Pictures - Worth More Than A Thousands Words

Earthling has been surrounded with great energy and people throughout the last week which has contributed to some strong bondage between friends and memories that will last forever. The highlights started in Marigot Bay and carried on to Anse le Raye, St. Lucia where the three boats, “Tua Tua”, “Zero to Cruising”, and Earthling had a secluded anchorage for themselves. This is very unique because it is difficult to find a bay with no other boats but those of your friends.

Secluded Anchorage

A friend of mine, Katherine flew in from the U.S and joined Earthling. The seven of us attended a local Fish Friday event on the beachfront where our boats were aligned. The following day Nico’s visit was up and he flew back to Chicago after staying on Earthling for two months.

Katherine's first day, still pale!

Nico enjoyed the last day to the maximum

In order to experience more of what the island has to offer, “the new gang” took a short hike to a beautiful waterfall close to Anse le Raye which was liberating. Along the way different trees provided us with tropical fruits as snack such as mango, sugar cane, cacao, coconut, grapefruit, orange, lime, and plantains.

Mike sharing Cacao fruit! The big machete and the smile are somehow frighting

Katherine taking a fresh natural shower

Pontus is carving the Calabash and making bowls for us as the ladies are day dreaming!

After the stay in Anse le Raye, it was time for Tua Tua to sail North back to Rodney bay to haul out their boat for the season and head home to Sweden. From here ZTC and Earthling continued to sail South over to Soufrier and the Pitons where we prepare ourselves for one of the most challenging hikes of the Caribbean, Petit Piton.

Approaching the Pitons! Spectacular view!

Yesterday, Mike, Rebecca, Katherine and I climbed 2500 feet to the top of Petit Piton. The climb to the top of this mountain has become one of my favorite and most challenging hikes ever. Not to mention it is also considered one of the hardest hikes in all of the Caribbean. Next time I climb a vertical incline like this, gloves would definitely be part of the gear! Attached are many of the pictures highlighting the last week. As the expression, “A picture is worth more than a thousand words,” I hope the following photos help justify how lucky we all are.

Party Toes before we went to Fish Friday!

Nico fractured his finger while anchoring. Not good!

It says Earthling on Nico's Toes!

Petit Piton view from the anchorage

Climbing through holes and boulders, Katherine is wondering why she has to this!

The View of Gros Piton from Petit Piton

View from the top of the Piton! The small dot next to the mega yacht at the bottom is Earthling!

May 1st id Labor day in St. Lucia and a holiday. Locals are partying on the beach and the charter cat!

In a few minutes the sails will be hosted and Earthling will heading toward St. Vincent.

Love from St. Lucia

Among Friends

Tua Tua in Rodney Bay

One might think that cruising on a boat and island hopping could be lonesome! But I’m almost never alone! We always meet new and interesting people from cruisers to locals.
In the cruising community flags attracts flags, If you are flying a U.S flag, it’s more likely to reach out to other Americans. When I see Swedish flags, I get excited! Germans hang out with Germans, French with French and so on!
As an Earthling, you talk to everyone everywhere! Like our friends Pontus and Malee, who are true Earthlings. One day during the visit in Dominica, Nico and I went ashore and as we were tying up the dinghy, a guy on the dock noticed the 30yr old Chrysler outboard on Earthling 8.8 and admired it! One conversation led to another and Pontus turned out to be from Sweden! After our brief interaction in Dominica, he was planning to sail to Trinidad so we parted hoping to see each other next year. Last Friday at the “Jump Up” in the town of Gros Ilet; Nico, Mike, Rebecca, and I were dancing and mingling with the locals on the street as somebody suddenly appears and it’s Pontus! The wind wasn’t in their favor so they had to turn into Rodney Bay for an overnight! Pontus and Malee are on a Laurin 28ft named “Tua Tua” with an interesting history. The first Swedish single handler around the world sailed on “Tua Tua” in 1972 and the book is in many Swedish boats’ book shelves. Pontus’s family are cruisers and he has grown up on sailboats more or less all his life! I have realized that children that grow up on boats, turn out bright, social, mature faster, easy going, and they are more adaptable to change.    
The last few days, we have been hanging out with Pontus and Malee. The four of us sailed Earthling down to Marigot bay, anchored by “Zero to Cruising”. We all are going  to Anse La Raye for the Friday Jump up as another friend of mine is flying in from the U.S to join Earthling. 

