Christmas in Rodney Bay

We took off for St Lucia on the 23rd of Dec around 11:00 am knowing we would only go as far as the top end of St Vincent and stop for the night there. With an early departure the next morning we would arrive long before sunset. The winds were supposed to be dropping down and the seas will follow in the next 24 hours or so. But ... the weather man didn't see this one coming. We were in not bad winds and waves when we left Bequia and motor sailed along the coast and when we passed the volcano at the northern tip of St Vincent we were in for a ride. We had the main triple reefed and the jib in and out as the winds decreased and increased. Dawn and Laurie were ahead of us and they kept checking in to see we were ok. We had wind gusts of around 36 knots and they had 44 knots....  too much for sure. You can check out their blog for a full run down. http//corbettgonesailing.blogspot.com

When we arrived in Rodney Bay that is when the fun really began. We were anchoring in a thunderstorm unlike anything we have seen in southwestern Ontario. They don't get thunder and lightening like that around here. Brian was on the fore deck handling the anchor and chain as I was on the helm ...a large stainless steel wheel with lightening all around us. It was pretty intense for sure. It rained so hard and so long it knocked out bridges and roads and generally made for a very sad Christmas  for many locals. Land slides, homes washed out and loss of life in many communities. The airport has reopened and things are getting back to normal but just this morning Dawn and I went to the grocery store and saw many empty shelves. Especially the fresh produce and meats were pretty slim. People were buying up cases of bottled water as there are shortages and no water supply to many locations. At the restaurant the washrooms were locked due to lack of water. 

We are off to Cat Tales for dinner. Dawn has a new pressure cooker and she loves to use it. We have a BBQ so we make out quite well around. We have been keeping up on the general chores.... laundry and barnacle scraping. A walk to Cas en Bas is in order tomorrow for about 10 people from various boats in the anchorage. Never a dull moment for sure.