Up high on the hill, by Caroline's Battery, the majestic views had us peering over the dramatic cliff drops to what appears like it might be a secluded bay, and sure enough, what lays below is the quite majestic looking and most beautiful Pompierre beach.



"Tomorrow's a Beach Day" we all chimed in unison... would you not agree??

And so the next morning, when we woke up to grey skies and early morning rain showers life took a bit of a downward smiley face type of turn, but really, usually the rain showers are short, so we packed our stuff and got ready anyways.

We were determined to have ourselves a Beach Day and sure enough, pretty soon the skies showed a bit of a blue type of promise, so off we went.

It was only a 30 minute walk to get there, and yes it rained on us, but then, just as we arrived, life magically cleared up.



This is one pretty picturesque beach, the palm trees aligned just so,



the waterfrontage so calm



and we whittled away the afternoon away doing lots of nothing. Nothing being eating our snacks, drinking our drinks, people watching, goat-herding, and playing Mexican Train Dominoes,



Despite the guide indicating this is excellent snorkelling grounds, we decreed nothing much interesting to see underwater, but the swim did refresh us, there were no jellyfish (yay!) and thankfully there was a shower spigot to use to rinse the salties away.

A scenic walk back



and it was time to get a good nights sleep... for on the morrow we planned to leave. All the hiking we've been doing was not for naught, all this long walking while we were being primed and prepped (maybe even tested??) by Dalynn and Glenn, for some serious hiking to be done in Dominica.

And so the next morning we used the rather boisterous winds available to us, one reef in the main and half a jib to get us the 20 short nautical miles to Dominica.

Somewhere along the way, SV AMORAY snagged this shot of Banyan.



We returned the favour,



and figured they were the lucky ones, busy snapping photos of the pod of dolphins playing with their bow.

We were still roughly 2 miles out when we noticed one of the zoomingly fast PAYS Boat Boys approaching... and within minutes we were greeted by Laurence of Arabia, cheerfully welcoming us to Dominica, what fun !!

As it was just shortly after noon, we opted to anchor by the Customs office first in order to clear into the country before the offices closes at 13:00 for lunch break.



That done, we moved the 2 miles closer to the village and anchored in what was going to be our home for the next little while or until the weather changes, whatever comes first. A snorkel and a swim showed we were well dug in, and yay, no jellyfish.