Dominica.....

Good morning from Dominica...

We arrived on Dominica yesterday around noon and anchored without incident. Dominica is known as the "island of rainbows and waterfalls" due to the amount of rain. It rains nearly every hour here (not literally, but pretty close). The mountains are so high that they reach the clouds and cause them to dump rain on the island constantly. Last evening we saw a brilliant rainbow arching over the harbor and town. Last night, we were able to fill one of our water tanks (45 gals) in about 20 minutes. (We have been relying exclusively on collected rain water for weeks now...with water at 50+ cents per gal...when you can get it.... collection is the only way to go. In the islands of Guadeloupe, water was sold in bulk starting at 35 Euros or $45 !!...)

Today, we hope to be able to go on a tour up the Indian River into the rain forest where there are multiple waterfalls. We will bring a camera !

Easing into the day...it is 8:30 here and it is already 85 deg heading toward the mid/hi 90s. T is already ashore at the farmers' market picking up fresh produce before it gets "jungle hot". Ah, summer in the tropics. No wonder everything is closed from noon to 3pm; just to hot to move.

All for now.....THE CREW

Underway

We are underway to the island country of Dominica. This is reported to be the only island that Columbus would recognize if he were to show up today. It has been left largely in its natural state. So we are on our way to check it out. We won't be staying long as the first tropical wave of the 2010 hurricane season passed through during the past two days. Rain, wind and squalls were around, but nothing serious...but it serves as a warning the we must press south to get below the hurricane belt before the season really becomes active.

More from Dominica soon......THE CREW

Isles des Saintes, Guadeloupe

Good morning, all....

Yesterday, we sailed down to the Isle des Saintes ("eel day SANT") a small group of island just south of (and part of Guadeloupe).  Guadeloupe is outrageously beautiful.  So, here are some pictures.....

The is the fishing village of Des Haies where we first arrived.

The clouds touch the sky.  You can see a shower over the mountains.

The southwest corner of Guadeloupe as we sail by.....

Our arrival at the village of Isle des Saintes.....

Guadeloupe, FWI

Hello from Guadeloupe.

We sailed from St. Kitts to this island yesterday, arriving this morning. It is about 80 miles, and it took us about 17 hours to do the the sail. The reason it took so long is that we sailed (didn't use the engine) the entire distance....harbor to harbor. And, the wind didn't want to cooperate in strength or direction. As a result, we had a very "spirited" sail all the way here; especially in the wee hours of the morning....with waves crashing over the bow, a very dark night, constantly being sprayed, and a trip into the cabin was like jumping into a washing machine on spin cycle. But, we made it without incident, the only downside was a lack of sleep. I didn't want to leave the cockpit in those conditions; thus, the lack of updates to the Blog.

Anyway, we arrived at around daybreak (5:30 am) at Des Haies (pronounced "day Hey"). Des Haies is a small fishing village, which is very laid back and quaint. Our friends on "Sanctuary" and "Just Imagine" arrived shortly after we did. We all went ashore (after taking naps) around noon, and found that customs is closed from noon until 4:30. So, when I am done here, we will make another attempt to find "the MAN". There are several boutique type shops and small french restaurants lining the main street. Happy hour starts at 5pm, so we will check it out and the town and let you know.

Although cute, this is not a place to linger (no beach). We are studying the guide books and discussing our next stop. Will let you know, as soon as we know....however, the next stop will definitely be somewhere on Guadeloupe, but further south down the coast. Our plans are to spend several days to a week here, as there are a couple of tropical waves predicted to roll through over the next several days, culminating on Wednesday/Thursday. These waves bring wind and rain to the area, so we want to be in a protected harbor.

All for now... THE CREW.

Guadeloupe

Underway to Guadeloupe. Will arrive around 6am. Spirited, aggressive trade winds sailing. AOK aboard. Posted a Position Report with Winlink for detailed lat and long position.

THE CREW

St. Kitts

Hi All.....

Just a quick note to update you on where we are....

