We intended to hire a scooter to explore Marie Gallant, but all scooter rental outlets that were open didnt rent scooters, so we were advised to check one of the other outlets who would most certainly be open in the morning. When dawn broke it looked like it was going to rain all day, so we ducked out and motor sailed the 17 miles to the Isles de Saintes, the second time we had been there but this time there were several buoys available so we picked one up and waited till the morning to go ashore. The next day it bucketed down all day, requiring the skipper to visit the stern to siphon the water out of the dinghy. After two siphonings I gave up and dropped the dinghy , which meant it could rain as hard as it liked for as long as it liked. So the following day after emptying the dinghy(method is to lift the bow on a halliard and tip the water out over the stern) we went ashore, had lunch, checked the place out etc. We did the same the following day, passing on walking up the hill to the fort due to our extreme age. I had to change the generator fan belt which had done very well at about 55 hours, usually they need changing at about 10! On Wed 26th April we left the Saintes to sail down to Dominica, and had decided to break up the passages into more manageable chunks of about 35 miles, which meant heading to Roseau further down the coast than Portsmaouth at the N end of Dominica. Some rally friends said they had picked up moorings their OK. We had a good sail down to Dominica on a close/beam reach, but then had to motor most of the way from there to Roseau. Met quite a way out by boat boy Brian who said he had a mooring for us. He blasted off to show us where to go and nearer in another Boat boy approached called Marcus, who was mentioned in the Pilot. He said Brian didnt have any moorings and we should come to one of his, but we played the white man (can you say that) and stuck with Brian. The pilot is full of tales of dodgy and unmaintained moorings so its a bit of a worry but Brian had found some where the buoy had sunk below the surface, and once he recovered it the rope beneath looked like it would hold a supertanker, so we felt justified. Overnight more heavy rain requiring more siphoning and the resulting dinghy drop.The following day we set off for St.Pierre on Martinique, it was very bumpy and windy off the south of Dominica but gradually eased allowing us to sail on a close/beam reach down to St.Pierre where we anchored for the night. The next day was the passage to the south of Martinique to St Anne. A combination of sailing and motorsailing as we were in the lee of the island. However once at the south end you have to turn due East for 15 miles to get to the large anchorage at St.Anne. Traversing this bottom corner near Diamond rock, referred to in previous blogs, the sea were subject to wind over tide giving a very short and large sea, just like the Alderney Race,but it went on for longer. Its at times like these you start wondering if the fuel will block up or the engine will fail for any number of reasons, but all was well and we eventually arrived and anchored in 6.5 metres. We have now had cloudy and showery weather for a couple of weeks now which probably explains why many cruisers have packed up and gone home. In fact the OCC net has now finished as there were so few calling in or able to run it, and there is a distinct end of season air around. After a couple of days in St.Anne we sailed off the 22 miles to Rodney Bay in St.Lucia. Once anchored up we dinghied in to the supermarket, (you can leave the dinghy a couple of hundred yards from the supermarket) and stocked up on essentials. Next day we planned to go to the south of St. Lucia, to Laborie, where we had been before with Paul, as it shortened the sail on to Bequia, missing St.Vincent out due to security worries, although I suspect it is no better or worse than any other islands. We slogged down to Laborie with the usual mixture of sailing and motorsailing, and now we are quite slow due to the growth on the bottom or more specifically the prop. Another cruiser told us that growth on the prop can knock 20% off its efficiency and I can well believe that. Its only with a scuba tank that you can clean off the prop so without a diver we have to live with it. At Laborie we anchored but it was so rolly with a SE swell that we decided it was untenable and we left at 6pm that evening for a slow overnight sail for the 55 miles down to Bequia. We arrived at 9am after a slow sail which we were well suited to (see above) and we anchored in Admiralty bay. Here we checked in to the Grenadines and had a meal at the Whaleboner restaurant, and the following day managed to get our large gas bottle filled. On the third the wind picked up from the NE and made the anchorage very uncomfortable so we upped anchor and sailed down to Canouan, where we anchored over sand. There was a fairly new catamaran half sunk on a reef near the beach, a local told us it was a charter boat that was on a mooring buoy but came adrift in strong winds, apparently the charterers were on it drinking rum punches and by the time they realised it was too late! We left the next morning for Mayreau and after looking in at Saltwhistle bay, where it looked windy and rough we went on down to Saline Bay where we anchored, aided by two locals who run the restaurant where we are going for dinner tonight. So we continue to read the security reports and hope our main defence is that we dont look affluent enough to have much of anything worth taking, lets hope that and locking up work, although we may try a trick that Inga use which is to make up a dummy and leave it in the cockpit!