Fast and furious with noise and smoke.
Oriole
Sun 3 Apr 2005 15:41
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The tradewinds are certainly back
with a vengeance and we have had some good
fast sailing. We arrived in Prince Rupert Bay, Dominica on Easter Monday where two beach parties of locals were competing to see who could make the most noise with their amplified music. The noise did not finally abate until 0400, by which time John had been asleep for 6 hours. Newton Ferrers Regatta parties pale into insignificance. Dominica has some lovely diving and we did a couple of dives, one a repeat of one of last year's where there are caves and tunnels which you swim through and your air permeates through the seabed above you to produce a champagne effect. The water was crystal clear and the colours of the coral and fish really vivid. 
Diving in Dominica
On Thursday we moved on to Martinique and anchored within easy access of
our
favourite restaurant, Les Passagers du Vent. We restricted ourselves to lunch only. On passage we were chasing another yacht which suddenly altered course and alerted us to more Humpback whales which they had sighted. The whales were engaged in their
fascinating lobtailing activity where they repeatedly
throw their rear end out of the water and smash it down on the surface with an almighty splash. Sorry no photos, but very dramatic. Sitting quietly at anchor in the evening we were aware of a large quantity of smoke some miles away inland and to windward drifting down on us. Soon large flecks of ash were descending on
the boat and in the morning we looked as though we had suffered a black snowstorm - perhaps appropriate in this location. We eventually realised that it was a sugar cane fire. In many places the cane is burnt before harvesting (remember the dramatic Peugeot TV advertisement) which makes it easier to cut and surprisingly does not damage it. To avoid more pollution we hauled our anchor and left. It would be great if the Newton and
Noss bonfire problem was so easily resolved.
We were hard on the wind for the
sail to St Lucia but
made it in one tack with 20 knots, big seas and lots of water flying about but no more whales. As the local weather guru would describe it "It was rock and roll city out there". 
Floating fruit and veg, St Lucia.
Our favourite fruit and vegie vendor
has just been round and tells us he
has given up his building job as they
would only pay him
15$EC per hour (about £3). Who can
blame him!
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