One reason for stopping at Haiti was to have a rest during the passage eastwards and another reason was to tick it off the list of countries visited. However, a third, and perhaps most important reason, was to drop of some supplies. As a result of the recent earthquake, aid was still much needed. On the small island of Ile a Vache (Island of Cows - and yes, there were cows there) at the southwest corner of Haiti, there had been a knock-on effect with a shortage of some supplies.

An orphanage, run by "Sister Flora" (who unfortunately we never met), was found to be a good drop-off point and Didier who runs the hotel on the island kindly acted as go-between. Rice, flour, baby food, baby milk powder, dried beans, soap, reading glasses, exercise books, pencils, and some medical supplies were handed over and would be stored along with supplies brought in by other boats until such time that Sister Flora and her team could come around to the bay in her boat and collect them. It felt good to be able to act positively and directly to bring aid to this Country and to know that many other boats were also doing the same. In fact, just before we left the island another UK yacht "Da Capo" owned by Tony and Sue, came in carrying copious amounts of food, shoes, clothing etc to offload. They had a temporary member of crew with them who was going to stay in Haiti to help with the relief effort.

Ile a Vache is a lovely island - no roads and only rough tracks or footpaths between the small villages. We were visited frequently by boys or men in dug-out canoes built from mango tree wood, offering bananas, coconuts, fish and mangos. People kept asking if we were going to "Madame Bernard" and we wondered who she was and why she was so important that we must visit her. It turned out that "Madame Bernard" was the area of the island where a market is held every Monday and Thursday. It was a good one and a half hours' walk away, over hilly, rough footpaths and tracks, through coconut groves of small settlements, along two beaches and through the countryside. We were accompanied during our walk there by three teenage lads on their way to school. They walk there and back each day for afternoon school (the younger children go in the morning) and were keen to speak a little English as well as try and get money or some form of treat from us. Fi did promise to send one of them an English/French dictionary (their language is Creole based on French) but with just an email address we're not sure how this will be achieved - perhaps via Didier again! At the market all we wanted was a cold drink and these appeared to range in price from about 50p to about £3 depending on how much the stallholders thought they could get away with! We did not begrudge these fluctuations in price, in the knowledge that, although we're not rich by any standards, £3 may mean much more to them than perhaps it does to us.

The school children looked very smart in their uniforms - the boys in brown trousers and yellow shirts and the girls wearing the same colours or pink gingham check dresses if they were younger, with matching bows in their hair.

We passed a few groups of fisherman building their traditional wooden boats on the beach using local timber and only hand tools as they have been doing for hundreds of years. This was a real treat and an eye-opener for Dave as they had no power tools or even plans but the end result was excellent. Others were re-caulking the seams in their wooden fishing boats, whilst schoolboys sat on the ground scooping the young juicy flesh from immature coconuts; women walked serenely back from the market with produce in bags carried in their arms or atop their heads, and giggling schoolgirls lined up for a photo on their way home. Water was being hand pumped from a well by a man and his topless wife (well, it was hot and they were probably having their daily wash) and we were warned by a local not to drink it - it could just be used for washing etc.

We were also greeted on the homeward walk by a lovely lady who takes in washing and she also offered to cook for us one evening. We did not take up either offer but when she visited our boat with her husband we gave them some rice and beans as a small gift. Later, her husband brought out some mangos and Fi gave him a ring to take back to his wife as well as a small solar panel which would help charge his mobile phone. Then, they both came out and she handed over their email address (they all travel to the mainland to use internet and email as there is nothing, not even electricity on the island) and an embroidered cloth. We felt very touched by this gesture as they have virtually nothing.

Another man who came out to see us, Jean Jean, said he and his wife run a small restaurant on the beach and as they could grill lobster Fi suggested to Dave that they go over the next evening. As a gift to us, he also handed over a bunch of about 40 small bananas which he promised would be ready in about five days. They were the best bananas we have ever tasted and sure enough were ready in five days! We were accompanied on our walk that day by ten small boys who giggled and talked and vied for position to hold Fi's hand and said "give me one dollar" constantly (we think that's the first English phrase they learn in school!) but were great fun. They accompanied us to Jean Jean's "restaurant" along the beach and sat watching as we were seated at a table covered in a clean white cloth and decorated with a vase of paper flowers under a coconut palm roof looking out over the bay. We supped a warm beer (ugh!) and then were served with 2 lobsters for Dave (total £6!), rice and beans, and sliced tomatoes and onions. What a memorable meal and a memorable setting.........

We spent quite a few afternoons sitting by the pool at the hotel, deserted apart from a young American lad who stayed a couple of nights after having been in Port au Prince assisting with the relief effort and a couple (French and Swiss) who live and run two restaurants in Port au Prince who were there on one of their many minibreaks to the island. We treated ourselves to a meal at the hotel one night which was lovely and the views over the bay from the hilltop setting made it even more enjoyable.

The hotel was our only access to internet and therefore a weather forecast but unfortunately their wifi aerial was down so we had to ask to use one of their office computers. As we could not access our favourite weather site we relied on passageweather.com and decided to sail for the Dominican Republic on the Monday with the forecast it was giving.