Friday afternoon the rain cleared – thankfully as Mum’s bottom lip was definitely quivering there for a while!   So we headed out to the pool and enjoyed a few rays… Richard came along later and regaled us with stories of his dive with Dan at the Pitons. I’m really glad that they had a nice time and it looks like I missed a really good trip judging from the photos they took.

In the evening we headed out to find the Starfish restaurant. This used to be in the marina and relocated last year.   We had previously really enjoyed our meals there so was hoping it hadn’t changed much.  Well, it was a much smaller place with very few covers… But the food was beautifully presented and it tasted real good too…. For a small place the service was excellent and we felt very pampered. Richard is not really a dessert person but even he was tempted by the banana tart. We had a really nice chilled evening.

Saturday and Richard is waiting on someone so he takes me across quickly to the other side of the channel behind Morphie and I walk to Mum’s hotel. Only a ten minute wander and I really enjoyed it having a look at some of the large waterside properties and the abundance of flowers everywhere…. 

Today we are camped on the beach and it is another cruise ship day!    Rammed…. and some pretty good people watching activity – especially the Segway man that goes up and down trying to drum up business.  Richard gets more boat jobs completed and joins us for lunch at the local concession set up…  Great chicken as ever and we enjoy a cheap bucket of beers to boot. We noticed that there were a lot of local children around today and a couple of them were playing hide and seek behind my chair. They seemed to be fascinated by me so Richard told me to teach them ‘round and round the garden…’ Well – they loved it!   Before long I had a queue of them waiting for their turn. The bigger ones then learnt the rhyme and the actions and started to do it to the babies. One very little one… maybe a year old… was too scared so just watched and laughed. I was really surprised when her Rasta dad picked her up and started to do it to her too. A really nice time….

In the evening we headed along the strip to the Spice of India. Mum is choosing where we eat by the way…. This restaurant gets very good write-ups so we were looking forward to it.  Very up-market Indian with great decor but we thought the menu was a little limited.  But we all found something we liked so ordered away and sat back and watched the people around us. Great food – although my Madras curry could have had a bit more sauce for my taste – and pretty good service. Enjoyed ourselves and started the relatively long walk back to mum’s hotel…. stopping at Rehab (the bar) on the way back for a quick one. Richard had a Bob Marley cocktail and it turned up green – yuck!!! I stuck to the wine…

We escorted mum back safely to her room and headed back towards the marina. Walking along F dock towards Morphie we saw that Ruth and Dan were still up and about…. This is very unusual behaviour for Dan – he is usually asleep by 9.16 pm prompt!!!! Turns out they had stayed up specially to see us as on Sunday they have guests arriving and will be heading back out with them…. What a lovely surprise. So we went onboard and had a few nightcaps… Dan made it past midnight! Good job….

Sunday and I went round to see mum as usual while Richard tackled cleaning the hull….. He has been doing a great job while I’ve been having girlie time with mum – thanks!  Mum and I had another pool day and this time we tried out the hot tub – was so hot it was hotter than a bath!!  We didn’t manage to stay in for very long that was for sure. When Richard joined us we went off to the beach to buy some rotis for lunch… Unfortunately they were not very nice. Oh well, you can’t win them all. Early afternoon we loaded mum into the dinghy and took her to visit Morphie for a little while. Then we wandered to the boardwalk for happy hour. We had our bucket of beers and Ruth joined us, while we enjoyed the sunset and the little lizards that run up and down the rail.

Ruth had been in Bogus World – home alone on Evensong – while Dan was waiting at the airport for their guests. Unfortunately the plane was delayed. Dan eventually turned up with Kent and Denny – and we all enjoyed some time chatting before they headed off to Evensong.  We then went to the Bosun restaurant and had a leisurely meal. Lovely….  Later on we put mum in a taxi back to her hotel and went back to Morphie. Walking along the dock and we were hailed by Evensong to join them for a drink.  What, another late night for Dan?  Yep… He managed to stay up past 10 pm again.  Had a good time together as always and we headed off to bed pretty tired.

Monday morning I was up early and over to the hotel again…. another pool day beckoned. Richard stayed busy and managed to get some electronic issues resolved. Great job!  Had a nice lazy morning and then Richard joined us – so we had some pool bobbing time.

In the evening we headed out early for dinner, back to Starfish, and then walked along to Delirus for the St Patrick’s Day party that had been announced on banners along the strip. We were really looking forward to the Irish band and maybe some dancing. We got there and it was as quiet as a grave. Errr, excuse me, but what time does the band start?  The answer was unexpected “oh the St Patrick’s Day party was on Saturday”. What???   But it is today!!!!   Oh no they say, we don’t have parties on a Monday. But they did have an offer on the Guinness. Really really disappointed – so we just had a quick drink, wandered back via Rehab, and we all had an early night.

