Goodnight From St. Lucia - Pigeon Island

Oh no ya don't!  No nesting here!

Now that we're mobile again... we found the anchorage just outside of Rodney Bay Lagoon a little TOO mobile!  Rolly that is!  Just a short distance across the bay is a lovely anchorage off of Pigeon Island... We tried to get our crowd to move there with us but they were dug in and comfortable... so we left them with plans to meet up on our side for happy hour!  They've all got faster dinghies than we do!








We anchored in the sandy spot we had marked on our chart plotter and went ashore to visit the Park.  We ended up joining the St. Lucia National Trust... not just because it lets you have free access to this and other parks in the island.. but because we wanted to do some volunteering during our stay here...

There is some confusion about shore access here... The dinghy dock is on Park grounds and if you want to use it during the Park's open hours, you have to pay the park entrance fee, per person, per day.  Joining the SLNT also gave us dinghy dock access and use of the lovely little beaches just along the anchorage.

But after the Park closes, boats may use the dinghy dock to come ashore to visit the restaurant, Jambe de Bois... where we're meeting the crowd for happy hour tonight!  But first, we're going to enjoy those beaches!

We started with a walk outside the Park...  There is a little public area between the Park and the private Sandal's Resort.  They have parking and several little restaurant/bars where you can get local creole food and a beer to enjoy the view.

Yeah!  We're on the INSIDE!

I was ready to turn around when we reached the entrance gate to the Sandal's part of the beach... It stretched out long and inviting but we are outsiders... Bruce surprised me by asking if it was OK to walk the beach!  Evidently the beaches are public so they allowed us in... just for a walk.

We couldn't resist!  These chairs are too preposterous!

Some local fishermen were just bringing their catch to the beach, yes... inside the resort!

Wow!  Just act like these tourists aren't even here, why don't ya...











We stopped right in the middle of their operation and watched up close as they sorted the catch.  The birds... not pigeons... were highly interested in this process as well.

The other side of Pigeon Island

Bruce getting a little workout in...

Unwilling to pay for a chaise, we hung our stuff on a branch to keep it out of the sand

This is a heavenly little spot...

Pyxis arriving from across the bay just in time

We went back to the boat for a nap and to get ready for dinner.. some of our friends were coming just for drinks and the live entertainment later on...  But we met up with Pyxis for a meal.

The bar

Our table was on the patio overlooking the Bay

I'm sad to say I didn't catch the name of the entertainers that night... The woman sang and did a wonderful job of changing up lots of old favorites to give them a very unique new sound.  The violin player... just WOW!  I couldn't believe the sounds coming from one single person...  It was just amazing and top rate entertainment... for nothing!  Of course we did leave a tip!

Dinner was great and the drinks at 2-1 were strong and cheap... The ambiance in this place is just perfect... Nothing matches, most of the tables and chairs look like they're made from stuff that washed up on the beach or was carved from a tree out back... It's just the kind of place that reminds us of why we left the predictable monotony of our lives back in the States.

Tomorrow we will all head out for Marigot Bay for a few days, then onward to SVG and points further south!  We've loved our time in Rodney Bay and St. Lucia as a whole.  We will be back! Goodnight from St. Lucia!