Farewell to Rodney Bay

                                                    20/01/2012

One can only put up with jetskies roaring about in an anchorage for a limited period…. Even in a large, pretty and well protected bay! 3 weeks was our limit!

Before we left, we managed to meet up with a whole host of new cruising friends, as well as others who had sailed up from Grenada and Carriacou.

One of the fun get togethers was a dinghy “raft up”, where about 30 cruisers met at one point along the beachfront, to form one huge raft. Each boat brought something to share, and the “raft” changed shape, amoeba like, as dinghies disconnected and moved around the raft to meet other people. With so much movement, it was inevitable that the one or two dinghy anchors holding the raft in position, would drag…. And so the raft slowly drifted out to sea! By the time the sun set we only had two yachts between ourselves and the horizon!

We also took a walk up to the top of Fort Rodney, from where we could look over to Martinique, some 25miles away. It was from this Fort that the look outs could watch any attempts by the French Navy to attack the British fleet anchored behind Pigeon Island. Ownership of this strategic position changed many, many times. We just wanted to see what point of sail would be required to make St Anne when we left…35 - 40degrees! All the old canons carry the Royal coat of Arms, but I did question the sensibility of the gun carriages having square axles in their wheels!

We were not the only boats on the move, and watched as the World ARC departed for their one year circumnavigation, which ends next year in the same bay. There were about 20 entrants, and it appeared that showing off flags was a very important qualifying condition!

On our last evening before we left, the Club Med cruise ship presented an interesting backdrop, to yet another gorgeous sunset!