On Our Way North

We have spent couple of weeks in St Anne and Le Marin getting work done and spending a lot of time socializing with friends. We had two wonderful birthday parties at two great restaurants. We played a couple games of dominoes with new people. Often on a Sunday afternoon when a restaurant isn't too busy they open up a space for us to play. More often than not they sell a few beers and we don't leave a mess. So everyone is happy. We had 15 people at two tables last Sunday afternoon. We had a lovely dinner with our oldest friends... The Perrys, Marsha  just turned 80 and Bob is 85. Bob has not been feeling well this winter and it's tough to get on and off his boat and it would be even more difficult for them to get onto ours for dinner. So I made a big chicken stew in the pressure cooker and we took it to them. Their daughter and son in law are also visiting from New York and it was a very enjoyable evening all around. Bob certainly enjoyed the company and a change of pace. 

Since we are in a department (province) of France the food in restaurants is amazing and inexpensive but in the grocery stores not so much. As I shopped for the things I needed for the stew I was amazed and dismayed with what I found. I like celery in the stew with the leaves adding a lot of flavour. This sad specimen was the best I could find. I paid almost 5.00 CAN equivalent. I should have held it upright for the picture to show the true droopy condition. But on a good note I got 2.5 kg of chicken legs for only 7.00 CAN . Top it off with carrots and potatoes from Canada and good McCormick spices it was perfect. Mushrooms are totally unheard of here unless in a can :( . Dawn and I shared this large jar of freeze dried mushrooms at the beginning of the season. We paid 90 EC about 45$ CAN for the most tasteless rubber you ever tried to eat. I am learning just give up on what you can't readily find. 

Yes it was partly cut away. Paying by the kilo you just take what you need I guess. It was almost 2 feet long. 

 Brian is getting better use of the jar than we did the mushrooms. 

They also have a water service in St Anne and for .07 of a Euro per liter Chris the water guy delivers water to your boat. So for 7 euro we topped up our tank before leaving. A wonderful service for people like us who don't have a water maker. 

Brian worked hard on the alternator situation and with the help of another cruiser confirmed his findings that our brand new alternator is shot along with our old regulator. Another cruiser loaned us his regulator for the testing and then sold it to us when all was working. Thanks Pierre and Charlie! Now we must replace our new spare with yet another spare. Hoping the manufacturer offers some help on it. The raw water pump ...well there is another 600.00 problem! 

Last night we had three couples in for sundowners and snacks. These are some of the people we met our first year out and have remained good friends. Today we left St Anne.

We started off on a leisurely sail up the coast with 12-18 knot winds and had a most pleasant sail around Diamond Rock. Sometimes it can be very confused seas but today on main sail only with two reefs we were doing about 8 knots and barely a splash over the bow. We continued onto Anse Mitan anchorage across the bay from the capital Fort de France. The winds usually howl across this bay and today was no exception. We were splashed and salty after a couple tacks ( yes we tacked!) Before we were settled in at anchor we had a small shower to help with the salt. Since we are moving along later this week I will save the real clean up for later. Tomorrow we will take the ferry across to the capital, Fort de France, and do a little shopping and sight seeing. It is a lovely old city. Looking forward to it. 

We plan to carry on to Dominica by the weekend. The boat boys of Prince Rupert Bay anchorage are having Cruisers Appreciation week. I say boat boys but these are men who in an orderly manner wait for incoming boats to greet,offer their services for tours etc and generally are very welcoming. They also do night patrols of the bay to ensure safety. Sunday nights they put on a BBQ with potent rum punch followed by dancing on the sand. Monday is generally referred to as "recovery day". A few years ago Dominica was not a safe island for cruisers to visit but this group of men turned it around and made it not just a safe place but a very hospitable place to visit. The island is very lush and beautiful and much less developed than many other islands. We will have lots of hiking and snorkelling opportunities over the next week. The week of parties will be a lot of fun too. 

To answer our survey last blog..... We had so many people tell us how much they enjoyed it and keep it up was unanimouse. So here I go again. Thanks all.