Kirsty's last sail from, Rodney Bay back to Ste Anne, Martinique was not the sort of memory she would have wanted to leave with. It was rough and wet.......enough said! We had left fairly late after calling into Rodney Bay Marina to refill the propane cylinder, clear customs and to use the wifi to send the previous blog. This meant we arrived as it was getting dark, exacerbated by the driving rain. We decided not to go ashore for a farewell dinner but to eat on board - a culinary masterpiece of frittata followed  by the pancakes I had been threatening to cook since my return just after Shrove Tuesday. We really need to get a better frying pan before trying them again! The next morning was a bit drier so we motored into the marina at Le Marin to clear in and make it easy (so we thought) to get to the airport. Kirsty's flight was late in the day so we had a farewell lunch at Mango Bay before setting off to find the stop for the Taxi Collectif - a minibus that follows a loose route but stops and diverts on demand to where people want to go and doesn't really seem to run to a timetable. We had been waiting some time at the appointed place (which was completely deserted) in growing anxiety, except for the reassurances that Kirsty was able to elicit from passers by, when another potential passenger turned up, much to our relief, followed in about 15 minutes by the bus. The journey was uneventful until we were put out of the bus at the side of a busy dual carriageway and instructed to use the exit slip road to get to the airport. However after Ted and I had waved Kirsty a tearful goodbye we had to find where to get on a bus for the return journey. Kirsty had asked the driver and established we should wait on the bridge over the dual carriageway, but it was hard to see why anyone would stop there as they only go there if requested. We went onto the bridge as clouds gathered and I flagged down a bus, but he was going to Fort de France. Fortunately he spoke English and advised us to stand by the side of the dual carriageway - not something to undertake lightly as the traffic was fast moving and it was starting to rain - but we went a little way along and waited by the entry to a petrol station. It was very difficult to identify the buses, it was getting dark and we only had sunglasses(!) and they tended to drive in the outside lane.We waved at anything that looked remotely like a minibus but had been there for about an hour and a half and in that time we only saw one going to Le Marin and (unsurprisingly) it was full so didn't stop. A decision had to be made and one came by indicating it was going to a village 9km along the coast from Le Marin to the West so gratefully we took its last 2 seats and sank back to enjoy the trip. Unlike the bus to the airport, which kept to the main roads, this one was soon detouring up hill and down dale to drop people off outside their houses. It would have been very interesting if it hadn't been too dark to really take advantage of the views. On arrival at San Luce (the bus's destination) we still had to cover the further 9km, however the bus driver was up for a bit of free enterprise and we negotiated a fare to cover the whole journey and he took us back to the marina and we collapsed with relief and a nice cup of tea a good hour and a half after Kirsty took off. Ted said afterwards he probably lived in Le Marin and had just got us to pay for his journey home, but I was just grateful not to be standing by the side of the road peering into the gloom.

We had hoped to explore some of the eastern coast of Martinique, which was why we had only gone to the south of the island on our return from St Lucia, but it rained very heavily all through the night and most of the next day so we stayed on board and worked, leaving on Friday to sail to St Pierre in the North West of Martinique, where we remembered a good laundrette, and from where the sail to Dominica was minimised. The East coast requires good visibility to minimise the dangers of reef hopping and the prevailing conditions were not at all suitable, but it would have improved the angle to Marie Galante even though we would have missed Dominica. St Pierre yielded all we wanted. All clothes and bedding washed, an excellent lunch at Restaurant La Vague and a peaceful night without too much rolling. So it was off on  Sunday for the 54Nm passage to the overnight stop in Portsmouth, Dominica. The previous time we sailed that passage it was horrible - rough seas, slow and a lot of water breaking into the cockpit. This time we had a brilliant sail, reaching with full sails and no water in the cockpit apart from the occasional rain shower. We sailed 54 miles in 9 hours (fastest speed over the ground was 9.9kn thanks to our newly cleaned bottom) and arrived in time for Eddison to come over to make sure we would come to the boat boys association fund raising beach BBQ that evening. ( the voluntary association regulates the boat boys and monitors security in the bay) By then it was pouring with rain, we had not intended to go ashore and had therefore not attempted to clear customs and would be illegal immigrants, and the dinghy was deflated and tied down on deck, but he was having none of it  promising us shelter and a free ride ashore plus inclusive rum punches so how could we resist. The BBQ and shelter were excellent.Quite a few of the yacht's people were French so the English speakers fell on each other in relief. We chatted with David and Heather from New Zealand, who had leased a catamaran out of Guadeloupe for 4 months and were heading South and Sharon and Lee from USA who were also sailing South but who had been to the Caribbean many times before. Later 2 Americans turned up from Ross university medical school on the island, looking for a lift to Guadeloupe. This is a private university that compresses the time it takes by studying more and vacationing less. One of them was a student but the other was a professional sign language interpreter, there to support a deaf student. They weren't interested in heading to Marie Galante with us, just as well as they were both very tall and one knelt down to talk to me at my level (in mitigation I say we were on soft sand and I was sinking in!) so they would have had a headroom problem on our boat and we would have been tripping over them everywhere and they had no experience. Eddison took us back to the boat just before it started raining again but it was still after midnight before we got to bed.

As a result we were not up very early and just as we were contemplating what to do first a boat boy came by to sell us grapefruit and then David arrived asking if we wanted to come over and share our information about the places to the South, so we hopped into his dinghy and went for a look over his leased catamaran. The space was unbelievable - every cabin was en suite and they were all bigger than our aft cabin. We sat out drinking coffee on their aft deck and although it kept raining we were perfectly dry. We finally dragged ourselves away after 1pm and as soon as we were back on board it was up anchor and sail to Marie Galante. Needless to say as soon as we set off the heavens opened and we sailed up the North west coast of Dominica unable to see anything because of driving rain. Conditions improved as we cleared the island but the track was close hauled and we had to motor at the end, Fortunately we managed the 24nM Passage in 4 hours in spite of all this and were able to tie up to a pontoon in daylight, after establishing that the local fishing boats still had enough space to access their ice station.

The next day we explored the little town and made arrangements for a hire car for tomorrow. Most people hire scooters but I don't think Ted fancied having me on the back, quite apart from being out in the sun and having to wear some sweaty, communal helmet. While in town we met Vilma, a most intrepid entrepreneur with several shops and a harbour front food shack which we promised to visit in the evening. Earlier on the day a French boat from Pornic had come in and tied up where the fishing boasts go, so he wanted to come alongside us.Because of the strain on our warps (already snatching and bouncing) we helped him tie to an unattended catamaran further back and in return were invited for drinks. Etienne, Jean-Francois and Martine entertained us  royally with Ti Punch and nibbles so it was quite late when we hurried over to Vilma's shack for delicious, if spicy, coconut chicken and yet more Ti punch, but much rougher this time. She really is a most enterprising lady and in the course of the meal tried to incite us to rent her house in Dominica and buy one of her CDs (she sings, writes her own songs and also writes books as well as managing a beauty parlour and a shop selling artisan crafts (we managed to resist the artisan crafts although I like the calabash wood lamp shades, even if they didn't let much light through.)

After all that we staggered back to the boat hoping to be up early tomorrow to make the most of the car.

 

   David and Heather at the beach BBQ

 

  

 Entrance to Grand Bourg harbour, Marie Galante

 

 The pontoon at Grand Bourg

 

  Typical street in Grand Bourg

 

 

 

Etienne and Martine                                                                        Jean Francois and Ted

 

        

 Cooking the chicken                                                                                 Vilma's food shack with calabash lampshades