Having been welcomed by my phone to St Kitts and Nevis last night I was this morning welcomed to Jamaica. If only this cruise went to either.

Instead I stood in the rain on deck and watched us reverse into Castries, a town in St Lucia. An hour later, I got off the ship. It was still raining, I didn’t take a coat and I got wet.

I didn’t care. It was warm and it was nice to have some rain. The locals cared, clustering under rare overhangs, dashing between cover. They don’t look used to this, and the design of the buildings doesn’t accommodate it well; open spaces, few overhangs or covered walkways.

I had a lovely walk around the town, everything closed except the cathedral, a noisy ceremony taking place. On the way back to the ship the road took me through blocks of flats, closed shops beneath, the occasional cluster of people around an open grocery store. A man asked me where I was going, seemed satisfied with, “Just having a walk.”

I found the local bus station.

Back in the dock I find open internet, sit on a bandstand out of the rain to use it. Posted updates for the missed days, preloaded a hundred web pages, caught up on the news, skipped the cricket. Time to head back on board, maybe find some breakfast. The rain keeps getting worse..