Rodney Bay Boatyard, Saint Lucia

We were up early on Tuesday morning to meet at 8am boatlift appointment, however, when we arrived at the lifting berth there was a boat already in it and the entrance was partially blocked by a dredger. I called them on the VHF but got no response eventually we were waved over to a berth nearby that turned out to be the fuel berth, as they assumed we were circling waiting for fuel but not approaching due to the dredger. They seemed happy enough for us to wait there whilst I went to the office to find out what was happening. Edwin the manager who I’d booked with was not in yet and the receptionist wasn’t able to help much other than telling us we weren’t allowed to wait on the fuel berth. I said we weren’t about to circle round for an indefinite time and we were staying where we were. Ten minutes later Edwin came to the boat and introduced himself and apologized for the confusion. He explained that someone had dumped their boat in the lifting berth on Friday night and no one knew whose it was or how to contact them! There was another berth in the slings on the travel lift waiting to go in. Eventually, all was resolved by moving the abandoned boat by ropes and before long we were in the slings ourselves, after the dredger moved aside.


Ready for lifting

We had four attendants and the guy with the controls on hand for the lift, which was the most professional we had ever seen. We had been planning to do the antifouling ourselves, but a fee is charge for doing your own work, plus the yard are able to buy the materials at a much better rate. When I was in the office I saw the pricelist for the work and we decided to get them to do the work. I spoke to Edwin and by 1pm he had provided an estimate which we approved and had someone rubbing the hull down. The pressure wash which was included in the fee for the lift and the cost of three days on the hard, pressure washing and two lifts was just £36 more than just the lifts in the UK.

We then had to go back to the marina office to check in and pay for the night, then to customs to clear into St. Lucia. Customs was most amusing, the office had three guys, two of whom were watching a football game on TV. We had to fill out a form, which I did though the rather humourless guy in the corner informed me I hadn’t pressed hard enough for it to reach the third copy under two layers of carbon paper, so I had to go over the form again. He deliberately mumbled as we went through the rest of the form so he was barely audible and I had to ask him to repeat it. After going through this whole rigmarole he said that they lower yellow and green copies were for the other two guys in the office. So we then had to walk over and provide the yellow copy to a guy who checked our passports and the green copy to the guy who took the $30 ECD cruising fee. They then went back to their football game, I really can’t imagine how there is high unemployment on St. Lucia when they can make three jobs out of one so inventively. Although I understand they are now piloting an on-line check in service, so perhaps that will come to an end.


Rodney Bay marina

On the way back to the boatyard we spotted a hotel, the Palm Haven opposite, so we decided to see how much it would be. It was pretty reasonable (£40/night) so we decided to treat ourselves whilst the boat was off the water. So we check in and would now have a few days of air conditioning, proper beds and best of all showers on demand! We appeared to be the only guests, so the service was excellent too!