The past month has provided the best sailing of our lives, with close reaching through to wind slightly aft of the beam in 15 to 20 knots apparent wind and 4 to 6 foot seas. On some of the shorter passages we seriously considered standing on for the next island.

Leaving Union Island, we stopped in the Tobago Cays on November 7th, and enjoyed snorkeling and a great lobster dinner on the beach with Discovery and Rum Runner. Then we moved on to Canouan for a walk around, spent a night in Bequia and moved from there to Young Island Cut, St. Vincent.

We hadn't been to St. Vincent before (except by ferry from Bequia) so we explored the capital (Kingstown) and visited the Botanical Gardens which features amongst cannonball trees and other exotica, a sucker from Captain Bligh's original breadfruit tree. The highlight, however, was a strenuous hike with Carl and Marilyn (Discovery) followed by a scramble up a lava flow to the top of the Soufriere volcano. Once we arrived, we timidly leaned over the precipice of the caldera to view the dome inside. There is a lot more hiking to enjoy here than we had realized.

Many cruisers pass by St. Vincent in the belief that it is too dangerous. Some anchorages have a bad reputation, but the government has built a cruisers visitor center in Cumberland Bay that should provide a secure anchorage on the northwest coast.

After 2 nights in St. Vincent we were off to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia for 2 nights where we celebrated our anniversary. From there we sailed with Hoof Beats, Allegro and Discovery to Le Marin, Martinique one of our three favorite provisioning stops - all French, of course!

On November 15th, we scooted around the southwest corner of Martinique and dropped the hook in Grand Anse D'Arlet, a lovely small beach resort area with a host of water front eateries. We hiked across Morne Champagne to Petit Anse D' Arlet to sample the mini market and bakery. This is a neat little town but a rolly anchorage so the boat stayed in Grand Anse.

Our next stop was St. Pierre, Martinique. This is the real "town that died", obliterated by the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelee. Only one person survived out of a population of 30,000. The town is quite interesting (but often a bouncy anchorage) and a visit to the museum is de rigeur.

Our next stop was Portsmouth, Dominica on November 19th, where we were greeted by Martin Carriere, our guide on our last visit. Martin and the other Indian River Guides work very hard to make a visit to Portsmouth interesting (all manner of tours) and secure (moorings and a patrol dinghy at night). The guides must all have government training in subjects from botany to CPR to retain their licenses. If you are there, use Martin's services. You won't be disappointed.

We spent nearly a week in Portsmouth, hiking the Cabrits park, visiting Cold Soufriere and a plantation with Martin and taking a couple of day trips by bus to Roseau. One day, Martin came out to Allegro and spent 1 ½ hours making Pina Coladas from scratch - all fresh ingredients - lots of work but the result was an awesome Pina Colada.

Dominica is a poor island, but the people and countryside are wonderful. Truly this is the garden of the Caribbean, and one of our favorite stops along with Grenada.

On November 25th, we tore ourselves away from Dominica and sailed over to the Saints, anchoring in Bourg de Saintes. Bonanza (our buddy boat in last year's travels) caught up to us here less than two weeks after launching in Grenada. We celebrated their fast passage and timely arrival with a lunch time bottle of Champagne. Later that day we all contributed to a US Thanksgiving dinner complete with turkey and ham aboard Hoof Beats with Allegro, Discovery and Bonanza.

We arrived in the harbour at Point a Pitre, Guadeloupe on the 27th so we could provision at the big Cora store here. Also on the hit list, more shoe stores per capita than anywhere else! There is a lot to see, including the flower market where a lovely �'�10 bouquet would cost $200 + in Canada.

You wouldn't want to swim in the harbour, so we spent one night at nearby Ilet du Gosier. On return, we anchored near the Pont de la Gabarre. It opens at 5AM (every day except Sunday) to let boats pass through the Riviere Salee which divides Guadeloupe in two. Next stop - Antigua!