Rodney Bay - General Info
Where is Rodney Bay?
Rodney Bay is situated on the northwest coast of St Lucia and is a popular holiday and yachting center. It is also the home of the ARC Finish Line and always very crowded with yachts in December. As well as a large bay with anchoring options it also has the extremely protected Rodney Bay Marina.
Cruiser Highlights for Rodney Bay:
Excellent marina facilities, St. Lucia Cruiser Net at 08:30 on VHF Channel 68, Monday to Saturday, boatyard with haulout, short taxi to capital Castries, provisioning options; beach and restaurants/bars, history.
Entrance Notes or Cautions for Rodney Bay:
Regular dredging keeps the entrance to the lagoon at a depth of approximately 13 ft (4 m).
Security Issues
Thefts of dinghies and outboards from yachts at anchor continue to be reported here. Be sure to “lift it and lock it, or risk losing it” at all times. Don’t leave loose items in a secured dinghy as it’s likely they will be stolen. Attempted break-ins and boardings of yachts at anchor are also common, particularly during evenings. See the main Security Section for St. Lucia and Security Reports for further details.
Position – Rodney Bay:
14°04.73′N, 60°57.37’W (marina/harbor entrance)
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Related to following destinations: Rodney Bay, St. Lucia
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Reported by the Caribbean Safety & Security Net:
DATE: 2019-02-02 01:00
Country Name: St. Lucia
Location Detail: Rodney Bay – Reduit Beach
EVENT: Attempted theft
HAND: 1
Stolen Items: None
SECURED: Locked
DETAILS: Overnight, an in-the-water and cable-locked dinghy (attached to a yacht) anchored off Reduit Beach had its painter cleanly cut. The owner was on board all night and did not hear anything unusual. The theft was not successful. A police report was made.
Security Report from the Caribbean Safety & Security Net:
DATE: 2019-01-31 02:00
Country Name: St. Lucia
Location Detail: Rodney Bay Gros Islet
EVENT: Theft
HAND: 2
Stolen Items: dinghy/ 25 HP outboard
SECURED: Unknown
DETAILS: Overnight and in-the-water dinghy/25HP outboard was stolen from a yacht anchored off Gros Islet. No further details are available. CSSN NOTE: If you are the victim, or know them, please encourage a complete online report!
Security Report from the Caribbean Safety & Security Net:
DATE: 2018-11-07 01:00
Country Name: St. Lucia
Location Detail: Rodney Bay Inner Lagoon
EVENT: Theft
HAND: 2
Stolen Items: dinghy/ 9.9 HP 4S Honda outboard
SECURED: Unknown
DETAILS: An occupied yacht on a marina mooring in the lagoon had its in-the-water dinghy stolen overnight. A report was made to the marina .
MISSING REPORT FROM CRUISERS NETWORK ONLINE:
BOLO For Roy of the S/V GUIDING LIGHT In Rodney Bay, St Lucia
Attention all Cruisers,
We have a report that Roy, the singlehanded sailor aboard the S/V GUIDING LIGHT left the Rodney Bay Bar on Thursday night, 15 Nov 2018 to return to his boat via his 7’ rigid hull dinghy, and has not been seen or heard from since then. He was not missed until yesterday, 19 N
Roy has a blog on the Internet at https://yachtguidinglight.blogspot.com/ and E-mail address: yacht.guiding.light@gmail.com.
I used Egbert Charles to identify and provide a temporary (it needed a new sensor) fix to a Westerbeke generator that wouldn’t start. I’d recommend him.
We were threatened with reprisals and boarding after interrupting a local attempting to steal a dinghy from a yacht in Rodney Bay. This was the end of March 2018 at 4:00 A.M. We had to lift anchor, were chased through the Bay before the Castries police boat arrived. Our treatment by the authorities and the police was deplorable.
