Hello everyone, nope we're not in Chatham Bay, Union Island. Pam was intrigued by the description of Saline Bay in the guide book so we decided to stop here instead since we didn't back in 2001. Saline Bay is on the west side of a very small island called Mayreau. Other than an electricity generating plant and a small village its only claim to fame is a very nice palm lined beach. Another selling point for going to Saline Bay was that it is only a trip of about six miles from anchorage spot to anchorage spot. So we got underway this morning bound for Saline Bay to the south west of Canouan. As we rounded Glossy Hill, Canouan's south western most point, we saw a black squall line off to our south east. We decided to continue sailing rather than turning back because there was a chance the squall would move past before we got that far south. Well, no such luck, as we moved south it became more and more apparent that we were on a collision course with that black line of rain and wind.. So, it was time to make a precautionary sail area reduction and we did so by rolling up most of the jib while leaving the mainsail alone. We did this because as we got closer to the squall the seas under it indicated a significant wind speed increase. The good news is that we got the wind increase first, before the rain, which generally means that the squall will be short in duration. And additional good news was that the wind direction remained pretty much the same allowing me to hold our original course while steering the boat in the reduced visibility caused by the heavy rain. Foggy Mountain handled the wind and sea conditions just fine and at the hight of the squall I saw 27 knots of wind while noting several waves in the six to seven foot range. It was short lived and the sky brightened after about five to ten minutes. Which was just in time to for us to see the island, to avoid it, as it had been obscured by the heavy rain. As with most squalls after they pass they leave little or no wind behind. This caused us to have to drift for a bit, but since we were in no hurry we were good with that. Eventually the wind returned and we had a nice sail down the leeward side of Mayreau to Saline Bay. Saline Bay is as described in the guide book with a small village on the north side and a picturesque tropical beach on the south side. Pam has already taken pictures, so she may be sending those out in her next email when we get an internet connection. Right now we are not sure how long we will stay here as we still have that tropical wave coming our way on Tuesday or Wednesday. Saline Bay doesn't look like a place where I want to be when the wave arrives so if it is still on schedule we'll probably be leaving here soon. I'll let you know what we decided to do in our next post.