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Diane's Diary5/24 Thursday Kajsa is leaving for the US tomorrow for a quick visit. We asked them to come over for Bon Voyage cocktails but they moved the boat into a marina so asked us to come over there instead. The marina has a beautiful deck we can all sit at which would be better for everyone. We heard S/V Passagio over the SSB coming into Rodney Bay so we invited them over also since they & Kajsa are both from South Carolina. I dinghied into the lagoon around 9 am & ordered the rental car for tomorrow (we'll drive Kaijsa to the airport & then tour the island), went to the dive shop, supermarket, stopped by Kajsa & got back to the boat around 11am. The supermarket actually had genoa salami from the US so I was able to make my salami roll appetizers. I even got Larry to help make them so we could get going to meet Heidi sooner. We dinghied over to Heidi around noon & just hung out by the pool. Later that afternoon, I dinghied back to Destiny & Larry & Heidi took a taxi right to the Waterside Marina where Kajsa was. By 6pm, Destiny, Kajsa & Passagio we were all at the marina. It wa nice to sit on land around a big open deck. We are used to sitting in cockpits all the time. It was nice having a lot of space with a real table to put all the food & booze on. We 6 cruisers were all dying for a good American pizza so we ordered Domino's pizza. We all joked that we wouldn't eat it at home but here it's probably the closest to American pizza we can get. It actually wasn't that bad- or maybe it's just been so long since we had a good American pizza. Think our favorite pizza place at home would deliver? 5/25 Friday We left the boat by 8am to pick up the rental car. They drive on the left here & poor Larry was the designated driver. It's hard to get out of old habits since we are so used to driving on the right but Larry did an excellent job of driving on the left. We picked up Heidi & Kajsa. We drove Kajsa to the airport at the south end of the island. We left them off by 11am but their flight wasn't until 1pm. Afterward, we drove to Soufriere. We stopped at the Sulfur Springs, which were boiling hot springs. It smelled like rotten eggs. Then we stopped at the Jalousie Hilton, had lunch & I went snorkeling. I got to see some really great fish including a school of reef squid. The Hilton was beautiful except they need a bus to drive the guests around the resort since it's so steep. Also, the hotel is extremely isolated- there is nothing else around it. I enjoyed it for the day but would have felt too isolated to be there for a week or so. We drove to the Gardens that were beautiful. But we all were getting concerned with the time because the road we were on was constant hairpin curves & we wanted to be back before it got dark. Driving that road after dark would have been dangerous. Since we had the rental car, we decided to go out to dinner that night. Heidi treated us to a wonderful dinner at the Charthouse (not affiliated with that chain in the US). It was very expensive but the meal was fantastic. The best we have had in a long time. I had the ribs & they were excellent. Thanks again Heidi! We didn't get back to the boat till around 11pm- way past our normal bedtime of around 9-10. 5/26 Saturday Heidi wanted to go shopping so I dinghied Larry over to the Hyatt so he could go with her. They took a cab over to JQ's mall in Rodney Bay. I later took the dinghy over to Shamrocks & met them at the Lime for lunch. We were dinghying back to the boat when it started to pour- we all got soaked. Heidi took a taxi back to the Hyatt. Larry & I finally moved the boat over near the Hyatt today as the winds have diminished. We were reluctant to move it as we knew our anchor was set well where we were. We went swimming at the Hyatt, took showers & then all came back to the boat for dinner. The second tropical wave of the season went through here today. Other than some rain, it was no big deal. We hope that's the highest winds we encounter on this whole trip- 20 to 25knots! 5/27 Sunday Most of the stores are closed today because it's Sunday but Heidi found out that Gablewoods Mall is opened so off we went by taxi. Larry & I rarely take taxis as the bus is so cheap- less than 1USD. I bought a few pair of shorts & matching tank shirts for 10EC each- about $4USD. We took the bus back to Rodney Bay & ate lunch in Pizza, Pizza - not as good as Domino's but not bad. At 3 we then took a taxi back to the hotel & relaxed by the pool for the rest of the day. 5/28 Monday Memorial Day No holiday here in St. Lucia. Heidi wanted to go shopping again so we went back to Castries. We walked around Castries & did some shopping. Had a horrible roti lunch at the Café Panache. Heidi was not too impressed with all the markets- she didn't like that all the vendors hassle you to buy something but we are used to it so it doesn't bother us as much. We walked back to Pt. Seraphine mall as Heidi wanted to see some jewelry again. We were back on the beach at the Hyatt by 4:30pm. We had a wonderful dinner at the Hyatt tonight. We didn't get back to the boat until 11pm. 5/29 Tuesday On Heidi's last day we just all wanted to sit at the beach & relax. Unfortunately, cruise ship passengers overran the beach. The beaches in St. Lucia are public property. The hotel was able to keep them off the lounge chairs but couldn't stop them from using on the beach. Their noisy chatter ruined our quiet day on the beach & the peacefulness was really disturbed. If I was paying that much money to stay at the Hyatt I would have been upset also. I know they upset Heidi. We decided to eat at the Caribbean buffet night at the Hyatt & the food was quiet good. Afterwards, Heidi wanted to have a drink at the bar so we didn't get back to the boat until 11pm. 5/30 Wednesday Heidi is leaving today. Her trip seemed to go really fast. We enjoyed having her visit. Come again Heidi! Anyway, we met her for breakfast at the hotel at 9am. It was the first time we bacon & omelet's in a long time. The breakfast buffet was good but since the hotel only has about 50 rooms currently occupied, they didn't have the big buffets they normally do. We don't have eggs too often here- in all the islands they are expensive about $2.50 USD per dozen. We hung out by the pool & Heidi finished her shopping. She left at 12:30 & were sorry to see her go. Afterwards, we went back to the boat. We have been neglected all the boat chores we normally do during her visit. We cleaned the boat bottom this afternoon. We had not done it for awhile & it was really bad. We worked on it from 1:30- 4pm & were both exhausted when we got out. The wind was really blowing so it was difficult to clean as the current kept trying to sweep you away. We didn't even finish cleaning but were both exhausted. We wanted to go back to the Hyatt & take showers while we still had the chance. We met some friends Heidi had made at the hotel. He came over to let us know it was happy hour at the bar- but we had already known. We said we didn't bring any money to the hotel with us. He offered to buy us a drink -it was very nice of them. However, their little girl accidentally spilled over half of my drink! The drinks were very expensive- $7 each but at happy hour it was 2 for 1. Normally, we just drink on the boat as it's cheaper that way. We took showers at the hotel & were back at the boat by 7pm. We had leftovers for dinner & then it was to bed by 9. I was exhausted from her visit. |