Soufrière, St. Lucia, with sv Dahnu in foreground.
July 25, Soufrière, St Lucia.
The poverty seems to increase the farther south you go in the Caribbean. And the independent islands seem to fare a bit worse economically than the ones benefitting from European tax payers.
From an outsider’s perspective, Guadeloupe and Martinique, two French islands, appear to be much better off than their neighbouring former British, now independent, islands to the north and south.
But I’m going to stop there. I realize I don’t know nearly enough to write anything about Caribbean colonization. All I know is what I have seen from a sailboat.
Soufrière is a cute, coastal town set in a deep bay at the foot of the Pitons mountains. It is not at all touristy and feels a bit wild west. The country music that wafts out into the bay every evening might have something to do with this.
We have made friends with a British family, aboard Dahnu, travelling with two very young children. They’ve been here for a couple of days — waiting for a suitable weather window to cross to St. Vincent.
We are taking a page from their book; they were a bit apprehensive about the vibe here at first, but found it unwarranted. Now they are friends with the local kids, and hand out sweet drinks whenever one of them paddles out to their boat. Between Dahnu and Cedar, the local kids are doing well.