The Italian Nico is making Risotto and Malee is opening a bottle of wine!

Mike and Rebecca swam over to say hello! Enjoying another beautiful day in St. Lucia! 

 
Pontus and I decided to have some fun swinging on the whisker pole! I never did this as a kid, it’s time to do it as an adult! It was lots of fun :-)

Bottom line we all are kids and why not enjoy life to the maximum! 

First night in Marigot bay, Pontus and Malee are making some of my favorite dishes. Pat Thai for main dish and Swedish Kokos Bollar for desert! 

Great company and great food!

Love from St. Lucia

View the complete photo album of St. Lucia on fb page, click here!

A Beautiful Day

Check out the view from the fort on Pigeon Island over Rodney bay. It's time to leave this beautiful anchorage to the next place!  We are sailing to Marigot in a few minutes with our friends Pontus and Malee from S/Y "Tua Tua Sueca"

The Resort Effect

Sandals Resort, Rodney Bay

St. Lucia is another idyllic Island of the Caribbean. The mountains and hills peak sharply and are very unique. The two tallest peaks are called the Pitons. Petite Piton is smaller and difficult to climb, while the Gross Piton is taller and actually easier! One of our goals is to climb one the pitons during the stay here. 

The sail from Martinique to St. Lucia was excellent. The trade winds blew 10-15 kts, and carried Earthling 25 miles in 4hrs 20 min with only the full Genoa! We caught a Mahi Mahi and didn’t want to be eaten yet and unfortunately it got away as I was bringing it in!  

The Islands in the Caribbean are all different. Some are dependent on Britain, Netherlands, or the U.S, a few are fully controlled by France, and some are independent, like St. Lucia. However, this Island is very dependent on tourism. There are 3 Sandals Resorts and many other hotels. Corporations in the hospitality sector have taken over the island and corrupted St. Lucians with monetarism. The few local people we met have been kind; however, the kindness seemed slightly artificial as the glisten in their eyes indicated the intentions of a reward.

Nico and I were walking on the beach and saw a local standing with a couple of horses! My love for horses pulled me towards them. A young boy ran over, greeted and offered us a horseback ride. “I would love to but  don’t have a budget for that!" I replied. “It’s not expensive, I will give you a local price,” he said. Still knowing that it would be out of the budget, curiosity tickled me to know the price. The local price was 120. The national currency in St. Lucia is Eastern Caribbean Dollars. I thought he said 120EC but no, he meant $120US Dollars ($1=2.7EC). I presented to the young gentleman, that in the past, a 1-2 hrs horseback ride costed anything between $20 to $100 in various places in the world. I wondered what was special about these horses? “They are from St. Lucia!” He replied. After a couple of minutes of conversation, we came to the conclusion that since the tourists have the money, the locals charge them as much as they wish! If a price is asked and somebody is willing to pay it, then that’s the customer’s choice! That’s how they justified it! 

When a place becomes commercialized and corporatism rules, everything becomes more or less artificial. The love you get is based on $$$. In addition, foolish rules and regulations emerge, such as not being able to walk the park after 5pm! Or having to pay an entrance fee to a fenced park close to the resorts that is nothing special.

When you work most of the 12 months and take a vacation for two weeks, you care a bit less about the cost of things as people put a budget aside for traveling. That doesn’t mean that resident of a certain country should take advantage and charge unfair prices. This is a common issue all over the world especially with taxis! Negotiating the price before hands is a must. I haggled the price in advance and still got ripped off while visiting Istanbul a couple of years ago! Furthermore, it is important not to compare other islands to the one being visited!  Locals don’t like to hear about how good, beautiful, or cheap other islands are! Compare it in your mind but don’t make it grounds for negotiation!!

Windward Side

We also got the chance to go for a hike on the northern windward side of St. Lucia with our cruising friends Mike and Rebecca! The windward sides of the Islands are different than the Leeward. They get hit by the trade winds all the time, they are less populated, and the nature is different. It is less lush and green and trees don’t get that tall! One of the highlights of the hike were the 3 dogs that led us and followed us for hours. Moreover, when we were sitting on top of this hill, I got to spot a family of whales jumping out of water! Right now is the mating season for whales and they are spotted in various places close to shore in the Caribbean.  

Love from St. Lucia