Thursday, July 7
Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

SOS, Chris Parker!

Due to that tricky mainsail batten, a broken winch and port engine troubles, we changed course on Tuesday to skip Dominica (bummer!) and head straight for St. Lucia. Longest passage yet - arrived around 4am this morning to Rodney Bay (I steered us into the bay in the dark and set the anchor - and didn't hit anything! whew!), and all fell asleep as soon as the anchor grabbed the bottom. There is something really amazing about arriving in port at night and waking up to a whole new scene! We are here in St. Lucia for a week before 6 guests arrive to do a weeklong charter through the Grenadines - didn't know that chartering the boat was even a possibility on this delivery, but hey, we may make some moolah! Too bad Robin's CatBird shirt fits her like a dress..well at least she doesn't have to worry about finding some khaki shorts!
We both are feeling pretty boated-out after a long 48-hr sail/motor and some drama with the Captain's wife, but we're trying to keep our energy up and stay positive! It seems like every day we have some major mechanical failure, but I think that just comes with the territory. I'm getting good at taking apart winches and putting them back together again (and ducking
flying chrome, and keeping my fingers
on my hands)!
Captain Chris has joined us for the St. Kitts to Trinidad leg, and we are relieved to have him aboard! He's a great big bear of a guy, a hard worker, knowledgeable, and super upbeat, which is a blessing when another passenger
has nothing nice to say...He is also a professional chef, so Big Z and I
don't need to pretend we can cook for the charter guests!
When it was just Robin and I and Captain Don, sailing through the night (as is his preference) was pretty intimidating - one of us would be up on the bridge for hours through squalls and big seas, and the only person who really knew what he was doing was either asleep or down below trying to keep the engines from overheating. With Chris aboard, we now have someone who is not only a great sailor, he also understands how to communicate with his crew so that we're all on the same page! Beforehand, we had to look at the logbook to figure out why the port
engine hatch was billowing smoke, or that yes, we did indeed pass Dominica on purpose, so we can stop worrying we overshot it!