Should have taken that mooring from the guy on the pier last night. Rock and roll all night, though the rolls come in waves (shocking) rather than a steady roll. But when it does roll, it rolls big.

Nice spot though and perhaps we will come back. Good kickoff point for other parts of St. Lucia nearby and the abundance of non-cruise-ship tourists indicates there is stuff to do here. But definitely take a mooring or venture into the other side of the mid-reef (scary) as otherwise it is too roly. Also, better to come in to Laborie rather than depart from here, have to battle your way up the coast to get here from the Pitons.

We’re off the hook and heading out at a reasonable time, about 7:55 am, on our way to Chateaubelair. We raise the sails outside the bay where it takes a while to get some sea room because of the shallow water. Wind is already blowing 15+ kts so looks like a good day.

It is a good day generally. We make about 5+ kts most of the way, and have timed it pretty well, missing at least 2 squalls around St. Lucia. We get a touch of rain but it doesn’t last long and we don’t get the massive gusts that usually accompany them.

Of course it gets a little crazy off the north end of St. Vincent. We knew that would happen but expected it to be in our favour. It is, but it’s still nasty. As we finally round the corner close to the island, it stabilizes and we have a nice broad reach down the island in relatively calm seas. We drop the foresail as the wind is dead behind us and the main is blocking it. Took it down heading downwind which was probably a mistake. I’m not sure if it was that action but the port sheet is tangled around the anchor and we can’t pull in the sail until I go up and free it, trying not to get knocked off the boat by the sail or the boom.

It’s done, all present and accounted for.

But then the wind goes nutty, swirling through 360 degrees and gusting from zero to 25 kts in any direction. We accidentally gybe at least twice and finally drop all sails with just under 3 nm to go. Now it is pleasant again.

Kenroy meets us in the bay and shows us where to drop anchor. All is well and we go into Customs to check into SVG after a 5 month hiatus. The guys in there are always friendly and joking, some of the best C&I people anywhere. This makes up for the thieves/urchins on the pier that you really can’t get away from taking their service we don’t want at a price we don’t want to pay. At least we spread some money around the town.

We walk down the beach to the only restaurant, the Beachfront. Looks good actually and we entertain the idea of going in for a beverage or coming back for dinner. We do neither. Walk back along the beach, pay the urchins EC$20 and head back to Milu.

We snorkel the anchor and along the shore, shocked by the sheer scale of garbage on the bottom. This pristine bay is littered with it (little garbage humour there) and it is very sad. The snorkeling is pretty good, we see two eels, a snake eel and a mini moray, two things we haven’t seen snorkeling anywhere before. Didn’t bring the GoPro so I pulled these pics from the Internet.

Very glad to get back on board for a much needed cleansing and rinse with hot water. I even shave.

Pasta for dinner (never gets old hon) then relax in the cockpit over a glorious sunset.