We left St. Barth's this morning for a great 40+ mile sail down to St. Christopher's (a/k/a "St Kitts"). This place if very pretty with the mountains (4,000' +) coming right out of the ocean and climbing to the clouds....truly awesome.

We were on the radio, and were overheard by "Sanctuary" and "Just Imagine" who are anchored about 5 miles away on Nevis. They are leaving for Guadalupe tomorrow...and we may be buddy boating with them. Guadalupe is appx 75 miles south of our current position, so it would again be another overnight sail. This will be Trudie's 11th overnight of THE TRIP. Decision has not yet been made, as we will look at the weather in the AM, and make our decision then. (I think T is addicted to the French islands with their baguettes and chocolate croissants.)
t
Meanwhile, we are at Ballast Bay on St. Kitts. We had planned on going to the main town of Bassetarre to anchor and clear customs. BUT, when we sailed up to it, all we saw was loaded with commercial ships, and several tankers...not very pretty after being on St. Barths. So, out came the charts and we found this quite cove about 5 miles out of town. Great place, no roll, little breeze and steep mountains surrounding the anchorage for ambiance. This is just the kind of place we really enjoy. (There is only one other boat here and he is anchored quite far away from us.) We are flying our Q flag, as we didn't check in with customs and immigration, and therefore, cannot go ashore. (If we are only going to be here for a short time, I really don't want to pay the fees for a quick stop. We have all we need aboard, so we don't really need anything ashore.

For those plotting our position, Ballast Bay, St. Kitts is at 17 14.42N 062 39.65W.

We will decide in the AM if we are staying here, heading over to Nevis (same country as St. Kitts) or heading south....decisions, decisions....

THE CREW

St. Barths

Hey Bob (and of course Lori !!)

You asked us to "rate" St Barths with a Bon Jour or a Boo Jour....that is a very difficult assignment, as it is sort of both....

We are really enjoying Colombier (a natural park on the north side of St. Barths)...free, high quality mooring, great beach, clean water, and lots of turtles around the boat. And, the "day trippers" all leave by late afternoon. It is rimmed with high mountains on two sides, so the winds are abated and the scenery is ruggedly beautiful So, this gets a big thumbs up.

We actually took the dinghy down to Gustavia (the main town) to check in this morning (late morning); we left the boat at the mooring. It is a couple miles down the coast...no big deal. I was too lazy to move the big boat, and we liked where we were moored. (Again taking advantage of the go-fast dinghy) Lori mentioned to get lots of forms as they are all the same in the French Islands.... The current procedure is to check yourself in....there is a bank of computers at each immigration office, and you type your info in, and it is stored in the French data base; so if you return to the island, you don't have to reenter the infor. Once you type in your data, you print the form, and hand it to the official, who holds his hand out for the fee. That's it....10 minutes and you are all done; both inbound and outbound clearance is done in one shot. Very nice, easy, and all done in an air conditioned office...another thumbs up.

We wandered around town after clearing customs...The town is just too upscale for us. The shops are basically the same as in St. Martin...Gucci, Cartier, Prada, DK, Louis V, etc. Simply, nothing we could afford, or are interested in buying. A leather Gucci bag is not going to stand up very well in the saltwater environment of the dinghy, or Persephone for that matter...(my "wallet" is a Glad sandwich bag....can you see me pulling that out in one of these stores !!)

After watching the beautiful people, we stopped at an outside "snack bar" and had a couple of burgers and washed them down with a coldie. You can put THE CREW "in France", but you can't
make us French...guess we are still "ugly Americans" with burgers and a beer....viva la differance !!

We returned to Persephone, and hit the beach for the remainder of the afternoon.

Sundowners with cheese and a baguette only seemed appropriate on French St Barths...while planning our next hop.

THE CREW

PS: T has TWO yes TWO "pet" SHARKS (you read right...JAWS and JAWS Jr) living under Persephone. Any biodegradable scraps that go overboard are quickly scoffed up by her "pets". (Last nite a chicken bone created a feeding frenzy. We forgot about the chicken bone today, while we both dangled our feet off the swim platform)....T's friends are back again now as I type...think I will pass on that evening swim....(Jaws music fading in the background...)