Having dealt with the farewell emotions of "AMOEBA's" departure, that beautiful ferro-cement schooner with a great bunch of people on board, that's now on its way to Nova Scotia, CANADA, we were able to leave ANTIGUA and set the sails for GUADELOUPE, a passage of forty-six miles with a steady wind from the east, making it a close reach ...............
Rainy and misty when we finally arrived at Des Hayes, GUADELOUPE where we had anchored previously ........... A sleepy little town that has a very loud church bell to keep everybody awake during the day ....... A great place to restock on French bread and other delicasies ............ The bay is surrounded by steep volcanic hills covered in vegetation right to the water's edge .............
Early morning departure while the good weather lasts, and we motor-sail all the way past GUADELOUPE and ILES DES SAINTES and onto DOMINICA ..... Nowhere near as many yachts in Prince Rupert's Bay at PORTSMOUTH as the last time we were here, in late March ........It is hard not to miss this vessel that looks like a Turkish charter-cruise ship from somewhere near the Adriatic Sea........ No one on board ....Ah, well, another mystery ship? ....
The tradewinds blow so consistantly around the lee of these islands that they give the bushes a neat little 'comb-over' where the wind accelerates along the water's edge ............ The cliffs drop off to hundreds of feet deep and we can sail very close to the edge of land ..... By close, we mean 30 feet or less ....... Definitely nowhere to anchor .........
Magnificent green hills and mountains ...... This is the island of 365 streams ... The garden island ....... Despite some houses that might be better built a little further inland ... Do a double-click on this photo and you'll see why ....
Even these houses close to shore have a substantial seawall around them ...... We only stopped overnight in PORTSMOUTH to get some wonderful fresh vegies for which this garden island is so famous ........
Other than fresh vegetables there is not a lot for DOMINICA to export, except maybe rock ....... Volcanic crushed rock, that is....... Do a double click on these photos to see the process ...... Slide the hillside down, then put it through a crusher and onto a conveyor belt, then load it onto barges towed by a tugboat and 'Bob's your Uncle" ..... Money in the bank .......
By the time we reached the end of DOMINICA at Scott's Head, the wind had died altogether so we again motored across the next inter-island passage to MARTINIQUE .... About 30 miles ...... it is getting to be steamy hot and the haze hides the islands until you are quite close ..............
Modern medicine is such a wonderful thing ........ Laurie put some 'EFUDEX', a cancer cream, on a sore spot on her chest ....... Sort of rubbed it in, and a week or so later found out that there was a little more than one spot ....... Now this is all good, for each red spot is cancer cells being destroyed and replaced with new baby skin cells .... You'd freak out if we showed you what I look like after treatment each year ....... Anyway as soon as we anchored in Fort-de-France, MARTINIQUE we went ashore to do clearance, some shopping and internet in McDonalds ........ You should try one of these delicious French Bread rolls ...... They are McNIFIC ......
Everybody is always asking us " Have you seen the Green flash, yet?" and at least until recently we never had ....... Well, now we can finally say " YES, we have " ....... We even know where it is, but we are not telling anyone ........
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