World's cutest grandchildren cruise St. Lucia
Emma, the captain's daughter and the one for whom the boat is named, and her husband, Leighton, are teachers and this year they both got the same week off work for Easter. They brought their son, Lance, and his cousin, Aya, along for a visit to the grandparents. To avoid confusion the captian is referred to as Gampa Lance.
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| Emma, Aya, Lance & Leighton (l-r)
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| Flag Ceremony
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The captain and crew of Queen Emma engaged a driver to bring the youngest members and their adults back from Hewanora airport in the south of the island to their ship's dock in Rodney Bay Marina in the north. Its a long ride after a long flight in from California and in a very crowded van but the excitement and the views kept them awake. They got to explore the boat in the waining light and enjoy a peaceful night in the still waters of the lagoon. The bunkbeds were a big hit with Aya and Lance as they had their own reading lights and all their clothes encased in tent like lee cloths. Both were able to climb in unaided and enjoyed their cosy nests. First order of business was hoisting the national flags of the new crew on the port side of the mast. (yacht club burgees, flags of the guests, campaign banners on the port side, courtesy flags of the country being visited to starboard and the flag of the vessel's registration aft) The formalities out of the way, we hit the marina pool while their adults enjoyed their last chance at freely running water, flush toilets and unlimited power.
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| Lance and Aya chow down at Jamb de Bois
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| Leaping off the stern and climbing back up.
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In the morning we moved out to Rodney Bay and the young crew got to compare the attractions of a beach to those of a pool. Beach wins hands down! This set the pattern for the entire trip as we hit the beaches at Pigeon Island, Marigot, Jalousie and Malgretout. Sometimes it was all sand play, sometimes body surfing, sometimes just jumping off the boat or dinghy into the water - all good. No trouble at all encouraging them to eat or to go to bed. The youngest set was ravenous and tired at the end of every day. They even seem to like the rules and were overheard reviewing them with each other from time to time. "You have to go down the companionway backwards, like a ladder" "You have to turn the light off when you leave the room" "You have to hold on when you walk 'cause the boat rocks" "Don't put the toilet paper in the toilet" "Don't waste water" (That one was pretty easy for kids who have spent their whole life in draught-stricken California). They even seemed to like wearing their life jackets.
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| Captain and crew enjoy the amenaties at Capella Resort
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| Moms chillin' at Capella Resort
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Fellow cruisers had told us of a deal at Marigot where the purchase of a mooring ball entitled the entire crew to a day pass at Capella, a luxury resort on the banks of that very enclosed lagoon. It was a good choice for us because the hard working parents got a little resort time and the Captain got a break from shoveling sand out of the dinghy. The winds were high the entire week they were here and everyone enjoyed getting out of the wind for a while even if it allowed mosquitos to sneak aboard.
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We went down to the island's most dramatic anchorage directly between the Pitons. These two mountains rise steeply from the sea in perfect cones and the whole area is a world heritage site. Beautiful but very windy. Leighton is teaching an Earth Science class so the parents went to the drive-in volcano to bring back pictures while the young crew played on the beach with the grandparents. A grand time was had by all.
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| Emma's hat is rescued from high winds
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| New crew explore Marigot in the Kayak |
It was so windy that we decided to go back north to the more protected anchorages there. Ultimately the crew decided to go all the way back to Rodney Bay. It was still too windy on the bay to enjoy swimming so we went back in to the marina. This allowed crew liberty to leave the boat at will and they made good use of it to go dancing at the Friday "jump up" in Gros Islet. The youngest members dressed up and danced but returned to the boat to sleep while Emma and Leighton returned for a second helping of street food and dancing to more contemporary music.
All too soon it was time to return to reality and for the Captain and permanent crew to restore Queen Emma to her normal water line by removing several tons of sand.
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| Typical crew off-watch (and off beach patrol)
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| Leighton and crew at Sugar Beach Resort
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| Leighton and crew at Pigeon Island
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| Exhausted crew
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| Crew of Queen Emma observing the sunset rituals
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| Leighton instructs the young crew in fish cleaning
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| At least one crew disaproves of fish guts
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| Lance and Aya wining at the Jump-up
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