Tuesday we said our goodbyes to Patrick and Lucie on the radio as they are heading north to Martinique.   We also went to say farewell to Dan and Ruth on Evensong before I went off to see mum. We are back on the beach – soooo hot!   So we spent most of our time hiding in the shade reading or in the sea bobbing.  Richard joined us later and we did more of the same. It really feels like we are on holiday!  While we were on the beach we watched Evensong head off to the Pitons… Bye!   Waved like crazy but I don’t think they saw us…

Later on we went to the St Lucia yacht club – enjoyed another spectacular sunset and then into Spinnakers for dinner.

Spinnakers is really pretty at night with all its fairy lights lit up. I ordered a lamb shank – lamb is pretty rare down in the islands, so was pretty excited to see it on the menu. Well… it turned up…. and it was horrible. So bad that I thought I was actually going to throw up after a few mouthfuls – the sauce was gloopy and way too rich, a bit like something out of a Ragu jar – and I couldn’t eat it. Mum and Richard enjoyed their meal and I just drank water until I felt a bit better. Could have been too much sun as well I suppose but never mind….. These things happen.

Wednesday and I’m up and about early…. and bump into Glen and Pam from Blue Pearl and their guests.   Nice to (briefly) catch up.   When I go over to the hotel mum and I decide to have another blistering hot, blue sky, beach day. Mum and I are really enjoying people watching and all the comings and goings of boats.  Mum is tickled pink by the local fruit and veg man in his boat as he goes around selling coconut water.   We also spotted Cutter Loose leaving too – we had bumped into Eric in the marina a couple of times, but haven’t had a chance to catch up with him or Pat properly… Hopefully we’ll see them again before they haul for the season.

We had another leisurely afternoon and made arrangements to meet mum at 7pm. Tonight was the manager’s weekly cocktail party but she didn’t fancy going this week – but by the time we met her she had actually popped in and had drunk a very strong rum punch!    We went out for our last meal of her trip – and back to the Chinese which is a favourite of all of us. We had a lovely meal and headed back to the hotel. The band was still playing so we settled in for a drink. Some people were dancing and mum had ants in her pants!   Pretty soon she is off dancing and is joined by a mega skinny Aunt Sally look alike who managed to dance just like a zombie extra from Michael Jackson’s Thriller video.  Absolutely hysterical to watch. Then mum dragged me up and I did a quick boogie before sitting down again…  Then we were joined by this slightly inebriated woman and her husband who said that mum had done the best ‘Elvis tribute’ dance she had ever ever seen. LOL… And she was serious!!!  Of course mum was pretty smug at being told she was a great dancer… It was a fun end to a great day.

Thursday and it is mum’s last day.  She is leaving at 4.30 pm and we have been trying to get her a late check out – but, unfortunately, her room is already booked for someone coming in on the early afternoon flight. But the lovely head receptionist said to pop back at 11 am to see what she can do. Great…. so Mum and I get her all packed up and ready to go and head off to reception. We are handed a key to a ground floor room with pool access – and so we move her out. What we didn’t realise is that this is a suite – and wow, it’s huge! And complimentary! And it has a bath tub….. Anyway – by now it is getting on for lunchtime and Richard has joined us – so we have a good lunch in her hotel beach-side restaurant. Was really nice… and so was the wine!

After a final bob in the pool together we head off to her room – mum gets cleaned up and dressed for London, while we just make the most of the fantastic shower and unlimited hot water! Time to go… bags to reception… hugs and goodbyes all round to the staff who have made mum’s trip pretty special… and we wait for the minibus. It arrives only 10 minutes late – which is amazing for island time! – and sadly it is time for mum to leave. Oh no…. getting emotional…. was determined not to cry! Well… I failed…. miserably…. So we head back to the marina and I’m feeling a bit washed out. But I was perked up by good conversation with some volunteer youth workers and a bucket of beers. And then we had an early night on board.

This morning we had a lie in… and then hired a car for one day – noon to noon. Tiny little Chevrolet but enough for us… We have Richard and Fiona coming in on Tuesday for two weeks holiday onboard so we have a huge provisioning run to do as we are hoping to head south to the Grenadines so many meals will be on board rather than ashore. Getting shopping is always so much easier with a car in the islands, where you have to visit numerous shops to get what you want. Got about 75% of the list – in two shops – and back on board, found storage places for everything, and have had a lazy afternoon. Richard has just cooked me dinner while I’m typing this and we’re planning another early night as we want to hit the shops again early tomorrow. The other important job for tomorrow is to finalise timings with a taxi driver we have hired for Sunday – Carolyn and Ron are coming to St Lucia on a cruise ship, so we are organising a day out together. Very excited about seeing them!

Bye for now

Jan