Rodney Bay, St Lucia.
6 days between trips sounds like a decent amount of time to prepare, but this week has been crazy. A number of inevitable boat projects, provisioning, cleaning and cleaning and cleaning… Trisha, our new chef had to return home to be with her father who is struggling with cancer. A bad blow to both parties and we wish Trisha and of course her dad the best. Joaquin, a good friend from Seattle is flying down to handle the galley for the next trip, but finding a permanent chef is a big job that won’t get done soon enough, I’m sure.
Discovery, now decked out in her new sponsors logos is getting plenty of attention on the dock here in Rodney Bay, on the north end of St. Lucia. We’ve made friends with all the local kiters who are helping us get to know the area. Joel, who owns Tornado kiteboarding, the local school was psyched to take out our new Bularoo today, but Jody and I were unfortunately too busy getting Discovery all set for our next group who arrive Saturday to join the gang.
We’re still riding the glow wave of the first Epic and wanted to put up some more pictures of the trip. Going through the comments in the guest book just makes it all the more special. For all the promises and hopes putting the expedition together you never really know how it’s all going to go until it does. Will we really find unknown locations? Will they be what we all imagine? Will everyone get along?
If the rest of the 5 years could be just half as good as the first trip we’re in fine form. Everyone had an amazing journey. We had great sails, good winds; found some places to ride that were simply mind-blowing. We ate like kings- local lobster, killer bar-b-ques, feasts day in and day out. To have anchorages in a busy place like the Caribbean all to ourselves, to play all day. Extraordinary. It’s hard to make predictions this early into our Caribbean explorations, but I think the Grenadines will be hard to beat. The people and culture are gorgeous, the water is dreamily clear, each island is just a short hop from one to the next making for easy sails. It’s magical.
But…I’m hearing incredible things about Martinique, we already know the kiting in St Lucia is world class, Dominica has a sick surf break, and Antigua has paragliding right over the anchorage and some of the finest beaches in the Caribbean. That trip starts in two days. So I guess this week is the price we’ve got to pay!
