Ok Sorry about the lack of information coming from Astra, but we were worried about keeping up the standard that Paul set. That is our excuse and we are sticking to it.

We had the sails repaired in Martinique which was
good, so sailing properly again.  Also managed to pick up a 2nd hand
spinnaker at a great price, so that will help. Only trouble is slightly small, and Sally worried about being taken up the top of the mast with it, Just shows that she does not have a clue about flying spinnakers.

Mari Cha turned up, beautiful boat, had to hold Ash back from jumping ship!!!

A big boat called Pearle Bleu parked next to us and in a drunken moment Sally dared Ash to jump off it. Hence picture of spiderman. The boat was bristling with cameras, but our boy was undetected.

Had some great snorkelling, up the coast of Martinique at some black sand beaches.  Swam with a giant turtle and identified another type of ray that was hiding in the sand (lesser electric ray).  Then we went north to St Pierre under Mt Pelee which
erupted in 1902 killing 30,000 people.  Strange place, the buildings are
built directly onto the ruins of the old town so that any 'modern' building
(they are still shacks) has at least one wall which dates back to 1902.
Anyway the place was a bit of a wreck, one got the feeling that the locals
just didn’t put in any effort which was a shame.  Then we went to Dominica
which was beautiful.  Stunning scenery, of 8 potentially active volcanoes.
We were going to look at the interior but the boat boys were so bloody
annoying and there have been reports in the past of yachts being boarded in
the night by thieves that we only stayed one night.  So we left Dominica in
a bit of a hurry also because Ash had a night out with the locals and was the
only white person in the shanty town, bit scary and didn’t want to see any of
them again so we left!!

At the moment we are in Les Saintes which is a small group of islands just
south of Guadeloupe. This place is really good, have been snorkelling loads
and have seen 2 different types of rays, all sorts of amazing coloured fish
and something that I think was a barracuda.  Was looking at a large
caterpillar thing (which we have now identified as possibly being a lethal
bristle worm!) under water today and backed into a hole that was full of
large caribbean lobsters-they were seriously pissed off and the pincers were
snapping away!!  Currently anchored near Maltese Falcon - prob cost over
£100M, it has its own art gallery (and helicopter) on board - its pretty
impressive, Northern Child of St Peter Port is also next door (Swan 51).
Found our favourite fish so far, it is called a 'spotted drum' black and
white with an amazing flappy bit sticking out the top of its head.  We are
taking fish identification very seriously now and snorkel with fish ID
cards!

Jacques Cousteau is now on board. Well the skipper decided to get up close and personal to a few fish, he finally got his dive gear on. We were all very impressed as he hadn’t dived since 1993. So Ash and I have booked a dive course in Antigua. A little better than the last time I went diving with Jeremy, which was off Portland Bill and I came out covered in bog roll, as we swam right under an sewage outlet.

Going for a walk today to a pretty little bay called Pompierre.