First glimpse of the Prince Rupert anchorage in Portsmouth Dominica: sailors of the world unite in this large and protected bay!

Apres le mouillage ds la baie de Prince Rupert, nous avions hate au samedi, jour de marche. Quelle atmosphere et quelle gentillesse des habitants! Nous avons tout deguste: de l'eau de la noix de coco jusqu'au chips de plantain, en passant par le fish & chips et les gentilles madames du marche! Tous les produits sont frais, il y a des mangues qui tombent du ciel, des crapauds geants qu'on appelle poulet des montagnes! Et le rhum local: Red Cap!

We were looking forward to Saturday, market day. Delightful to see the Dominicains so kind and joyous, welcoming us to their islands and selling their stuff: coconut water, fresh produce, fish & chips or plantain chips, you name it!

Coconut water! Mangoes, fish and rum...all good for the health! No wonder such a great number of Dominicans live over 100 years !
There is a sense of harmony waling through the streets of this little paradise...all natural 100%!

We left Les Saintes with a wonderful breeze, sunshine, and it was one of those ideal sails up to Dominica. Les Saintes with in the background the mountainous landscape of Basse-Terre Guadeloupe. We will be back!

Il nous fallait quitter les Iles des Saintes...et filer vers Dominica. Nous serons de retour! Ce fut une merveilleuse journee de voile avec 15 noeuds de vent, peu de vagues, et une merveilleuse vue de la Guadeloupe, enfin sous un ciel bleu!

D'un paradis a l'autre...notre premiere impression de cette ile luxuriante:Domenica, aussi decouverte par ce cher Cristophe Colomb...silhouette tres impressionnante!

Sad to leave Les Saintes but fascinated by the impressive profile of the next island, also discovered by C.Columbus: Dominica!

And it was as pretty as we had anticipated..with clear water for swimming, French as can be, creole as can be...Pictures speak more than 1000 words!

La prochaine etape du periple consistait a naviguer une region de mangove et de recifs et de passer du nord au sud de l'ile par la Riviere Salee et ses deux ponts. Il y avait des moustiques (moucherons noirs ou yien-yien en creole!) mais nous avions nos "armes" canadiennes pour nous defendre! Ce territoire est une reserve ecologique, bien balisee mais qui est dificile a naviguer cause des recifs epars et de la mauvaise visibilite (nuageux) qui nous empeche de "lire" les differentes couleurs d'eau afin de ne pas toucher le fond...

Our next step was to cross from the northern part of the island to the southern part by crossing a mangrove area, ecologically protected, with hundreds of snowy egrets flying over our heads.

The area is somewhat difficult to sail...with reefs a bit all over the place and it is difficult to read the water here (compared to the Bahamas) because the sky is very cloudy and the water murky.

There are 2 bridges on this Riviere salee...one opens at 4h30am and the next one at 5h00...this night in the mangroves was reminiscent of Canada..bugs!!! No see ems, actually. But we had our Raid can and our spirales and a Off-candle ..these cute little caribbean bugs did not dare anymore! The River had one spot of about 4feet 6 inches...oups! we have a 4'9" keel..we dragged some mud around but without major problems.

After the second bridge, it was still very dark and we decided to anchor in the river, awaiting sunset before going to the Pointe-a-Pitre anchorage. We could see its skyline (!), with a church spire adorned with green lights bulbs and a some white ones spiraling along the spire..a bit strange...but hey, some decorate their insurance buildings with lights, other their churches. Let's keep an open mind. On this picture, you see Pointe-a-Pitre by day ... with THE church.

We were aware that there had been a general strike on the island for 5 weeks now and when we say general, we mean general...no services and no fuel except for emergencies. no food delivery to stores, no animals slaughtered...general! This of course included garbage collection and so, our first incursion in town was a very negative one. Everything is closed down and it's not appealing at all...as for the marina, it was expensive and ..smelly also (sewers?). So, we decided to delay our land excursions to a latter time and we sailed away to paradise...of Iles de Saintes.

Voila le "skyline" de Pointe-a-Pitre ou nous avions pense mouiller afin de faire des excursions dans l'ile. Mais....il y avait deja une greve generale depuis 5 semaines et la ville etait "morte" et sale, avec des ordures partout...meme la marina de la place, pourtant tres chere, avait des odeurs d'egout tres fortes. Bon, alors on repassera...qu'on s'est dit et nous avons decide de mettre le cap vers le petit paradis des Iles de Saintes!

