On the 22nd of January, Daisy was flying into Saint Lucia in the south of the island.

We picked up anchor from our final anchorage in St Vincent and headed slightly upwind to Saint Lucia on the 21st to be ready.

As the evening drew closer, we hadn’t managed to make it as far upwind as we would have liked, so headed to a more downwind anchorage, between the Pitons.

The Pitons are two iconic volcanic peaks located on the southwestern coast of Saint Lucia. The Gros Piton stands at 2,619 feet (798 meters) tall, while the Petit Piton is slightly shorter at 2,438 feet (743 meters). These stunning landmarks offer a breathtaking backdrop.

On the following day, we sailed to the anchorage near Hewanorra airport, paid an extortionate amount of money for checking into the country (as it was a Sunday (oops)), and collected Daisy from the airport! At least the customs officer gave us a ride to the airport…

We sailed from the south, past the Pitons, up to Marigot bay (a well-known hurricane hole on the island).

The anchorage wasn’t amazing, and we had to anchor on a rocky bottom. Adam dived in to make sure that the anchor was adequately secured for our overnight stay, and Daisy also jumped into the Caribbean water for the first time at anchor.

Our boat friends Atlas & Danae were also in Marigot bay, so we had a little catch-up with them. In the evening we headed for some food and drinks on land with Atlas who also had guests on board, so between the two boats we were 8 people.

The ribs here were amazing…

We set sail the following morning to head further north on the island.

On the way the wind was strong and we were tacking into it repeatedly. Kathryn noticed that the headsail winch looked a little wonky and upon closer inspection of the winch base noticed a small crack. So we quickly put the headsail away and motored on to Bois d’orange Bay.

The bay was quiet, and best of all, we were the only boat anchored.

Here Kathryn was left aboard to take the winch and winch base apart while everyone else (Anna, Daisy, Adam), headed to the beach. From the beach, we found a trail that headed up toward some civilization.

We started walking up through woodlands, then down toward a quarry, finally poking our heads out near some houses. Of course, we were initially aiming for a Bar, however, on the route, we found a lovely little Roti shop that was still open at the side of the road and also had drinks.

So we ordered enough Roti for the 4 of us, sat down with a drink while we waited, and then headed back to the boat before dark.

Another thing of note here would be our first sighting of a giant land hermit crab.

Arriving back, Kathryn has successfully deconstructed the winch and base (but we will come onto this more later).

We ate the Rotis on deck, admired the sky, enjoyed the tranquility, and then headed to bed.

The following day we had a very short sail north into the larger Rodney Bay (Bois d’orange Bay was on the south side of Rodney Bay). We anchored in the north of the bay near Pigeon Island and set out on a snorkel.

This was Daisy’s first Caribbean snorkeling experience (where we were expecting to see some fish etc). We snorkeled around for about an hour and saw all sorts of cool things.

There was an underwater desk with a fake computer on it (some kind of art or monument), fire worms and reef squids.

You can see more pictures of the squid on Instagram.

We had booked into the Rodney Bay marina for a couple of nights to celebrate Daisy’s birthday, so after returning for snorkeling we headed straight to the marina which was also within Rodney Bay.

Because we all wanted some relaxation and celebration, Kathryn headed to the local chandelier with the winch base to see if they would be able to fiberglass in some reinforcing around the cracked area. They obliged and at the end of our stay, we managed to put the winch and winch base back together.

To celebrate Daisy’s birthday we headed to Sea Salt restaurant (an excellent choice). The meal really was amazing and we all had lots of fun. Cocktails, and some of the best restaurant-cooked food we have had in a while. Fancy and expensive.

From here we headed on to Martinique, but that’s for the next post!

And don’t worry, we will be coming back to Saint Lucia too, to drop Daisy at the same Airport.