Underway towards Les Saintes, S of Guadaloupe 15:40N 61:32W

Ticketeeboo
Sue & Alan
Sun 23 Feb 2014 16:05
As we closed towards Portsmouth (Prince Rupert Bay, Dominica) we had a change of plans and decided to head towards Les Saintes, islands S of Guadalupe, which are only 20'odd NM miles further to N. The weather has been pretty good this morning, part donk, part sailing in bright sunshine and because we can reach our new destination by mid afternoon we decided to go today. This avoids any problems having to check-in Dominica and the possibility of being harassed by more boat-buoys (as warned in the pilot book). We didn't wanna go ashore Dominica anyway so our decision makes sense. We're now having a good sail seeing up to F6 doing just over 8kn using jibsl + 2-reefed mainsl. Very nice too because the E'ly swell is only about 1-1½m (which is much less than we've experienced thus far).
Very quiet last night and very little wind. Only concern being the comparative poverty on Dominica and the ever present threat of possible theft. For example, a Brazilian yacht (thinks s/y Masmete) came on hook yesterday afternoon and then when they went ashore in their tender to check-in. On their return I signalled all's well/OK with their yacht and he signalled back a gracious 'thank you' indication their concern when leaving their yacht. Reinforced by comments made in the pilot book. We know it's a shame to express these doubts about security. It's just that Dominica is relatively untouched by tourism or development and 'be-aware' warnings are what they are. That said, yesterday afternoon there was a fisherman in his rowing boat by us for most of the afternoon. When a large turtle appeared on the water surface he whistled to alert us of it's presence so we could see. I offered him a beer. He took all his lines in and rowed close, without making boat-boat contact. Whilst he stood
off and drank his beer we had a good chat and he was very polite, as well interesting. No threat whatsoever.
We are expecting to spend a good few days in and around these next islands, Les Saintes. We've had very good reports about them from Aylin & Goran s/y Catana III. Also, I noted Chris & Steve s/y Chewsy stopped-over on hook at Islet Cabrit, when visiting these parts last year.
No internet assess so here's hoping MICHAEL WILL EMAIL ME THE SCORE AND HIS MATCH REPORT TODAY?????
Ticketeeboo MMSI 235071989 Callsign 2CED3, Ham callsign = m0hng
At 23/02/2014 16:02 UT our position was 15°40.52'N 061°32.59'W
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www.winlink.org/dotnet/maps/positionreportsDetail.aspx?callsign=m0hng