Back in St. Lucia

Wednesday 16th January

We are now back in St.Lucia, in a little harbour/marina called Marigot Bay. It's a lovely little haven, but full of yachts! We have a berth for 2 nights on our own, as those crewing with us have gone off to a hotel for 2 nights.

We spent 3 nights, 2 days on Dominica. It really is a special place. Friendly and helpful people who can and will arrange almost anything you want. Our tour was with a boatload (4) of Germans from a charter boat. We toured some of the rainforest, none of which appears to have been cut down. In this we had a look at 2 waterfalls side by side, the long thin one called the Father fall, and the shorter, wider one is the Mother fall. Apparently after heavy rain there is also the Baby Fall! I dont think PC has arrived there! One fall is 30+ degrees, from volcanic activity and the other is cold. There are 7 volcanos on this little island and 2 of them are not dormant! We also had a look at the Stinking Hole - a mini geyser area with a lot of SO2 in free flow.

We left at about 9am and sailed back to Grande Anse in Martinique and anchored for the night. Then in the morning, by arrangement, an air conditioning specialist came out and replaced the faulty pump on the unit. From there we sailed across to Marigot, hitting 10kts on the way and averaging 8.5kts under sail. Force 4 ESE wind. At that rate we would have done the ARC in 13 days! The boat is in great need of a good cleaning and the watermaker and generator both need servicing - Rodney Bay, I suspect, for those pleasures.