Dominica is a lush, beautiful, and very rugged island. We took some tours with Martin, a well-informed guide as well as being a throroughly nice person.

Some highlights:
- Dramatic and beautiful scenery everywhere! (even though this was the '"dry" season).
- River trip among HUGE mangrove trees.
- Visit to the "cold" volcano where we could actually walk on the goo.
- Meeting the president of the island. Martin pointed out his parents' house on our route and noticed the president was visiting, maybe because it was Sunday afternoon. In any case, the president was gracious enough to come over to our car and say "hello", accompanied by some security people who were also cordial, if somewhat more guarded.
- Wonderful coffee.
- Great party on shore with music until dawn (I'm NOT kidding -- we decided to anchor further away next day!)
- Spices growing in the wild. Martin showed us cinnamon bark, bay leaves, lemon grass, thyme, oregano, limes, and others growing beside the trail.
- Mango eating contest organized by Martin -- mangoes were in season and growing everywhere -- VERY messy!
- Swim in a fresh water river --very refreshing and also very necessary after the mango contest.
- Very nice beach and terrific snorkeling, only the second time I have seen lobsters snorkeling.

Isles des Saintes are a group of small islands south of the main island of Guadeloupe. They are about perfect for cruising with several good anchorages to choose from. We anchored in this bay off the only town, Bourg des Saintes. Historically, they were settled by people from Brittany in northwest France and still show much of that influence today.

Highlights of our stay:
- Visit to an old fort which now houses an interesting museum and cactus garden planted on the grounds of the fort. We had to walk up a very steep hill because I was too chicken to rent mopeds, which are everywhere on this island. Anyway the walk was good for us.

- Several Iguana sitings. They look kind of dangerous, but are really pretty timid.

- A great beach on the Atlantic side was only a short walk away.

- Good food (typical of the French islands.)

- Nice swimming and snorkeling right off the boat. A group of sailboats that were participating in a multi-day race arrived anchored near us for the night on our first day here. Next thing I know naked people are jumping in the clear water for a refreshing skinny dip, a good example of the European influence in these islands. Next morning they were all off again bright and early, and we were treated to a beautiful view because the wind conditions were such that they all popped their spinakers while leaving the bay. As far as I know no one was sailing naked.

Arriving in Guadeloupe I really felt like I was in the Garden of Eden. This picture shows some of the fruits (notice there are two different kinds of pineapple) and vegetables easily available from street vendors and small markets. Mangoes were so plentiful that we picked them up under wild trees beside the road. Many times the vendors make "change with mangoes" , giving you a mango or two when they don't have exact change.

I have been thinking about the differences in eating and cooking here in the islands compared to back home. Often things we would expect in any supermarket are not available (e.g., pine nuts, cream cheese, or fresh meat).

Passing from Nevis to Guadeloupe, we came close to Montserrat where the volcano was much in evidence. We had heard an announcement advising boats not to come to Montserrat because of volcanic activity. You may remember hearing about the eruption that devastated southern Montserrat in 1995, destroying the capital, Plymouth, and leaving large parts of the southern half of the island almost uninhabitable because of volcanic ash and polution from the dust.

Our first view of Montserrat was from the north and showed a lush, green, mountainous land. Coming around the eastern side, we could see the clouds billowing over a wasteland. The contrast is stark, and the path of the eruption is easy to see. There was a lot of steam causing very high clouds. It almost looked like a snow storm except we were in the tropics, the sun was out and the temperature about 90 F.

The seas around Montserrat were very choppy and much rougher than forecast. We found out later that there had been another eruption the day before our trip along with a small tsunami which caused the rough seas and all the steam and clouds. After we got to Guadeloupe, 31 miles away, we could still see the clouds over the volcano for several days.