  We make a detour down to Marigot Bay, famed hurricane hole/deep inlet into the shore forest.  The place is spectacular but in the deep of the extreme interior  lies a “oligark type” gigantic ship…and along the board walk they sell diamonds.  Skipper is not that attracted.

Sanna leaves the day after according to schedule.  Hans and skipper have two more days and then Hans leaves too.  On the Saturday, there is a prize ceremony.  There were 5 cruising classes in the ARC, and two competition classes.  First, second and third prize in each and a lot of special prizes: Best ARC spirit, most beautiful boat, etc.  There were 20 children in the ARC and they sure were full of pep this evening.

The day after skipper leaves for Martinique.