Magic Dragon Blog

On Thursday, we left La Marin and anchored back over at Saint Annes. We were going to be leaving in the morning anyway and on Thursday from 5-7pm over by the Plungee (Dive Shop) the English speaking cruisers get together for happy hour.

There were about 12 or so cruisers at the happy hour. Taryn and Steven were there from Synchronicity too and after happy hour we went back to Magic Dragon and had hamburger and frits (fries). We are pretty sure they were beef and not horse, but we don't know french very well. They were good all the same.

We will be watching their blog as they are continuing south to complete a circumnavigation of the Caribbean. Fair winds for them as they had a rough start to their journey just as we did. Taryn even wrote an article about the journey from the states to Bermuda that will be published in Blue Water Magazine!

We left for Saint Pierre around 9am Friday morning. The decision to go between Dimond Rock and Martinique was a BAD one. Last time we did it, it was fine; this time the tide must have been different and it was a washing machine! Once we rounded the SW point of Martinique, it got better and we had a great sail all the way up to Saint Pierre.

Frank wanted to dive the wrecks at Saint Pierre where there are over 15 or more big late 1800's ships that were sunk with the volcano erupted in 1902, but the plungee was not going to dive any of the wrecks on Saturday.

We did get to go out to eat at a quaint little French restaurant called Tamaya. No one spoke English in there and the specials were not printed in French and English like the main menu. We have picked up some French so knew a few of the appetizers and 2 of the specials. This group of four Frenchies saw us struggling and came over and helped in their broken English, but it was enough to get the gist.

Herb had the Crayfish Fricassee and Frank had the Sea Bass. Of course Herb's crayfish were in the shells and Franks fish had it's head on it; but they were both delicious. Herb ordered the Coco Flan for desert and Frank had the Rhum Raisin Glace (ice cream). We both shared those. The raisins were so soaked with rum that it was almost like taking a sip of rum with each bite; très bon !

We got back to the boat and slept as much as we could sleep in the rolly anchorage until the alarm went off at 5am. Left the anchorage heading for Dominica by 6am. Had a great sail across the Martinique - Dominica Channel and just passed Rosseau and then the wind died and we had to motor the last 3 hours. We had the anchor set by 5 pm (of course in the rain). We are not sure why, but there is a swell coming in from the SE; not terrible not terribly comfortable either.

Herb secures some internet and gets online to send family and friends notes telling them where we are and sees a message from both of his sisters. They inform us that Herbs Mom ended up taking his Dad to the hospital yesterday. He had just finished up his third round of Chemo a week or so earlier and his Mom had told Herb that his Dad was just not feeling good lately. Well, it got worse when he got so weak he could barely walk and then yesterday he could not even get up from a seated position by himself AND he was slurring his speech.

They don't think there was a stroke and he is perfectly coherent. They ran a scan of his head and nothing showed up unusual. The neurologist will not be able to see him until Monday. Herb was able to Skype call his Mom and sisters and was talking with his Dad when the internet went down.

This morning Herb was able to talk to his Mom before she was leaving for the hospital. They gave him a MRI of his brain and everything looks clear. They did an MRI of his spine and don't know anything yet from that.

Kinda sucks being 2000 miles away in a boat when one of your parents is sick.

We went to the P.A.Y.S BBQ at big Papa's tonight and had 1 or 2 too many rum punches, but it was good to talk to other cruisers and get our minds off of things. P.A.Y.S is the boat boy association yacht security that patrols Prince Rupert Bay in Portsmouth from 9pm til 4am every night.

It was also great to see our friend Helen Clarke who came to visit us there at Big Papa's even though she is 2 weeks out from surgery and was obviously in a lot of pain! We will miss her when we go. We brought her cheeses and sausages from Martinique. shhh.. don't tell customs.