Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

We love the French attitude towards customs and the formalities. It never costs a penny to clear in or out, and most of the time they just barely glance at your passport, if at all. Yesterday the customs "officer" (a ponytailed older guy running the fuel dock at the marina in Anse Mitan) had us fill out a blank form that had already been signed. Once we filled it out, he put the date next to his signature and we were ready to go. He was a cool guy, though. When he was looking at our passports he noticed Illinois and Arizona and said that he'd been to both places while on a trip across the US on old route 66. He said it was one of his top trips ever but that next time he would do it on a 'arley (French pronunciation of Harley).

Today we arrived in St. Lucia (LOO-sha) in the afternoon and headed over to the marina to clear in. We saw a Manta at the dock and went over to say hello, their boat is a little older than ours but they've been living on it for 5 years now. After chatting a bit we headed over to the supermarket which is in a really great outdoor shopping mall. We had heard mixed reviews from other cruisers about St. Lucia so we weren't sure what to expect, but judging from the nice stores and fabulous homes (they look like they were transplanted from Palm Beach, FL) Rodney Bay seems like a decent spot. We won't be here long, though. Tomorrow morning we'll fuel up with diesel and move on to the south part of the island.

Where we are:
Location=Rodney Bay, St. Lucia
Lat=14 04.620
Lon=60 57.462