The perpetrators were let go and we spent 2 hours in the police station having to provide boat documents, passports, and entry clearances. The threat of reprisal was so real that we had to remove the name from our boat. My advice, do like us, skip St. Lucia, your safety is just not worth the hassle of a poor anchorage and a lawless country.
Various reports about water or dirt in the fuel at Rodney Bay fuel station.
We had massive dirt in the pre-filter from diesel we bought December 2017. We just came back and heard from 2 parties they had water in the fuel. They all had the fuel from the fuel tower which is closer to the sea (where boats on transit usually get tax free fuel before leaving the country).
We had booked into Rodney Bay Marina, so radioed and asked for someone to help take our lines. Barry from the marina helped and also fetched an adaptor for the power socket. We were on pontoon C and it was quite shallow coming into our berth – we have our depth gauge set to 2.00 meters and the alarm was sounding.
Friendly marina office staff, but we arrived on a Wednesday and were given the new toilet/shower codes which didn’t get changed until Saturday. The security on the gate gave us the current ones.
There is no recycling for rubbish – the signs say they recycle but they don’t, although we were told they sort it when it gets to landfill. You are charged extra for rubbish collection – just leave on the pontoon by your station and they collect daily.
Johnson’s hardware across the road have a marine section and are very helpful.
Gregory the fruit and veg boatman seems to be good value the first time you purchase, but I always negotiate.
You can walk to the town in 20mins from the marina.
There is a dinghy pontoon near the town where Lawrence will keep an eye on your dinghy for a few EC, tip him when you come back to your dinghy or he doesn’t remember you have given him cash!
Vision Express in the town tightened 2 pairs of my glasses for free. Good supermarkets here. The beach is another 15 mins walk.
Benjamin cleaned and polished our hull and decks, you need to provide cleaning materials. $15 US an hour. Excellent job.
We had to have some parts fabricated for our davits. Island water world provided the material and a workshop did the rest. The workshop is down the side road past Johnson’s hardware and past the supermarket.
Went on a tour around the island with Delvin: http://www.theothertourstlucia.com
+1 (758) 717-5322
Very informative, lovely local guide.
Posted on behalf of SV Blue Moon
We want to report an attempt to steal our dinghy whilst at anchor off Gros Islet, Rodney Bay, St Lucia on 13th February 2018. We believe we disturbed the thieves around 2.30 am. In the morning we found the painter cut with a knife. Fortunately, the dinghy was also attached to the boat by a stainless steel cable and padlock which was untouched. We have since been told that dinghy theft has become a real problem in Rodney Bay, even in the marina.
Reported by CSSN:
DATE: 2018-02-02 22:00
Country Name: St. Lucia
Location Detail: Rodney Bay Marina
EVENT: Theft
HAND: 2
Stolen Items: dinghy fuel tank
SECURED: Not Locked
DETAILS: On a Rodney Bay Marina mooring in the lagoon, a not-locked fuel tank was stolen from the dinghy. The owner heard the noise but the thieves had already gotten away. The owner remained in the cockpit overnight and the thieves returned later with faces covered, but he was able to scare them away. No police report was made.
Reported by CSSN:
DATE: 2018-01-30 01:00
Country Name: St. Lucia
Location Detail: Rodney Bay Reduit Beach
EVENT: Theft
HAND: 1
Stolen Items: Caribe dinghy with 15HP engine
SECURED: Not Locked
DETAILS: Overnight an in-the-water and not locked dinghy was stolen, the line had been cut. Owners made a report on the VHF and to the local police.
Reported by the Caribbean Safety & Security net (the third dinghy incident reported to CSSN in the last month in the Rodney Bay area):
DATE: 2018-01-25 22:30
Country Name: St. Lucia
Location Detail: Rodney Bay Reduit Beach
EVENT: Theft
HAND: 2
Stolen Items: dinghy/outboard
SECURED: Not Locked
DETAILS: A dinghy was stolen from a not specified dock in Rodney Bay. It was not locked to the dock, but the engine was locked to the dinghy. It was apparently taken to the Redduit beach area and the outboard and fuel tank lock defeated, and then set adrift. A cruiser anchored in the bay noticed it drifting by his yacht at 10:30 PM and rescued it, and the next day turned the engine-less dinghy into Customs who located the owner. It is not known if a police report was made by the owner.
