Squally passage passing the Leeward Islands

I did the morning shift as we gently sailed in the Lee of Dominica having to get the engines on again when the wind died. The wind always picks up and roars between the islands, which was just when I decided to cook breakfast. This requires a bit of ingenuity to prevent the pans flying off the hob, for some reason the hob has restrainers on the side and back but not in front. Luckily I have some extra strong clothes pegs which help to keep everything in place. We have lots of non slip matting everywhere in the kitchen and on the dining table so things don’t fly about.

Sunrise

Otherwise it was a good sail, we got the gennaker out again and were roaring along until the wind picked up a bit too much and we had to get it down. We had some big heavy wet weather over the islands. Passing Martinique we nostalgically looked for our old haunts. The volcano at St Pierre, Mt Pele, was completely obscured by cloud. Loads of squalls as we headed south.

Rainbows over Martinique

We saw some dolphins at last, the same tiny ones we saw in Martinique earlier in the year. One did a very acrobatic jump out of the water. A bit like the poor old flying fish who flew into the kitchen last night as I was cooking supper……almost into the frying pan! He was still alive and I managed to throw him back, but it must have had the shock of its life landing in such bright lights while it was trying to escape a predator.

Heading for a squall

As it was getting dark there was no wind and Rowan was debating not putting a reef in the sail for the night (reduces the size to slow you down) and I was feeling very wimpish, it is quite scary going fast in the pitch dark. Anyway he put the reef in and later on when the wind picked up we were all very pleased, much more comfortable for sleeping. Plus we were in no rush, as the customs office we enter through for our quarantine only opens at 8:30am and we have to be shown to our specific mooring buoy by ‘Sparrow’. Phoebs was feeling much better and did the first shift until midnight which was a great treat for Rowan and I.