PIGEON ISLAND ST LUCIA CHRISTMAS EVE DEC 24 2012

DEC 24, 2012 PIGEON ISLAND, ST LUCIA
CHRISTMAS EVE - HOW MARVELLOUS!

We looked out the port hole and saw Pigeon Island and the Fort on top! It's about 3 years since we climbed to the Fort on top - quite steep but so hot! Today we would be quite happy to just look up! Sandals Grand Antigua is along the beach here, very noticable with all the red roofs and suncots and cabanas along the beach. Wind Spirit would be running tenders between the island and the ship and had an arrangement for sun cots on the beach for anyone wishing to swim, snorkel or just hang out.

There are several tours available today, zip line, dive, snorkel, sight seeing and visit the town of Castries, or island sight see and visit the town of Souffriere. Since we have been here twice before we decided to have a quiet day and make it as far as the dock! We had a slow breakfast chatting with Putu and Ari - 2 very enjoyable crew members from Bali. They give such great service - as soon as you sit down at the Veranda they arrive with coffee for Terry, and latte for me. There is a wide variety of hot items to order, eggs any way, California, Spanish, or traditional eggs benedict amongst the list! My favourite item is the fresh muesli with fruit, sometimes followed by a piece of toast, english muffin, or Danish pastry (Terry is exercising massive control this time and restraining himself to only 1 or 2 pastries!)

We took the tender over to the island and sat at the small restaurant close by along the water where we had been told they had free internet if you bought a drink - so with cold beer local PITON beer and a diet coke, we spent over an hour sending and retrieving emails - while watching the sailboats pass by, the clouds coming and going, and relaxing in the sun. The restaurant, called Jambe de Bois (wooden leg or Peg Leg) named after a 16th Century Pirate who visited these shores. The WIFI connection was excellent and we saw several Wind Spirit crew members enjoying lunch and skyping on their phones with their families in Bali and Philippines - it was already Christmas Day in Asia and you could tell that the conversations were happy, but that the crew were wishing to be home with their families for Christmas.

Jambe de Bois had a pretty large menu and the smells from the kitchen were mouth watering. There is an outdoors deck, where we sat, with a variety of old wooden tables, chairs and benches - all with very unique characteristics and some of the furniture made from wood washed up on shore. It reminded us of Bankie Banks bar in Anguilla although that bar and restaurant sprawls much more than Jambe de Bois. We thought about a swim, but the last tender was leaving the dock at 2:45 for a scenic cruise along the Western Coast of St Lucia finishing with a scenic cruise past the Pitons around sunset. We decided to head back to the Wind Spirit. Sitting in a very old and faded yellow plastic kayak was a rastafarian with his arm hanging on to the dock - sitting on the dock he had about a dozen turtles made of shells for sale. We chatted with him - his children are in Canada and will be arriving today for Christmas. They have been granted the opportunity to finish their two final years of schooling in Canada and he is obviously very proud of them.
Pigeon Island used to be a small island just off the island of St Lucia. Several years ago they built a causeway (land fill) so that Pigeon Island is now connected, and part of, St Lucia but it has still retained its' name of Pigeon island. The Fort on Pigeon Island has a history of its' own.

We raised anchor and set off as promised - all 5 sails were raised and Wind Spirit looked beautiful as we sailed along the coast with the engines off. We arrived at the Pitons around 5pm and anchored - we could see all the cameras flashing in the various resorts and hotels up and down the very steep mountains here that drop, like all fjords, thousands of feet into the ocean - what a beautiful photo opportunity they had with the beautiful 5 white sails of the Wind Spirit set against the two pointed PITONS mountains and the sun setting behind us on the horizon.

Meanwhile we waited for the 20 folks on the Souffriere and Pitons Tour to arrive and come aboard by tender. They were obviously late arriving since it was pitch black when we went inside to get showered and changed for dinner and they still had not arrived. Folks on the morning sightseeing tour to Castries had arrived back just before 1pm, very late, and they said the traffic in Castries was a nightmare - gridlock - and that was how we remembered the traffic in St Lucia. When we had stayed at Sandals Grand St Lucia several years before - the resort would provide a shuttle to take you to the other two Sandals properties in St Lucia - the Sandals Halycon and Sandals? Golf Resort. Each time we took the shuttle we always seemed to spend for ever in the bus held up in traffic - and you could be sure that with today being Christmas Eve, last day of shopping for the locals and visitors alike, that the traffic would be worse than ever.

Dinner tonight was Terry's favourite - Beef Wellington - although he has not found any restaurant yet as good as the beef Wellington we used to have at Oliver's in Calgary 20+ years ago! Terry looked forward to dinner all day - the menu is posted every morning in the very centre of the ship by the shore excursion/pursers' office. We had a quiet table for 2 and dinner was excellent - we enjoyed a bottle of Rutherfords Cabernet Sauvignon from Sonoma California - very smooth and recommended by Cesar the sommelier on board. Tomorrow is snorkelling in the Tobago Cayes - time to get some rest and be ready for the day ahead!