So here we are in New York. We arrived late last night and after a long day of travel were delighted to see Uncle Nick right outside the doors of JFK. It was a great last few days in Rodney Bay.

Christmas day was definitely one to remember. I woke up early, it wouldn’t be Christmas Day if you didn’t, and I made pancakes and bacon for us. Lorraine headed off to Skype her parents in Dunshaughlin and I joined her to say a quick hi before we headed to church. We walked to the church in Gros Islet and it was alot quieter that morning than it had been on Friday night. There were a few excited children running around and singing in their gardens as we walked past. We had it on good faith that the service started at ten and we were not the only ones heading in that direction. However when we got to the door the usher (dressed in bright caribbean waistcoats) informed us that mass had started at nine but we were welcome to join. She showed us to our seats and we were glad to see that we had not missed too much. The service was amazing. The church was full of Christmas spirit and the congregation lifted the roof for every carol. The people were so well turned out and we wondered at this. Some of the houses look like no more than a tin shack and the people were absolutely immaculately dressed. Some of the women would not have looked out of place at a ball and the children all looked so smart with the boys in shirts and slacks and the little girls in beautiful party frocks. The whole service was lovely and one of the nicest parts happened just before the end. The priest asked for all the visitors to stand up. Lorraine and I took to our feet along with about fifteen others, out of a congregation of three hundred. The entire congregation sang a song of welcome and then they turned and shook our hands. People left their seats to come shake our hands or give us a hug and it was such a beautiful feeling to be part of this community so far from home on Christmas Day.

After mass we headed back to the boat via a minor car crash outside the police station. Back on the boat and Santa had arrived, well Secret Santa anyway. Sam received some beeswax so that Lorraine can give him dreadlocks although not sure his hair is long enough. Lorraine’s wish came true (kind of) and she she got a CD of a local artist called Ashanti! Now if only we had a CD player to take to the beach with us. I wasn’t sure if my secret santa was even going to arrive but Sam pulled it out of the bag and gave me a beautiful bracelet. We opened our presents with a glass of champagne in hand (thank you Tim for your kind present) and then got our stuff together and headed to the beach. We had seen that there was to be a Beach BBQ available at the Yacht Club on the beach so we headed there. We had all our food and drinks loaded up and threw some beach toys into the bag to keep us entertained. When we got to the beach there was no sign of a BBQ so we contented ourselves with swimming and lying in the sun for the afternoon. We thought that perhaps it was going to happen later on but were disappointed when nothing materialised.

Andy came to the rescue and sweet talked a local vendor into letting us use her grill when she was finished with it. “Aunty Jane” had a small stall on the side of the beach where she was selling chicken and drinks. Andy did his magic and she said that of course we could borrow it. Some of her “boys” even moved it down to where we had our towels set up so that we could have our BBQ right on the beach. The price: a sausage for aunty Jane and a burger for one or two of the boys. One of the guys, Lucky, told us that she was like an aunt to all the locals and she seemed to do a pretty good job of keeping them in line. We shared our food and our drinks with these guys and in return we used their grill and Lucky got ice for us from the local bar. A fruit vendor walked by and sold us some limes which greatly improved the “mojitos” Lorraine had made and brought to the beach.

When some of the boys who appeared to be very drunk started getting a little loud and rowdy we decided that it was time for us to head home. We had had a great day and we just didn’t want anything to spoil it. We had chilled on the beach, played volleyball and crazy golf, watched the sun set, chatted to the locals, grilled a great Christmas dinner, enjoyed some drinks with friends and all in all had a fantastic Christmas day. We got a taxi who told us one price before we left and then tried to rip us off when we arrived. This left a bitter taste in our mouths and we were slightly annoyed that he had tried to trick us into paying more.

It was still early and we were all keen to stay up and hang out. I still hadn’t spoken to anyone back home in Hill Farm House and so I left the party to Skype. It was great to see everyone and I was a little envious of them sitting by a big roaring fire in the sitting room. I am sure that the envy went both ways as they saw me sitting in the marina enjoying a drink. As we shared a toast over video skype I did feel a strange mix of sadness and joy. I am always happy when I am travelling and I have loved every minute of every adventure that we have had but there is always a huge part of me that always wants to share it with my family and friends the world over.

St Stephen’s Day was a day for finishing off some jobs on the boat. We rose early to get everything done and it was very satisfying to get the jobs ticked off and know that we have done some good work over the past few weeks. We also had some admin to take care of and tried to get some flights booked and catch up with some people. We wanted to be ready to go early the next morning. We booked a train to Canada (to keep immigration off our backs) and flights home for the first week in February. We are both really disappointed that we are not going to make it t New Zealand this time but I am excited about going home for the Spring. We are so very sad that we won’t get to share Tiny and Gemma’s big day in New Zealand but we both feel confident that we have made the right decision.

Our final night in Rodney Bay was spent with Sam and Andy. We went for pizza together and then got ice cream as we headed home. Circumstances meant that Andy’s girlfriend could not fly out to spend Christmas with him and so he came to us. We were delighted to have one more person join our little gang for the holiday celebrations and it was a Christmas to remember. He was such easy company and we were sad to say goodbye to him. He plans to continue traveling and has some great plans. I hope they all work out for him.

And now we are on the next stage of our travels. We got up early yesterday to finish packing (last minute as always), make sure our travel plans were going to be ok with the American authorities and have our final breakfast at Rodney Bay. We said goodbye to Sam just after nine o clock and headed to the bus stop to catch the local bus to Castries. This was going to be the first leg on our journey to New York. We were anxious to be leaving. We had been there for three weeks and had really started to make the place feel like a home from home. We had spent all of our time as a little gang of three or four and now it was going to be Toner and Deegan again. We also felt bad to be leaving Sam. He has become like a little brother to us. I am not sure how he would feel about being described as our little brother but we have developed a soft spot for our “watch leader” who brought us across the Atlantic. He was amazing and I really hope that he knows this. He is after all only 18 and this was an amazing undertaking for him.

And so with heavy hearts but alot of excitement we headed off. We had decided not to take a taxi to the airport, it would have cost us US $80 and the bus was going to be about US $10 for both of us. The bus to Castries was uneventful, the bus driver offered to take us all the way to the airport (for a price of course) and then agreed to drop us to the next bus stop that we needed (for another, smaller price of course). When we got there the bus was waiting and had a few people on it. Our bags were quickly loaded up and the driver informed us that we would have to pay for four seats on the bus, two for us and two for our bags. Lorraine argued with us and in the end we agreed that we would take our bags on our laps. The airport was an hour and a half away and it was a small bus. As we sat and waited for the bus to fill we realised how hot and squashed the journey was going to be. By the time we reached the airport we had our minds firmly made up: it was worth getting the bus. It took a route that we had not travelled before and was even more beautiful than the parts of Saint Lucia we had seen, it cost us a fraction of the price and it was far more entertaining than sitting in a taxi. Because we had not been sure if the buses were running on a holiday we had left early to make sure we had time for a Plan B if it was needed. And so we had about five hours to wait in Saint Lucia airport. We kept ourselves entertained with writing postcards, reading, journaling and people watching.

And so after a one hour delay we were on our way, flying to New York ready for our next adventure.