Antigua-Guadeloupe: it was a very nice sail...yes, we sailed at last! In about 7 hours, we reached the French island Guadeloupe! The visibility was not so great and it took a long time before we could see the contour of the Basse-Terre (the montainous part of the island) ...which seems to be basking in the clouds most of the time. We anchored near a small fishing village, Port Louis. We had a gorgeous sunset on the caribbean sea with Basse-Terre finally cleared of all clouds !

Nous voila arrives en Guadeloupe! La traversee de English Harbour, Antigua fut rapide et agreable. Nous avons fait notre permiere halte a Port Louis, un petit village de pecheurs..bien tranquille en ce dimanche soir. Premier coucher de soleil avec une vue de Basse-Terre, qui ne baigne plus dans les nuages...

A visit of Antigua's capital was fun, as St-John is a vibrant town, with lots of stores, multicolour caribbean style wooden houses...and plenty of activity related to elections that are upcoming (March 12)... We had a wonderful lunch overlooking one of the town streets and relaxed for a good while on the upstairs terrasse of the Hemngway's Cafe (http://www.antiguanice.com/hemingways/index.html).

After that was done, we tried to get some food shopping done (with confusing directions as to where the place was located!), but managed - eventually. We will have to go back for more since Guadeloupe is crippled be a strike and we have to stock up here. But this will be another story.

Karen & Lindsay, it was sooooo great to have you with us!!!! We miss you already!

As noted earlier, we did the climb to Falmouth Harbour (it was hot!) - and had a swim to cool off.

But in the late afternoon, we all went up again another mountain to go to Shirley Heights: A very steep climb!!!

On Sunday night , all gather at Shirley Heights for steel drum music and island's fare...cruisers and tourists, it is a a big crowd and we did not want to miss the experience - never mind, we had tired legs! And with the vibrant music, we got re-energized and enjoyed the exceptional view of the sea at sunset! The way down, we took the road, pitch dark, and it was a rather long walk back to the beach. But we made it, and can claim to have done a good deal of exercises to keep us fit!!! We certainly earned our other round of rum - did we not, Lindsay???

Next day was the offical begining for the RORC-race of 600 miles with up to 30 contenders.

The course was a complex one, zizaguing between St-Barth, St-Kitts and Nevis, Barbuda, Guadeloupe and back to Antigua....

Le 23 fevrier etait le debut de la course de 600 milles avec 30 participants et quelques classes de voilier...

One monohull sponsored by ICAP "Leopard" was the winner in its class...a very racy sailboat indeed resembling the shape of the animal!

Look at this performance!

There were different classes, with only one trimaran, Region Guadeloupe. It was the great winner, even though it started with 20 minutes delay...but with a speed of 22 knots!

Il n'y avait qu'un seul trimaran, Region Guadeloupe, une formidable machine qui fait 22 noeuds de vitesse!

La journee des randonnees...Hiking day!

First to Fort Berkeley, guarding the entrance of the English Harbour. D'abord au Fort Berkeley, situe a l'entree du English Harbour.

We continue our hike to Pigeon Beach, crossing desertic terrains, climbing rocks and meeting hords of goats...always with wonderful views of the Caribbean Sea, Falmouth Harbour and even the island of Monserrat and its volcanoe (too pale to have it on photo, however).

Puis nous avons continue notre randonnee a travers des paysages desertiques, rencontrant des chevres, escalandant des pointes de rocher mais toujours avec de merveilleux panoramas, de la mer des Caraibes, de Falmouth Harbour et meme de Monserrat...bien que la silhouette de l'ile fut trop pale pour la photographier.

Our friends arrived!!!! Karen and Lindsay!!!

Great to have them on the boat!

Soon after our friends arrived, we began exploring the Nelson Dockyard...beginning with lunch at the Admiral's Inn .., a wonderful setting for a tropical delight. Of course we drank the local brew, Wadadli Beer... and enjoing their company. What more can we wish for!!!???

