29 May 2011
After a restful couple of days in Martinique, we headed on to Rodney Bay, St Lucia, where there is a branch of Island Water World, from whom I had purchased my first Pure sine 1000w Inverter. It had failed early on in its life, and its replacement had gone the same way in the BVI.
The need to solve the inverter problem led to our earlier than planned departure from Martinique….. ie before we had stocked up on wines, cheese, sausages and all those other lekker French goodies. The weather conditions prompted this stupid decision to forgo the shopping trip, but we did at least have a very comfortable sail at last!
I will spare you all the frustrations of trying to get an American company (Inverter supplier) to honour their warranties without putting their customers through an inquisition… I have seen it far too often now, as they imply the failure MUST be the clients fault, and will not replace the warrantied product until you have sent it back to them, at your non refundable expense, for their inspection. Apologies for inconvenience etc just do not come into it! No wonder Ralph Nader made a name for himself there! We in “3rd world South Africa” have a far better understanding of customer service, and our obligations as suppliers, than I have experienced with so called 1st World US companies!
I was lucky to have the MD of IWW, an ex South African, batting for me and was eventually able to upgrade to a better top of the range unit, which, touch wood, will prove more reliable!
Rodney Bay is a big wide protected anchorage, with good shopping and infrastructure…… but we tend to prefer the more remote, quieter and interesting places to anchor. We had intended to pick up a buoy between the magnificent Pitons.
Unfortunately, when we got there we found the buoys to be right in front of a noisy construction site. Those further away were surrounded by a floating mass of Sargossa weed, pushed in by the current.
We had wanted to snorkel and swim there , but fearing that there was also likely to be an accumulation of stinging jellyfish, we took our photos, and pushed on to the fishing village of Vieux Fort, on the southern tip of St Lucia, close to the International airport. 
Once anchored , we walked around the little town, checked out at the airport, bought a small tuna (embarrassing to have to admit defeat!), and returned to prepare for our trip over to St Vincent, where we had been told by experienced old salts, that Cumberland Bay was “now safe”, and could be used as a night stop.
The need to solve the inverter problem led to our earlier than planned departure from Martinique….. ie before we had stocked up on wines, cheese, sausages and all those other lekker French goodies. The weather conditions prompted this stupid decision to forgo the shopping trip, but we did at least have a very comfortable sail at last!
I will spare you all the frustrations of trying to get an American company (Inverter supplier) to honour their warranties without putting their customers through an inquisition… I have seen it far too often now, as they imply the failure MUST be the clients fault, and will not replace the warrantied product until you have sent it back to them, at your non refundable expense, for their inspection. Apologies for inconvenience etc just do not come into it! No wonder Ralph Nader made a name for himself there! We in “3rd world South Africa” have a far better understanding of customer service, and our obligations as suppliers, than I have experienced with so called 1st World US companies!
I was lucky to have the MD of IWW, an ex South African, batting for me and was eventually able to upgrade to a better top of the range unit, which, touch wood, will prove more reliable!
Rodney Bay is a big wide protected anchorage, with good shopping and infrastructure…… but we tend to prefer the more remote, quieter and interesting places to anchor. We had intended to pick up a buoy between the magnificent Pitons.
Unfortunately, when we got there we found the buoys to be right in front of a noisy construction site. Those further away were surrounded by a floating mass of Sargossa weed, pushed in by the current.
We had wanted to snorkel and swim there , but fearing that there was also likely to be an accumulation of stinging jellyfish, we took our photos, and pushed on to the fishing village of Vieux Fort, on the southern tip of St Lucia, close to the International airport. 
Once anchored , we walked around the little town, checked out at the airport, bought a small tuna (embarrassing to have to admit defeat!), and returned to prepare for our trip over to St Vincent, where we had been told by experienced old salts, that Cumberland Bay was “now safe”, and could be used as a night stop.
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