St Lucia -> St Martin

14 March St Lucia->Martinique

We said our goodbyes to Vanessa, as she had to go back and cast off.. The trip to Martinique was pretty boring and we got there in no time. We cleared customs and did a quick walk around he town. It is as night is to day when compared to the islands visited so far - it is Europe... We had a grea burger at Le Black Pearl bar/restaurant (after being unable to find find any others). Next day we did a provisioning run and cleared out ready for the next leg..From about 1/2 way across the channel, we got an aerial escort- a boobie, he would circle the boat and dive for fish and jus play packman as the flying fyshe decided to leave the water to escap a predator(wonder what was down there)..

St Lucia to Martinique

A rainbow in St Lucia..

 Stroh rum has nothing on the, it is the best selling rum in St Vincent..

 The view from Customs as we cleared out..

Farewell St Lucia

Martinique Ahoy

Our aerial escort 

 Fort de France up ahead..

View from the passenger harbour..

 The public library

 The town from the boat(the rum was finished way before here incase there is a smarmy comment somewhere ;-)).

16 Martinique -> Dominica

We set off at 0600 and were motoring along when another boat, motor sailing, was overtaking us on the port side - the indignant skipper in a rather agitated manner told us to get out his way - WTF? We were both scratching our heads about that one... We hoisted our main and as soon as we rounded the headland we were sailing up to Dominca. We go there at approx 1600, when lo and behold our buddy was anchored there - he immediately came top side and was eyeing us out....

17 Dominica -> Guadeloupe

We set off at the usual time and after an uneventful day we arrived in Guadeloupe. We went BassseTere harbour to clear in.. I was told they don't normally clear in small boats, as all this is done a the Marina we had passed on our way up.. So we weighed anchor and went back, picked up a mooring ball. We went ashore to the marina to clear customs only to discover that they were closed beween 1200 and 1530... So we sa down for some ,lunch and a beer..

The next day   we  set off to the north end of the island where we would anchor for the night. We wen ashore and did a bit of exploring some drinks then back to the boat for dinner. The wind was initially non existent and with 10NM to go, was up to 20-30.. Fortunately we had a second reef in place.. We sill got up to 9kts. We still took on some water 1.5l... I was concerned that we took on water givne we had been dry for the better part of 2 months..

Leaving anchorage..

19 Guadeloupe -> MonsterRat

We were planning on spending two days on the Island - that plan got kyboshed.. We heard a weather forecast predicting a strong wind spell(so we had to up our tempo a bit) and the fact that the whole south of the Island dot evacuated due to the volcano throwing a wobbly... The devastation wrought by mother nature was humbling.. When erupted, 5000 of in habitants were relocated to other islands and only the northern part had some activity.. Passing the volcano, one could smell the sulphurous air .. We arrived at the northern end and didn't go ashore.

The house of he Monster Rat

 Pyroclastic flow

 One can see the abandoned own and resort..

 Approaching anchorage

 Sunset...

Another view of the town..

20 MonsterRat -> Nevis

We sailed with 2 reefs  in he main and genoa reefed - we still were doing a comfortable 6-7 kts. We cleared customs and went and picked up a mooring ball(anchoring not allowed). This time there was no water in the bilges, which was nice.. We went ashore for some drinks and to hopefully watch some cricket.. The cricket was over - so beers it was... .

 This Rock is par of Antigua, so we did pass by Antigua

 Nevis..

View from the shore..

Back to WobblyOlly...

21 Nevis -> St Barts

We set off early, 2 reefs in the main and (a full genoa) - rookie mistake. We were going to go through a channel, which meant  expect at least 10-15kts of wind more than the prediction..As we got o the channel, 30ks of wind and rain, we reefed and within 10 minutes no more rain and wind down to low 20s.. the swell was just aft the beam, with the wind almost directly behind... So I decided to hug the coast which would put  the swell behind us and a gybe. This was much more comfortable and we continued to the head of St Kitts, then onto St Barts.. We did quite good speed approx 6kts an hour(anchor to anchor). because of the speed burst we took on a bi of water..  By now I was starting to suspect that one of the through hole fittings in the galley was cracked... The Heiniken regatta was due to start shortly and this seemed to be a staging ground - the number of big J boats was impressive. The shear number of *REAL*  boats was impressive.. Like being in S Tropez again, A was there along with some really nice boats.. We went ashore to clear customs and some dinner at the local yatchie bar. As we approached the dinghy, I noticed some IDIOT had stolen one oar - WTF, this was one of the riches islands in the carribean and my dinghy is the smallest I have seen in the Caribean.. Next day, I decided to check the keel bolts (we had taken on a touch of water) I undid all the lock nuts, which were tight, but was able to put on 1/4 urn on all the bolts - I was surprised by this... After some work we went ashore to clear out and some dinner..

A *NICE* ketch..

23 St Barts -> St Maarten
 We set off usual time with the expectation of missing the bridge opening time of 09h30.. We were surprised to hear that it was 09h45, so off we went... We were 200m from the bridge, when we were informed that we would not make the opening as they were lowering the bridge.. We had been doinf 6kts through the water with abou 20-25ks on he nose... So we broke off our approach and went to anchor for the 11h30 opening... This time we  were ready with 15mins to go and were just motoring around he entrance. We were given the green ligh and we were off... Just then a paddler decided they were going to faf around in front of us completely oblivious to any traffic - I had to shout at them to move out the way, which they did - type of individual that would go play marbles on the freeway! We entered the lagoon, went to the fuel dock and then a berth...

 Haven't been there, but its on the list..

 Don's been busy here

 Snugly at dock..