St Lucia

Tuesday 24th February 2009, day 220. 13° 50.98, 061° 03.75W. Soufrière, St Lucia

Finally, we’re on the move again. You may have noticed that we’d got a bit stuck in and around Bequia; a really lovely spot, but after all only one of the many islands we’ve come here to see. We have in fact been waiting for post: a yellow fever certificate for an injection I had in Trinidad. After almost a month, we knew our way around all the important things (the friendliest Rasta in the market, the cheapest place to get our Mount Gay rum) so well that we were starting to feel quite settled; some people never leave Bequia, but end up buying houses, and it’s not hard to see why.

We gave the post one last chance and headed south to Union Island, the southernmost of the Grenadines. It’s a lovely contrast to Bequia, much less developed, and probably how Bequia was twenty years ago. The island is in transition: the simple wooden houses are still in the majority, but money coming in from the outside is building large brightly coloured mansions, with high ceilings, shaded terraces and verandas and ornate plaster work all round. They look lovely and airy. Everybody was very laid back and friendly – not that it’s exactly a stress-fest in Bequia!

Anybody who’s sailed out here will be wondering when we’re going to mention the Tobago Cays, jewel-bright little coral reefs, set in the clearest turquoise water, laid over pure white sand. Well, we sailed right past. It was the usual combination of a deteriorating weather forecast, and a deadline to be in St Lucia. We needed to make the passage in good weather, and didn’t have time to wait for the next window … Still, there’s always next year.

Anyway, we got to St Lucia, and settled down in the southernmost town, Vieux Fort, for a couple of days of cleaning and maintenance before a friend arrived on Sunday. Since then, we’ve been good tourists, taking in boiling mud springs, a rainforest, botanical gardens, and a couple of lovely waterfalls fed by the hot water from the volcano. Most of this has been done from Soufrière, and given its name and its proximity to the sulphur springs, we shouldn’t be too surprised that it stinks of rotten eggs.