Our stay in Roseau was fairly brief. We arrived at Sea Cat's mooring Tuesday afternoon and took up our favourite ball, the one that allows us to tie our stern to the dock so the impact of the swells is (somewhat) minimized. 'Amoray' had arrived the day before, and were just doing their thing.
While we were in the Roseau area, a trip to "Screw's Spa" seemed like a good idea. Ken and I had been there on our first visit to Dominica three years ago, and Dalynn and Ken were eager for a good soak. We hopped on the bus towards Wotten Waven (I always think of Elmer Fudd when I think of that name) and walked the rest of the way to the spa. The walk was lovely, with a fording of a river (the water levels were up, and the flat crossing was awash with about 4" of water) and we were ready for the soak.
Screw's has about 5 or six different pools with varying water temperatures. I am not good with extremely hot water, and had to forego the first pool, but the other three soaked it up, relishing in the hot sulphur bath. The next cooler pool was more my style, and I eased into it. We all enjoyed the soaks in the various pools, with the occasional dip into the cold pool, or standing under the cold water cascades from the river for a couple of hours, and until our hands were thoroughly pruney. Afterwards, we were given a platter of fresh fruit, and mysteriously, Dalynn's banana disappeared. Fresh pineapple, banana, orange and coconut were all appreciated after the hot baths. We caught a bus back from "Brenda's Bar - Brenda, the vendor, who is very tender, and you will remember".
With an eye to the weather, we decided to leave Dominica Friday morning. Thursday the boat and her crew were checked out with the authorities, and last minute running around and good byes were made. Glenn and Dalynn needed fuel and water, so they took me along, with our jerry cans, to pick some up for "Silverheels III" as well.
Thursday, while I played Captain, Ken put on his Chief Engineer's hat and took the time and serious effort to move our batteries around. We had noticed before that we were having problems with two of them, so Ken rearranged them to get the troubled batteries farther away from the alternator and hopefully out of harm's way. It was not an easy job, as he had to move six golf cart batteries twice, and reinstall them.
Departure for Friday morning was planned for about 5:30, so we would have enough light to see by. That plan was changed when we had some bad swells rocking us quite badly. By 1:00 am, we had both had enough and decided to leave earlier than planned. If we weren't going to sleep, we might as well get going, and possibly catch a little sleep underway. We left the mooring at 1:45 under a glorious full moon and headed south to Martinique. It was so bright, in fact, that a ball cap was required to cut the glare down so my night vision wasn't affected so much. A small price for a beautiful night.
Once we got to the lee of Martinique, the typically squirrelly winds occurred. As we motored, and I went below to make breakfast, I noticed the compartment for the duff batteries was very hot. Ken had to do a quick disconnect of those batteries, but at least it wasn't going to affect the use of the electric windlass. Having those batteries in that compartment was the best place for them, as they are the most isolated and the disconnect was easiest. When Ken checked later, one of the cells was completely dry in a battery, and we have been monitoring and servicing them regularly. Looks like we have a big expense in our near future...
Otherwise, we arrived at Fort de France without any other excitement. A few naps underway certainly helped us feel better, too. A trip to "Le Galleria", a mall, was undertaken with the crew of 'Amoray' and the "Hyper-U" supermarket was visited. It is nice to stock up on the good stuff that can only be found in the French islands. This will probably be our last stop at a good French shopping area this year, and we are bound and determined to stock up. We aren't much for wine, and cheese only lasts so long, and chocolate is nice, but not a priority. We stock up on drink concentrates, the "Nutella" knock offs, and a few other things of that ilk. This is also a good place to find clothing, too.
Last night, though, we had another bad time with rolling. For about 4 hours, there was a swell rolling in that made it extremely uncomfortable. We basically braced ourselves, tied down the computer, and hoped that it would be short-lived. It was, thankfully, and the night was calm and restful.
When I went for my run this morning, I found out just how quiet downtown Fort de France is. Very little is open. I also found out about the Sunday morning Farmer's Market, which is not to be confused with the market by the downtown mall. I had to ask someone to find out where there was an open bakery, and the market was right there. Ken and I returned there a little later and picked up some fresh stuff. It is interesting what I find out on my runs!