Nous sommes arrives a Antigua depuis le 16 fevrier et nous mouillons depuis hier ici a English Harbour. Cette photo prise du bateau est celle du Nelson Boat yard ou l'admiral Horatio Nelson passait ses journees a comploter ..contre les pirates, la France et tous les autres (nombreux) ennemis de l'Angleterre de cette epoque. C'est tellement beau ici qu'il doit avoir ete distrait assez souvent! J'aime les falaises avec les differentes sortes de cactus qui s'accrochent aux roches!

The south coast of Antigua is famous for its harbours and their nautical traditions. When we saw "Sea Cloud III" from a distance, it just fitted perfectly our expectations. Passing Falmouth Harbour, we headed for English Harbour. Its entrance is marked by a rock formation called "pillars of Hercules" on one side and Fort Berkeley on the other.

Antigua!

From St-Martin not so far away...except that Antigua lies east and that winds are easterly..you get the picture. We departed with northeasterly winds between 15-20 and were able to sail for a good 10 hours until winds became weaker and more easterly. We motored for 14 hours and arrived in Jolly Harbour in the morning. What a beautiful sight! And very jolly Immigration and Customs officers...

It was wonderful to anchor and swimm in deep blue water instead of the murky Simpson Bay lagoon of St-Martin! We rested and caught up on some sleep as we were to leave the west coast of Antigua next morning.

Waiting for weather in St-Martn. Luckily, we met great people and had a very nice time. Together with Angel and Janet of Tahimi, we celebrated Gerhold's birthday on Amphora and enjoyed Rita's fabulous meal... We spent quite a bit of time with them afterwards. Marleyne and Rita, besides doing watercolours and art, also enjoyed a good hand rolled vanilla cigar...girls just want to have fun! Yes.

Notre sempiternelle attente pour une meteo fut tres agreable a cause des gens tres sympa que nous avons rencontres! Avec Angel and Janet de Tahimi, on a celebre la fete de Gerhold sur Amphora. Rita avait prepare tout un festin. En plus de nous amuser a faire de l'aquarelle, Rita et Marleyne ont decouvert un autre hobby: les cigares!

A visit to Phillipsburg, Netherland side was fun...besides diamonds and watch stores, there were some more authentic gingerbread houses and other interesting structures!

Une visite a Phillipsburg, du cote hollandais de l'ile, s'avera interessante...a part les magasins de diamants et de montres, il y avait des jolies maisons a architecture antillaises...

After a long wak on the beach, we sat under plam trees and ate a delicious bowl of Etna Ice Cream (the local ice cream)...delicious!

Nous avons termine notre visite par une pause sur la plage, sous les palmiers, en degustant la creme glacee locale, Etna (aux pistaches)!

February is Carneval months in many of the catholic islands in the Caribbean...this was a rehearsal for the real thing in the last week of the month! Colourful....now you know what to do with your Christmas decorations: HATS!!!!!!!!!!!! The energy (in watts as well as in movement) coming from the paticipants, as well as their natural beauty, made it a worthwile experience!

Fevrier: mois du carnaval! Nous avons eu la chance d'assister a cette repetition (le vrai defile n'etant que le 22)...Couleurs , musique venant de haut-parleurs de millions de megawatts, l'energie et la beaute des participants en valu la peine!

Dimanche...journee ideale pour faire (enfin) une randonnee entre Marigot et Grand Case pour arriver au village de Colombier...mornes et plantations de cocotiers, vaches ruminant paisiblemen sous un immense manguier...nature paisible si ce n'est des gospels et des voix de preachers qui peuvent etre entendus pres des petites eglises ...

Sunday, we hiked to a pittoresque little village between Marigot and Grand Case: Colombiers! Green and lush, with coconut trees and cattle under a huge mango tree, it was a peaceful scenery...once in a while interrupted by gospels and preacher's talk coming from small churches along the way.

It seems that we have been here for ever but there are always new experiences that thrill us...like watching mega-yachts passing the lift bridge...It's actually a thrill for us with "small" boats...we go to the Sant Maarten Yacht Club for happy hour and wait for the big ones to come through!

Bien que nous soyons depuis plus de 7 jours ici, nous avons encore plein d'activites...a part celle qui consiste a nous regrouper au Yacht Club de Sant Maarten pour regarder les mega-yachts passer avec peine (moins de 1 pied entre le pont et le bateau!) dans le pont levant menant a la lagune.