Saturday 1/1/11
Despite being out late last night I got up fairly early and made coffee and apple pancakes for the rest of the crew that were on board. I couldn’t find the baking powder so they were a little heavy, did the trick after a night of drinking. It lazy morning and I was able to catch up on some work issues. After Nick rose from the dead we took the bus to the strip in Rodney Bay. I had a craving for some crispy fried chicken and as luck would have it the new Church’s Fried Chicken restaurant was open. We walked down to the beach in front of the Bay Gardens Beach Resort for some rays and an afternoon siesta. The swells had been running heavy for the last few days and a good portion of the beach was eroded away; many of the trees that are usually well above the surf line had their roots undermined. We did a little swimming but with the heavy surf and the rocks along where it was breaking we decided to go back to the marina and spend some time in the pool. Later we all got together and went to the Red Snapper for dinner; it’s a stop we usually make when we are in St. Lucia. I ordered a Flowering Onion, $10 EC (like a Blooming Onion) as an appetizer to share with the group. They must not be common in the UK as some of the crew had not tried one before. I also had the Red Snapper, sautéed and served with Lime Herb Butter, $58 EC; it was perfect, moist and fresh. Nick was not very hungry so he ordered a bowl of conch chowder, $16 EC, and an appetizer portion (2) of crab cakes, $20 EC. He did not like the chowder, it was in a milk based broth and was lacking in conch. The crab cakes were nice with a good portion of crab meat and fried until they were very crispy on the outside. We finished the night with ice cream form the place below the restaurant, sugar cone with 2 scoops $ 9.5 EC. We dingied back to the marina and had a nightcap at H2O.
Sunday 2/1/11
Today is the last day of the charter so we all started packing our things. Nick had gone out again with John and Trendy so he arrived back at the boat about 9:00 am. We did the usual photo and e-mail swap that is the official end to the trip. We shared a taxi with Arrville, one of the guests, to the Bay Garden Inn where Nick and I will spend the next 4 days. I was pleasantly surprised by the hotel. We got a very good price, less than $100 US per night, and were not expecting the facilities to be as nice as they were. The reception staff made us feel right at home as soon as we arrive and we got our complimentary welcome rum punchs. I met Arrville for dinner at 6:00, we decided on the Fire Grill, as we had both been craving a good hamburger, and were told they had the best. Nick had gone down to the beach earlier and met up with Trendy, who joined us for dinner. This restaurant is very nice with great ambiance and was probably the most posh cheeseburger I had ever eaten. It was served with home cut fries and onion rings, and an assortment of local sauces and relishes. The pumpkin chutney was amazing as were the marinated shredded carrot relish. Four cheeseburgers, three beers and two bottles of water were $270 EC with tax and tip. The boys went down to Happy Bar, Arrville returned to his hotel and I decided to have a few drinks on the strip, stopping at Rehab and Tequila Joes. I finished up the night working on some photos and had a nightcap of a bottle of Guinness I purchased from one of the food trucks along the road.


Drink all day at home, your friends worry about you; do it on vacation and they say "what a good time you're having". Save your friends needless worry, travel more!