We finally left Le Marin, Martinique with a full load of wine, cheese and sausage on December 14th bound for Xmas festivities in Antigua. After an overnight stop in rolly, shifty St. Pierre we crossed over to Dominica and trundled up the coast to Portsmouth. Leona will attest that the 25 mile crossing was one of the wettest, bumpiest we've had so far.

Portsmouth was great - we rendezvoused with Nancy Dawson (Randy and Sue). Some will recall that we crossed over to the Abacos with Nancy Dawson in January 2006 on our first trip south. They are smart, Nancy Dawson has been in the East Caribbean ever since. After a rum reunion that evening, we took the local bus into Roseau the following day. On the bus we met a lady who travels the Islands on a small freighter selling Dominican produce to other less favored places. A very take charge type, she stopped the bus at a roadside stand, insisting that we try fried plantain. It was great, and she insisted on paying. Dominica is like that - minimally touristy, rather poor but proud people who are very concerned that you have a good time on their Island.

The following day, we were off to Bourg de Saintes, a really neat town with a not very great anchorage. As you can see, Leona enjoyed the many small shops with unique craft items for sale. This commenced the déjà vue part of our trip, since we had chartered out of Guadeloupe years ago, visiting the Saints and English Harbour, Antigua.

Next it was off to Point a Pitre, Guadeloupe. We met up with there with Wanderlust. Bill in the midst of replacing a head gasket (ultimately a new head) so we expect to meet up again up Island. (Who says we travel in packs?) Point a Pitre is the home of the Cora super market - the alleged biggest in the Caribbean and on a French island to boot - we could not miss that, After a quick shopping excursion, we upped anchor to move up to a position close to the South bridge on the Riviere Salee before dark.

If you look at Guadeloupe on a map, it resembles a butterfly. The Riviere Salee is a mangrove channel that runs right up the middle of the butterfly. Although it is relatively shallow (we saw 8' minimum near the first anchorage with about 18" of tide) the real challenge is the bridge opening times. You must be underway prior to the DAILY 5 AM opening of the south bridge. If no one is underway, the bridge does not open. The south bound traffic (in our case a cat and another mono-hull) has priority, then we (all alone) headed north. Immediately the bright city lights are behind us, and we are in pitch dark mangrove swamp. The navigation buoys (thankfully) are all lit, but the flash pattern involves long enough periods of darkness that you lose sight of the buoy. Twenty minutes later the second bridge opens when they see your nav lights approach. Both bridges have a narrow 24' channel and are at an angle to the channel. The rumored mooring buoys at each end of the bridge run were not in evidence. We anchored in the channel north of the north bridge to wait for daylight so we could run the rest of the channel which included the reported shallowest part - which we never found.

We arrived in Falmouth Harbour, Antigua on the 19th, two days ahead of the fabled Christmas Winds which have blown ever since. Bill bought a mooring buoy for a week as a Christmas gift for himself!

On Sunday nights, a visit to the party on Shirley Heights is mandatory, so away we went. Along with a gang of cruisers we knew, we met Paul and Cheryl Shard (Distant Shores TV show) and later toured their new boat, Distant Shores, a Southerly 42 that draws as little as 2' 8" with the board up. She is definitely an exploring monohull.

Gourmets of the Caribbean struck again with an excellent dinner at Trappas.

Until now, we never realized that yachts with masts over 100 feet are required to show a red light at the masthead, just like a hydro tower. Lesson learned - each of the three marinas here has half a dozen red lights at night. The mega yachts here are awesome - of the thirty or so that would cause a stir in Halifax Harbour a few could easily be confused with a cruise ship. Some are plastic boxes, others are testament to awesome design and craftsmanship. The highlight was watching the Maltese Falcon get underway UNDER SAIL from Antigua Yacht Club Marina, heading out of the harbour into the 20 - 25 K G30 winds and 9 foot seas. We'll stay parked, thank you.

Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbour is a real treat, and is only a five minute walk from here. We attended the Xmas Day party, which featured copious quantities of champagne (well, some was real champagne.) with the proceeds going to local charity. This is how you lay down a foundation for Xmas Dinner?

Guess Who's Coming To (Xmas) Dinner?

Three days before Christmas we were three boats in Falmouth Harbour with loose plans for Christmas dinner together - Voyageur C, Dream Maker and Bonanza. Then Cheetah II arrived on the 24th from around the corner at Jolly Harbour. Also Bill and Cathy from Dream Maker met Peter & Katrina a German couple on Endless who had recently crossed over from Europe and didn't know anyone here. Christmas morning we awoke to discover Daniell Storey anchored behind us.

We twelve from six boats had a gastronomical orgy aboard Dream Maker - the neat part is that no one planned it, no one knew everyone else prior to dinner and we all had a great time! (Albeit a few of us tossed and turned the night away - perhaps we over dined.)

Cruising is unpredictable, the people are wonderful and that's what makes it all so neat. It's like a big family where you don't know all your relatives. When you meet you already have much in common.