Why the confusion ? (Other than my normal state), it has been a mad dash north over the past three days. On Wednesday morning the Rocna anchor was hauled, and this time it actually made it aboard and stayed there !! Persephone motored down Cul de Sac du Marin into the bay and immediately I hoisted the sails. The winds and seas were perfect for going north to St. Pierre; the original capitol of Martinique. (Until the nearby volcano, Mt Pele, blew up and killed everyone in the town except a lucky soul that was in jail...the thick walls protected him from the hot gases and ash.) The sail was "door to door"...at $5.00 + dollars a gallon for diesel fuel, its a good thing !! The town is cute, but the anchorage is very tight. Lynn and Ken from Silver Heels III were already in St. Pierre and greeted me with a loud whistle when I arrived. Lynn was good enough to give me a dinghy ride to town to check out of the country with customs/immigration.
Next morning, we were up at 5:30 and departed the anchorage bound for Portsmith, Dominica; fifty mile to the north. Again, we had a great sail nearly all of the way. The last hour of the trip the winds got squally as we motored into port....
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| Notice the second rainbow in the right third of the picture |
Dominica is known as the 'Country of Rainbows'....here is a rainbow leading a squall across the harbor as 'Persephone' entered. SH3 and Persephone "yellow flagged it" in Dominica. (i.e. flew our yellow Quarantine or "Q" flag indicating that the yacht had not cleared customs or immigration...perfectly legal as long as you don't go ashore).
We were all up again this morning a bit after 5am for another early start. Our destination was again nearly 50 miles north; to the town of Deshaies (pronounced Day-ay) Guadeloupe. The wind gods again cooperated and we had a delightful sail from Portsmouth (in the north part of Dominica) across the Dominica Channel ; past Isle des Saintes, and up the entire west coast of Guadeloupe to the town of Deshaies. We got here around 3 pm, cleaned up the boats, and went for a well deserved swim. Again, we will be "Q flagging" it in Dehais tonight. (I will paddle the dinghy over to SH3 for sundowners, and Lynn is baking a fresh loaf of her famous cinnamon bread). Paddling the dinghy as I am too tired/lazy to put the motor on the dinghy....
We will again get an early start in the morning for Antigua; only 40 miles north !! Antigua is our ultimate northerly destination. Antigua was east of our track coming down, and this will be our first opportunity to check out the island. We are looking forward to spending some time in Antigua and will keep you all up to date on our exploring....Next posting will be from Antigua !! Beat....going to bed early tonite !!
Capt Dave
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