We got up and pulled anchor at first light leaving the harbor along with a couple of dozen fishermen hurrying to be the first on the good spot.  How do they find a spot in the ocean in a row boat?  And how would they know if it was good?
We motored down Dominica till we got to the southern tip and the wind changed to our usual, on the nose and 15+ knots with waves to match.  Seeing the southern part for the first time reminds us to hurry back so we can explore what we haven't seen.

village in southern Dominica

 We sailed and then motor sailed to Martinique, passed up a good anchorage and Fort de France, did not have enough light for our alternate so we decided to do an overnight on to St. Lucia.

just another sunset on the ocean

 It was ass buster with some of the roughest weather and seas of the trip.  By the time we got to Rodney Bay at 0200 hrs. we were both hallucinating from fatigue, seeing all kinds of ships that were not there.  It was extremely hard to trust the chart plotter when my mind and Sally were both telling me we were about to ram a large military ship.  Turned out to be a cliff on the island where no lights could tell us what was there but the dark area was in the shape of a ship.  The rest of the island was lit up like a christmas tree, so it was very discerning.  We went in, did not even think of looking for a mooring ball and dropped the anchor as soon as we were out of the wind.  Daylight brought the realization that  I could not have made it to the marina even if I weren't so tired.  It was a very tricky entry for night time.  An "entrepanuer" in a homemade raft with what looked like a pig sty build on had every conceivable fruit and vegetable for sale inside.  He stopped at all cruising boats twice daily

show me the produce

We stayed a couple of days to rest up and headed south once again.  We pulled into a small bay in St Vincent called Chateaubelair which was a very quaint village that was really disinterested in us.The locals went out in row boats with 6 to 8 men in each boat sitting on a pile of nets.  Two of the fishermen from each boat donned snorkels and swam off in different directions.  If a snorkeler spotted a school of tuna the rest were row in a circle around the school letting out the net as they went.  The nets were hauled in mostly full of young tuna about 10 lbs each.  

waiting on divers signal

The best part of this bay was soon after daylight a man walked his pig up the beach to an area for the pig to graze during the day and at dusk would walk the pig home.  At least the man was employed, even if by a pig!

well . . . someone has gotta do it

last night in St Vincent

From there we headed south for an overnighter to Grenada, bypassing all the Grenadines.  We were able to tie up to a temporary slip till the next day when we were told to med moor.  I told them no way was I backing our sailboat between two million dollar sailboats, so they took an inflatable and guided me in while I was trying to back in.  Now, that is my kind of bow or stern thruster!  We hurried to secure the boat and flew back to the good ole USA for Sally to get treated for grandkiditis.  When we get back we will see Grenada and then meander through the islands we missed.