Reported by Pete Davenport:
I recommend an alert to cruisers regarding the ATM at 1st National Bank in the Rodney Bay Marina.
I was just reviewing my bank card statements for Feb – May 2017 and noticed that I was double billed for three ATM transactions. My suspicion is that this is also a card skimming problem. The transactions are too old for my credit card company to do anything about it.
Posted on behalf of SY Starblazer:
I can strongly recommend Egbert Charles of Marintek in Rodney Bay, St Lucia for engine work. He originally trained as an Electrical Technician, crewed on large charter boats and re-trained as an Engine Mechanic, including training at Volvo Penta in Sweden. He reviewed and then imported parts for me and several times checked that I knew what to do with them, at no extra cost.
He recommended:-
Prudent at Prudent Repairs for refrigeration work. He did a good quick job fixing my leaking O ring on his first visit and returned the next day to check the result. He also arrived a few hours after I originally phoned him. This was towards the end of the season!
Rodney Bay Marina Management has stated they will make no comment on matters which they are investigating.
Chinaman is NOT to be trusted. We were in Rodney Bay Marina to take delivery and fitting of a Hydrovane. We asked the marina to supply a fitter. They sent Chinaman who assured us he had fitted them before. It was an expensive disaster. He messed up almost every aspect of the fitting and it was clear by the end of the job that he didn’t know what he was fitting and refused to look at the instruction manual.
He insisted on cash payment. The fitting failed and we had to have the whole job done again. Rodney Bay Marina, while not unsympathetic, have been no help in resolving the problem claiming it was a private arrangement between us and Chinaman. My advice is don’t let this guy anywhere near your boat and if you want to have work done at this Marina get absolute confirmation they are taking responsibility for that work.
Sailing the Caribbean since 2004. St. Lucia a beautiful Island but there are cautions, as with every island. Rodney Bay is fast becoming the place for reliable repairs. I have always found, that in a pinch, new cruisers should check with personnel at Sunsail/Moorings for recommendations. Since working for Sunsail on the Docks is my go-to guy, and has never let me down. As mentioned above, there are people that are not qualified.
Vision has been around for years, and in my mind, is not a bargain. Prices are too high, the work is marginal and he tries to ingratiate himself into your life for ‘extras.’ I used him as our yacht caretaker one hurricane season, and it was a disaster. The marina does try to regulate the independents, but sometimes it goes wrong.
The crime is no more than other countries, and they do seem to get after it when it flares. The only thing I bitch about in St. Lucia? The personal watercraft racing around the anchorage. They have no regard to swimmers or boaters in dinghy’s.
Had a wonderful visit! Stayed 2 nights in the marina Easter of 2015 then a week anchored near Pigeon Island. No problems for us or the several cursing friends boats in approximately the same time frame.
We had our dinghy repaired by the inflatable repair place(in the channel on left). We thought it was a lost cause but they fixed it up and we’re happy not to have to buy a new one!
Rodney Bay Yacht Services. —
We used four boat service companies here, three were excellent, one was not. The three were the sailmaker, Regis electronics and the boatyards mechanical workshop. The one bad one was Vision who provide a boat cleaning, varnishing, and caulking service. The workmanship was poor quality, the attitude off hand and at times threatening, and the time recording and costing were dishonest. Avoid.
Thank you, sir!
I have been coming to St Lucia for over 15 Years and have used Regis Electronics many times over the years. They provide excellent service and are always very helpful. However, they are VERY busy during Dec and Jan so you will often have to be a little patient but it’s well worth the wait!
