15:52.02N 61:35.21W

Tuesday 22^nd and Wednesday 23^rd Feb

Woke up to a calm sunny morning with no wind and just the drying decks from heavy rain around 6.00am (locally they call this ‘Blessed rain’ as it cools everything down and clears the morning air).

First off, Alexis came by and gave me a lift to the Customs and Immigration office. This turned out to be a smart modern office positioned in the back of what could almost be a farmyard right on the far outskirts of the town. They dealt quickly and efficiently with the formalities which mean that we can leave whenever we please without having to return to the office for clearance. Very refreshing!

On the way back to Serafina, Alexis was pointing out the new jetty and facilities built by the Japanese. This is a mirror of what we have seen done in St Lucia in a similar small rather run down town, but the Dominicans are a touch smarter and once it was built, they refused to allow the Japanese to do any whaling here and so it is just a very smart and rather underused fish market.

Another significant feature of the waterfront here is the array of wrecked ships lying along the beach. These were mostly washed up here by Hurricane Ivan in 2005 and left to rot. We gather that a Pakistani company offered to clear them all away and scrap them, but the Dominican government wanted payment for the scrap. In the end the Pakistani company gave up the idea and left after six months’ fruitless negotiations and now the Dominican Government is left with an eyesore which it cannot afford to clear away itself!

Dominica is by all accounts the least spoilt of all the Caribbean islands and it enjoys a wealth of natural and highly unusual features which make it popular with hikers and the like. However as it lacks many sandy beaches, it is a bit off the main stream tourist trail. Here in Prince Rupert Bay next to the town of Portsmouth, lies the Indian River and a trip up this narrow winding river is an absolute must. Remarkably the entrance to this sole attraction is largely blocked by.... yes of course, a wrecked ship, but the small boats operated by the Boat Boys here can get past and take you up the small river. We signed up for this trip and Alexis picked us up at 3.00pm and took us himself. The river is tiny and as part of a their national park setup it is wholly protected. No engines are allowed so the Boat Boys (they are mostly middle aged men) get out the wooden oars and row you up explaining everything along the way. We were treated to all sorts of sights and sounds and our photos as usual do not do the place any justice, but it was a very interesting trip and Alexis was a wonderful guide and entertainer.

We would like to return before too long and spend more time on this fascinating island, but we have to be in Antigua by the end of Feb, so for now we need to keep moving.

We had another very windy night in the bay, with over 30 knots recorded around midnight, which was a bit of a worry as the holding for the anchor here is pretty iffy. We had gone swimming on Tuesday morning to inspect our anchor to find that it was perfectly OK, but simply caught against  a rock or coral outcrop. Not ideal by any means, but secure against a straight pull, but the wind here darts about causing us to ‘sail’ around even more than usual at anchor all of which makes the chances of it breaking free of its tentative hold more possible! So cue a slightly nervous night. Furthermore it rained – a lot which required a lot of opening and closing of hatches again as we have not finished putting the new ties on Sarah’s hatch covers.

Wind was still blowing around 20 knots when we headed out of the bay and set sail for Iles des Saints. We had a great 25 mile sail over, fairly well reefed this time but still managing a steady 7 knots which given the current state of our hull after 11 months and 8,000 miles is pretty good going.

We made our cautious way in between the islands on arrival and through to the town of Bourg des Saintes. There was a fair swell running through the gap in the islands making all the anchorages here a bit rolly and fairly busy. We had a good look around before finally anchoring fairly close to the southern end of the town and setting the anchor on the second attempt. The only real setback at the time of writing is the proximity of the ferries when they come in and the nearby junior drum band practice session that seems to be running well into the early evening. On the credit side there are pelicans flying around the anchorage fishing which Sarah tells me is fine just as long as they do not choose to crap on your boat!

One very important bit of information I overlooked mentioning a few days ago was the consumption of the very last of the potatoes bought in the Canary Islands for the Atlantic crossing and very nice they were too!   So that is all the onions and potatoes gone, just six litres of UHT milk left.