Here in Martinique

We got our outboard motor on Wed afternoon at 4:00 installed it, gave away the old one and checked out the next morning. We motor sailed to St Anne, Martinique on Thursday about 4:00. We needed to charge the batteries and the wind was light? On the way we saw a whale. It was just coming to the surface and blowing about half a mile of our starboard side. It was going south and we north. When we arrived we were immediately picked up for sundowners on another boat. Our dinghy was still up the deck. Since we have this new motor and they are notorious for being stolen we now hoist the dinghy out each night. It is a bit of a pain but a necessary evil. We had this wonderful sunset the next night. We had a nice walk with two couples yesterday. Today we had a dinghy ride down a long river with mangrove along the way. It was about a three hour journey. Now we are sitting in a little cafe having a cold beer so we can use the Internet. The hardships never end. By the way with the new motor we can actually get up on plane! The trouble is that our dinghy is a roll up model so the bottom flexes on the tops of the wave and the tubes tend to bend as they go over. Beside the fact that it is over twenty years old we think we should take it easy! Any way it's good to have a reliable motor. We're off dinghy shopping tomorrow but it would have to be a terrific deal for us to buy and of course no rat holes! We'll keep you posted.