Jan. 7 A boozy day
Weather back in the US is causing flight problems for some of the crew hoping to spend a few days in St. Lucia before starting out on leg 1. The mornings are being spent checking on cancellations and looking for alternate routes, which are becoming fewer as the week goes on. I went for my usual walk, then back to the room for some internet. Trendy stopped by and we had some eye openers of rum and grapefruit juice, we decided to follow the old adage “you can’t drink all day if you don’t start in the morning”. The rest of the day was spent at the marina bars, Bosons, Boardwalk, and Bread Basket. It’s the same crowd here just about every day so there is always someone to talk to, weather back home being a major topic.
I made arrangements to meet Dan, Em and Robin for dinner; we would go to Golden Taste in Gros Islet, a place I have been trying to get them to try for a couple years. We took the bus into town and walked the couple blocks to the restaurant. It is a lot nicer inside than you might imagine from the appearance of the neighboring buildings; the tables are complete with a full setting of matching silverware. Dinners chosen were a mix of fish and chicken dishes, served with the usual sides. The dinner menu is a little pricier than the lunch menu, but when we were done the bill, including drinks, tax and tip was only 50 EC each. We walked back to the marina in an effort to burn off some of our meal. One fellow persisted in asking us for change after being told no several times, he was not threatening but was annoying; finally a pickup truck pulled up and yelled at him to “leave the people alone, don’t bother the people”, with that he was gone.
Everyone else was heading for the marina bars for a nightcap, but I was tired from my long day so I just took a bus back to the hotel and chilled out on the patio.
Jan. 8 A Touristy Day
When you stay at any of the Bay Gardens properties you get to use the facilities at the Bay Gardens Beach Resort, so I thought today would be a good day to do that. After my morning walk, I set up by the pool at the hotel getting a nice lounge chair in the sun. I hung out for a good part of the day working on my tan, I’ve switched to coconut oil now so it should darken up nicely.
I told Dan yesterday that I would help him with the shopping for the boat, on this trip everybody has to pitch in. He called about 1:00 and we agreed to meet in an hour or so. I didn’t want to shop o an empty stomach, so I stopped at Triangle Pub for a stewed pig tails meal and then was on my way. Shopping completed it was back to the hotel for a nap and some relaxing on the patio before heading over to the marina for a WARC happy hour.
The party was at Boardwalk Bar, just another met and greet with a couple speakers and free beer. I am starting to recognize the crew from some of the other boats, haven’t got the names down yet but do know them by which boat they are on. After the party was over, we took the dingy to Rodney Bay and had dinner at Pizza Pizza, pretty good pizza actually and reasonably priced. I stopped off for a couple drinks on the way home, but Rodney Bay was starting to get old and I am becoming anxious to get underway.
Jan. 9 A Rainy Day
Things are starting to improve with the flights from the US; regular Skyelarker, Kim was finally able to get a flight out after dealing with cancelations every day since Monday. We had made arrangements with Joel to do an airport transfer, since it looked like it was going to rain all day Trendy and I made the ride to Vieux Fort to pick up the guests. Unfortunately Arvils flight had been delayed in Miami, but Kim made it on time and with her luggage. I hadn’t traveled this route yet since the Christmas storm, so it was the first opportunity I had to see the damage. It was bad, but didn’t look as severe as in St. Vincent.
After the bags were dropped off, we went to the Bay Garden Beach Resort to have a couple drinks at the beach bar. It turned out to be happy hour, 2 for 1, so we had some passion fruit juice with vodka or rum in my case. Original plans were to meet at Bosuns for a crew dinner; but with the delay in the flights, and Kim having been up since 2:00 am and nothing to eat but airplane snacks, we decided to stop at Fire Grill and take advantage of their early bird menu.
We took the bus to the marina and stopped by Boardwalk Bar to say hello to everyone before going upstairs to Bosuns. All the guests have arrived now and it was our first time together as a full crew. Introductions were made to those who hadn’t met before and everyone had some travel stories to tell; but most importantly we were all here and tomorrow would be spent on boat and safety briefings along with some last minute shopping.

Hi Sammy. What, no pictures?? <img src="http://www.traveltalkonline.com/forums/images/graemlins/cry.gif" alt="" />

Sorry Carol, it kept timing out on me yesterday