If you plan to use Regis Electronics, beware. They are not very helpful and will not take bookings for work. We tried to buy a radio for the WIFI but they wouldn’t sell us one unless we bought a new antenna. We tried to order some new Raymarine kit but no-one had 10 minutes to speak to us, so we gave up after waiting for 2 days.
Bought the kit in the UK and tried to schedule an engineer to install it….giving a months notice….but they wouldn’t take a booking. Tried again the week that we got back and they still wouldn’t do it, as they couldn’t give a date or time that would be convenient for them. We left and got the work done off the island. Crazy!
In Rodney Bay theft seems to still be common. We have stayed 2 nights, and during this time we have had other yachts report to the police theft of one dinghy, 2 bicycles and burglary with loss of computer and other equipment.
Take precautions.
If you need to use the Rodney Bay Sails make sure you write down the instructions of what you want to be done. we gave the sailmaker a main for leach line repair and a genoa for minor patching. We had dynema delivered from Denmark to repair our leach line (sailmaker had none of the correct sizes) on the main, and when we went to pick up the main, he had done nothing, replacing the leach line in the Genoa instead. this left us still without a main 3 weeks later.
He then stitched his thin dynema to our thick, placing that inside the main. when we then put the main up the leach line was about 2 meters too short with great gathers in the sail! we now have a 2nd stitched online. And we had to pay for his mistake.
Catamaran Tiger Lily. With having my engine rebuilt in Grenada in January, it was so badly done didn’t even make it to the tip of the island. Eventually made it to St Lucia where Alwyn installed a new one exchanging a 20hp for 30hp Yanmar. Not only did he manage to make it fit but explained what he was doing, why and gave much in the way of useful information in the meantime.
He was patient and flexible whilst I was waiting for the engine to be imported from America and very reasonable with his charges. This was March time. Now having sailed back to Scotland the installation has proved to be faultless. A genuine guy with good knowledge, experience, and qualifications of Yanmar engines. Bob Redley
4/24/2014 We emailed and called Marine Tek about installing a crankshaft repair sleeve on one of our Westerbeke 42B4 engines. We never got a reply. Then we found some comments were about Alwin Augustin and we called and emailed him and he got right back to us and assured us that he could do the job. He came down and looked at the boat while the part was en route to us from the states. He estimated it would take about 5 hours to do the work.
It involves disconnecting the engine coupling, removing the transmission and the flywheel just to get to the rear oil seal where the problem was causing a very small oil drip due to a groove cut in the crankshaft probably because in the past the oil was not changed often enough and grit built up around the rear seal and over time cut a groove where the rear seal makes contact with the crankshaft.
It’s 5 hours of work in a hot, uncomfortable and somewhat cramped space. Alwin got here when he said he would, did the job in the time he estimated and was a total professional marine engineer in every respect including cleaning up after the repair was made. If you are anywhere near Rodney Bay and need to have work done on a diesel engine or generator call or email Alwin at Quick & Reliable Mechanical Services email qrms44@gmail.com St Lucia phone # 1-758-520-5544. You will be glad you did!
I write to thank marintek for their recent work on my Dufour 445, Sigiriya. I am grateful for them finding the cause if the constant alarm and for replacing the MDI box as agreed under the Volvo recall campaign.
Another recommendation for Alwin Augustin, Quick & Reliable Mechanical Services qrms44@gmail.com 1-758-520-5544. We were towed into Rodney Bay with engine failure on 23/12, Alwin diagnosed fuel injection pump failure on 26/12 and then proceeded to trawl the internet to find a replacement. which he did in the UK. The part was ordered and flown in with a new crew member on 29th and Alwin fitted on 30th A very professional and accomplished engineer
I want to thank Alwin Augustin (Engin Mechanic) for honest, fast and efficient replacement of our shaft seal (right in the water) and engine repair. He was recommended to us by other cruisers and I can see why.
We lost our propeller right after repairs done by Marine Tek in June 2013. I would not recommend them.
We lost our propeller right after repairs done by Marine Tek in June 2013. I would not recommend them.