St Lucia to Martinique -Mud Baths and Breakdowns

St. Lucia — Laborie Bay & Soufrière

We arrived in Soufrière and spent two days exploring the area. It’s a very cruiser-friendly town with several good restaurants and small grocery stores. Our first dinner was at a rooftop restaurant with great views overlooking the town.

The next day we discovered an amazing marine park with three excellent snorkeling spots. After a few hours in the water, we headed to the beach for lunch at a local hotel and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing on the sand.

Since the airport is at the far end of the island, we made a trip west to Laborie Bay, where Junior, our boat boy, met us and helped get us set up on a mooring. Andrew arrived by taxi to the local dock that afternoon, and we got him settled aboard.

That evening we had dinner at the unique Mama Tilly’s — imagine your mom setting up a restaurant on a slightly falling-down back porch with no more than four tables. She’s been cooking there for 27 years, and it’s easy to see why people keep coming back. The food was terrific and the prices very reasonable. We each had a cocktail and a full dinner with six sides, and the total bill for the three of us was just $52.

We later returned to Soufrière, where Jahleel and his “Uncle Dave” took us on an amazing full-day tour. We started with a nature hike to scenic lookouts overlooking the famous Piton Mountains. From there we headed to the volcanic mud baths, where hot springs flow from the mountainside into large pools with water around 100°F. After soaking, we spread exfoliating mud all over our bodies and let it dry. Uncle Dave then added some darker mud for very interesting body art. After rinsing off in the pools, we emerged feeling refreshed and looking about 15 years younger.

Our next stop was Piton Falls. After a short jungle hike, we reached a small waterfall fed by hot springs. We enjoyed a warm, refreshing rinse before heading to the botanical gardens. The gardens are famous for Diamond Falls, which were featured in the Superman movie when he flies around the Piton Mountains and past the falls.

We returned to town for a local lunch and then stumbled upon the annual Baton celebration, where a baton is passed across the country as communities come together to celebrate their heritage — a perfect, unexpected ending to our time in St. Lucia.

St Lucia - Marigot Bay & Rodney Bay

Marigot Bay is a beautiful, well-protected harbor surrounded by steep green hills and is a popular stop for superyachts. One of the highlights was the local beach, where we ordered a “Coconut Dream” drink — a fresh coconut cut open right at your chair, topped off with a generous pour of coconut rum. Simple, perfect, and very St. Lucia.

The following day we headed north to Rodney Bay, the main tourist hub of the island. While there, we hiked up to a 1700s-era British lookout that was used to defend the island from the French, who were based about 25 miles away in Martinique. The views alone made the climb worthwhile.

After returning to the boat, we discovered a serious issue: our windlass had failed. This is the motor that raises and lowers our 75-pound anchor and 250 feet of chain, and without a functioning windlass, our trip would effectively be over as anchoring would be impossible.

What followed was a very stressful day of phone calls and emails to marine shops in St. Lucia and Martinique, made even more challenging by the fact that most only spoke French. After exhausting nearly every option, I finally tracked down a replacement motor at the last place I could find. A few hours later, I had removed the old motor, installed the new one, and successfully tested the system. We were back up and running — a huge relief.

With the boat operational again, our next stop is the French island of Martinique 🇫🇷⚓

Martinique – St. Anne and Grand Anse d’Arlet

Martinique is very different from any other islands we have visited. It is part of the EU and is French—very French. All signs and menus are in French, and nearly everyone speaks French and little if any English. We have heard almost no English during our trip. It is also a much more developed island, with nice stores, shops, bus service, and thousands of sailboats. The French love to sail, and Martinique has become a hub for exploring the Caribbean.

Our first stop was St. Anne, a beautiful town with a Catholic church, shops, restaurants, and a small grocery store. We found a local pizza shop and enjoyed a pizza night on the front of the boat. The next day, we explored a nearby town that was more of a boating hub and then spent the afternoon on a gorgeous local beach.

On our final day there, we decided to spend a day on land and bought a day pass to Club Med. It was a nice change of pace: a huge buffet lunch, unlimited drinks, beach volleyball, and time lounging in chairs. We all returned to the boat full, sandy, and a bit sore from hours of volleyball.

Our last day with Andrew was spent at Grand Anse d’Arlet. After spending over an hour trying to get our anchor to hold, we spent the afternoon snorkeling, where we saw turtles, eels, lobsters, and countless fish. We headed ashore for a beachside drink and dinner, only to discover that most kitchens don’t open for dinner until at least 7:00 p.m. We ended up finding a crêpe restaurant that was open, but the menu was written in cursive French—which, apparently, Google Translate does not work with. We weren’t entirely sure what we ordered, but it turned out to be pretty good.

After three days in Martinique, Andrew declared that he is not a fan of French food. He just wanted a good American hamburger.

We drop Andrew off tomorrow in the capital. We have really enjoyed our time with him but having Andrew on board made us miss Rob even more, given that he was not well enough to travel. After Andrew’s departure, Sue and I will spend the next two weeks exploring the northern part of Martinique, Dominica, and Guadeloupe before meeting our next guests in Antigua.