Port of Soufriere, St. Lucia Island

Anchored off Hummingbird Resort
Port of Soufriere
St Lucia Island
Caribbean Sea
13’51.4N/61'03.7W

• 90 miles from SV Christa!!!
  
• 9 days till Mom Sherman & Dr. Bob arrive!!!
  
• 2 days till Sam from Utah makes a guest arrival!!!
  

We made it! And better yet, we did not break anything!!!!

Tuesday morning we got the boat squared away and made one last Skype phone call to my Mom to sing Happy Birthday.

In case you have not heard or do not remember, our autopilot took a dump when crossing the Atlantic. We thought we had it fixed but she just was not working 100%. We had a Raymarine technician come to the boat when we were hauled out and needless to say he was of little help. It is very frustrating when we ask for help and they do not listen to what all we have done, and they continue to do all the same things and just repeat to us what we already know. It is a waste of time. We ended up ordering the part directly thru Raymarine and my Mom will be bringing it next week.

Anyways, we were quite pleased when turning the corner of south Grenada, we were able to shut down the engine, hook up the wind vane, and not hand steer. The last time we pointed the boat north was when we were leaving the Suez Canal 9 months ago. Around 2:30am the winds shifted, so the engine came on and we were hand steering. With the wind on our nose, even though they were predicted it to be coming from the east, we were slow going, averaging 3.5 knots most of the trip. We pulled into Soufriere Bay just before sunset where two boat boys exclaiming "Welcome to Paradise!" greeted us.

Soufriere is a small town between the towering twin Pitons, a landmark so prominent it is on the country's flag. The boat boys guided us in and helped us tie our stern line to a coconut tree ashore, for a small fee, where we are currently anchored. This area of St. Lucia is part of the Marine Management or SMMA. It is patrolled by park rangers whom collect a small fee and regulate all anchoring, moorings, diving and fishing.

I think our current location in front of the Hummingbird Resort is better than some of the moorings as we have a spectacular view of Petit Piton. Waking this morning to the sound of singing birds, roosters crowing, and the fresh smell of lush surroundings more than makes up for the unpleasant trip here.

Our plans today include a trip to the customs and immigration offices to check in and then explore the flora and fauna that surrounds us.

One Love,
Amy and Tom