Nothing ends a wonderful trip to a country like having a swab shoved up your nose at the bargain cost of $180.00 per person. In order to check into St. Lucia, we had to get yet another PCR test in St. Vincent. I think we are currently in the vicinity of 22 tests. The St. Vincent test was quite humorous. First, we were shuffled into an office with the usual “wear a mask” and “maintain social distance” nonsense. Then, we were sent into a room that was about 6 X 10 with several other people to fill out paperwork. As usual, the credit card machine was not working so the girl had to run to another office to get the credit card transaction. We were then directed back outside and upstairs to what I can only describe as a phone booth size space that was on the outside deck of the building. The premise was that the person being tested would step into the “phone booth”, close the door and wait for the nurse to approach from the other side of the booth. Needless to say, we voted not to sit in the hot phone booth because we are rebellious souls. We figured that the test cost so much because they had to pay for the construction of the booth. Surprise, surprise, the tests were negative again so on we go!
After getting all the St. Lucia paperwork completed and submitted, we decided to make our way slowly up the coast of St. Vincent and check out of the country in Walliabou Bay. Walliabou was where the main shooting for the first two Pirates of the Caribbean movies was completed so I was excited. On the way to Walliabou, we were going to stop and snorkel in a bat cave. We made our way into an isolated bay and dropped anchor. It is very rare that we have ever felt uneasy or unsafe during all our travels. At this particular bay, we saw a man on the beach. It was a very isolated beach with no obvious way to get there. As we pulled into the bay, the man moved up and hid in the trees. We decided to stay on the boat for a few minutes to see if the man came back out to the beach. He remained hidden in the trees. At that point, neither one of us felt comfortable leaving Galt unattended so we pulled up anchor and left the bat cave snorkel for another time. Once we were settled in Walliabou Bay for the night, we had other boaters who reported having an uncomfortable situation at the bat cave bay that day as well so we were glad we listened to our instincts. Our next adventure of the day was dealing with one of the boat boys who had quoted us a much higher cost for the mooring ball than the actual charge. We were disheartened that he had cheated us because we had never had an issue with the locals prior to this time. When we reported what he had done to the other boat boys, they were not happy. In fact, when he showed up in the bay the next day, they immediately ratted him out and then watched with obvious glee while we confronted him and insisted on our money back. He never admitted guilt but we came to a settlement upon which we could all agree. The funniest part of the day was watching as the other boat boys ostracized him from the group and would not allow him to help with the incoming boats. I doubt he will try to cheat anyone else in the near future! Exploring the movie set in Walliabou did not take long. It was the set for Port Royal in the movies but time, volcanic ash, storms and neglect had taken their toll. We were quite disappointed that no clever entrepreneur had figured out what a money making machine it could have been. Bill and I came up with at least 20 money making ideas before the end of dinner! If anyone is interested in moving to St. Vincent and becoming a millionaire, let me know….we have the ideas for you! There was a small “museum” that had several old pieces of communication equipment and at least fifty old phones that were exactly the same. Nothing was labeled so we were not sure what the items were but someone definitely had a phone fetish. After a couple of days at Walliabou, we checked out of St. Vincent and began our trek to St. Lucia. A trip that was supposed to take 6 hours ended up taking close to 9 hours due to the wind and the waves pushing against us the entire run. We also had a situation where the dreaded “f” word reared its’ ugly head again….you guessed it, the fuel tanks! Sputtering out again for no apparent reason, the fuel tank mystery has returned. Bill rerouted the tanks so we could get on the move again. He is becoming quite the expert and I think his current record for rerouting tanks is about 2 minutes. We made it to St. Lucia and spent a lovely night in the anchorage at Vieux Fort. We cleared customs and immigration without issue and for once, no cost! We sailed up to Rodney Bay Marina where we will be housed for our time on St. Lucia. The marina is its’ own little village with restaurants, shops, services and more boats than we have seen in a long time. We look forward to exploring the island including a volcano, sulfur springs, breweries and waterfalls. The good news for the week is that when we pulled in, there were five large cruise ships here! Life seems to be getting back into a normal rhythm for the locals which is excellent news! Remember that it is Valentine’s Day this week so you don’t end up in the doghouse!
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AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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