Day 13 Sunday 18th January 2015 St Lucia

After a night of travelling on the Caribbean we woke up in St Lucia. Hot, 29C, sunny clear skies and still clear blue waters again.   I did a back bending yoga stretch session before leaving the cabin for breakfast. Staying flexible in body and mind are my only yoga goals, so I can often be found hanging upside down in all directions!

This morning we didn’t speak to any new passengers but we did bump into both the authors again  – Michael J Milford, who is carrying his book The Mansion with him making opportunist sales, he only has 2 left, and Brian McIntyre whose autobiography Have Boots will Travel is about to be published.  

Michael has had a few jobs from what I can gather before starting to write including the Merchant Navy. He also explained that in the 1970s he’d been a nursing assistant in mental health but couldn’t handle the hierarchy and was unable to modify his outspoken behaviour, like calling Matron darling. I think he also mentioned being deputy mayor at one point. Colourful, no nonsense character, champion  and spokesperson of the underdog. Now he lives back in his birthplace in Guernsey.

After breakfast we walked a little bit away from the port, where we were offered lots of unofficial tours and taxi rides on the way, declined and arrived “down town” in a cafe under an awning with an outside television showing first the cricket South Africa v. West Indies, and then a football match, Manchester City v Arsenal.  I found there was a unique atmosphere here. Everyone smiling, but a bit like when we were in Recife last year, (That's where Khachik's gold necklace was ripped off his neck in a market place) We both felt a need to be cautious, especially after we saw a liquor seller inside a cage for his own security!  It seemed as though something could kick off any time, but thankfully didn’t.   We made our way on to the fruit markets, the pop up stall holders and souvenir vendors who had heard of the ship coming in today. We browsed through beautiful craft here, batik,wood carving, coconut shell carving, beads, bracelets, a lot of different handicrafts.   Sadly there is poverty here and some very poorly looking people who so look like they need an NHS and a good meal. I was glad we’d taken some lunch with us today, but wished we’d taken more, although seriously it was a drop in an ocean, hopefully a little bit of comfort, although it wasn’t ever going match the comfort of rice and peas.

Polite notice

Pop up shop

We went to our first sail away party on the top deck today.  Entertainment team mustering up audience participation.  Loud Nelson Mandela tribute “Hope Johanna” and then Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” so Bob told us not to worry about a thing, because every little thing’s gonna be all right.  I felt really emotional when I heard that, We’ve done our fair share of worrying about things over our 25 years together.  Funny how things have a habit of turning out ok ;)

Clearance from the St Lucia port interestingly included clearance from the local airport as the runway is so very close to the water’s edge. Everything about the sail away was stunning, the colours, the warmth, the sun, the music and all the emotions.

So now we are heading for Aruba and getting closer to the Panama Canal,  then two stops in Mexico: Huatulco and Cabo San Lucas.

So here we are back in the cabin getting ready for our evening meal, so I will sign off for now and be back here tomorrow night as it’s a sea day and no chance of hi speed internet until Aruba. Bye for now.