It has been three weeks since we arrived on Grenada and we are still slowly making our way north towards our destination – Antigua. Our kids will arrive there on December 23rd. So far we are two days behind our “schedule”, but we have a few days to spare, so we will be fine.

Still, somehow we feel compelled to keep moving and haven’t really taken enough time to actually visit the islands we passed. But we keep joking “we will do it on our way back”! But even the short moments on land for shopping, running errands, doing laundry, findig spare parts for the boat, or treating ourselves to a cold drink or nice meal are fun and are giving us a glimpse of the character and vibe of these Islands.

That varies greatly from one island to the other. For example, we enjoy St. Lucia with it’s friendly and creative people very much. It has a totally different feel than Martinique that, with its European influence, feels much less laid back, more organized and commercial, and a little reserved.

As we make our way up from St. Lucia to Martinique we get surprised with plenty of rain and much stronger then anticipated winds. Our forecasting apps predicted stable 15-18kn from due East, allowing us to reach straight for the southeastern tip of Martinique. While the direction proves true, the wind is much stronger. To boot, we get hit by a massive squall, characterized by heavy rain and stronger gusty winds and an eerie-feeling dead calm in the middle.

When that hits us, I am ready to unreef the sails again. But skipper Karin feels differently: “this must be the eye of the storm”. So we wait and sure enough just ten minutes later it is blasting us with 30kn of wind and more rain. But nothing we couldn’t handle and after a little while the clouds lift and the sun shines again. We are almost dry by the time we drop anchor at St. Anne. So, at the end of the day, it was an interesting and fun trip.

Just beyond St. Anne lies Le Marin, a large and very protected lagoon and the yachting capital of Martinique. Here you can find all sorts of boat services and supplies. That comes in handy because we need – surprise, surprise – some spare parts and repairs. Shocker, I know! Our genoa (the bigger of the two foresails) needs to be repaired (a small seam opened up and needs to be restitched before it gets worse). Thankfully, we find Daniel, a very friendly sailmaker who is available on short notice. So we take down this huge and stiff piece of canvas, stuff it in its bag, and dinghy it up to Daniel at Le Marin.

It ends up being an exhaustive yet productive day: Checked into Martinique, sail repaired, three loads of laundry washed, critical boat supplies (we found the spare part for our water maker, can you believe it!), and a bit of groceries shopping. We are happy to be back for a quick swim, sun downer, and dinner. Bed time comes early today 🙂

Tuesday rewards us: we leave early and enjoy a leisurely sail downwind and wrap around the southwestern end of the island and into a small bay called Anse Dufour. The snorkeling here is very good and Karin is in the water half the afternoon, spots a big barracuda below our boat and lots of reef fish and fairly healthy coral on the reef. Lovely.

We had planned to spend a couple more days in Martinique. But upon checking the weather we find that there is period of very calm winds approaching. Facing the choice between waiting that out here or moving on, our restlessness prevails yet again and we get up early on Wednesday and head for Dominica right away while we still have good wind.

By 1pm we reach the northern tip of Martinique where there is no sign of lessening wind. 22-25kn and a decent size swell that we are laboring into fairly hard. I am ready to quit but skipper Karin says she “has a good feeling, we keep going”. And sure enough the wind turns in our favor, lessens to a perfect 15-18kn on the beam and we have a nice, if somewhat bumpy, ride to Dominica.

Dominica is very high and looks so close but it takes us until almost sunset by the time we tie up at a mooring at Rousseau, the capital. We spend two nights here, chill the first morning before heading to town for customs and a nice lunch. A taxi gives us a ride to Scotts head, a famed snorkeling spot. We can tell it is awesome although we get here a bit too late in the afternoon and the sun is no longer high enough to illuminate the underwater wonderland. We definitely will come here again, on the way down with my sister Bini.

As we enjoy sunset and dinner aboard, we make plans for tomorrow, a jungle hike to waterfalls and a hot spring – maybe?