Notes from a guest blogger

Leigh here. I arrived on Sunday the 2nd of February for a two week stay; I arrived at Hewanorra in the mid afternoon and caught a taxi for Marigot Bay, where Raconteur was on a mooring.  JP picked me up from the dock in Scheherazade, and after a welcome cocktail on board, we headed to the Rainforest Hideaway, a favorite spot, for dinner.  We stuck around Marigot on Monday, and dined aboard (delicious goat curry and rice) on Monday night before we headed south a bit, to try our luck in the surroundings of the Pitons.  We were hoping for one of the (supposedly seven) moorings at the Bat Cave on the north side of Soufriere, but the five that are actually present were occupied when we arrived at mid-day.  We tried one of the moorings between the Pitons, but the roll was pretty terrible, and the actual spot rather close to another boat and to the rocks.  We gave that up, and then the gods of the sea smiled on us as we headed back north (thinking we would go to Anse LaRaye or Anse Cochon) and - one of the Bat Cave moorings had become free.  Hooray.  Here's the sunset view from that night - sorry, couldn't resist. We dined on board; I made Ann VanderHoof's Bahamian Mac and Cheese and we had Baigan (Eggplant) Curry from the freezer.
The attraction of the Bat Cave moorings is that you can snorkel right off the boat (no climbing in and out of the dinghy from the water); after a bit of fumbling (me) we had a very nice snorkel indeed.  You can see quite a lot of coral and a reasonable number of fish, particularly considering how close to town it is and how many fishing boats, water taxis, cruising boats and even rather large yachts come in and out of there.  On Wednesday one of the charter cats came bay and disgorged thirty or so passengers into the snorkeling ground - I took some photos (see link to the web albums below) but they don't really do justice to the sight.  
On Thursday we headed to Rodney Bay and the marina, in preparation for our trip to Hotel Chocolat to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary, and for the upcoming project to replace the instrumentation on the boat, scheduled for this week.  We were back in time for a roti at BB's at the marina - another longtime favorite - and then went to dinner at Bosun's, also in the marina, which serves both "western" fare and Thai food.  We always go there for the Thai.
It will be nearly impossible to do justice to the stay at Hotel Chocolat; I took lots of pictures at the main building, from our room, and on a walk up above the property to view the Pitons and the sea.  Here are a couple of shots.

View from the pool, Hotel Chocolat

Room number 13, Hotel Chocolat

Here is one of those timed shots, a rare photo of all three Stooges at once (Susan may have a better one, so I'll replace it if so).  I complained and whined on the climb, but the view was amazing. It looks like a fake background, doesn't it?

Stooges + Petit Piton, Rabot Estates, St. Lucia

After the hike, we swam, then headed to the "Cocoa Juvenate" spa (yes, seriously spoiled) where Susan and I discovered a full body exfoliation and moisturizing treatment that was a total treat.  JP had to settle for a nice long massage - he wasn't  complaining.  Then it was back to the room to relax and change before heading back to Boucan (the hotel's restaurant, where most menu items use cocoa in some form or the other) for our celebratory dinner.  Today we headed back to Rodney and Raconteur for the night; we will decamp to another (nice but much less sybaritic) hotel once the work begins.

Here is the link to my photos from the first of my two weeks here.

2014-02 Leigh visit to St Lucia