Dominica - pronounced like the singing nun would

Another motor sail upwind to Dominica. Luckily I had my trusty cat there to help steer. Weird day. There was NO wind coming along the coast of Gaudeloupe and then once we hit the space between Gaudeloupe and Dominica. . . plenty of wind. ~18knots+ and too much on the nose for us. So, we did what we've learned to do: reefed main, reefed genny (and pulled to windward some with the lazy sheet) engine on. Kept us as close as we can get to the wind and keeps our speed up around 5 knots. After a 'sporty sail' and 10 hours later we arrived. It was around a 50 mile trip.

Yes, we're in Dominica. Nice little town here on the north west coast - Portsmouth. The town is 'quaint' which means it is boarding on 3rd world without falling into it. Friendly though and we found canned chicken which makes the stop worthwhile right there.
Photo on left is of a house's framework being held up with small tree trunks.
Hopefully the outcome will be a little sturdier than the house in the photo on the right!

We'll sail tomorrow for the other end of the island - Roseau, the capital. We have no plans to go ashore there but just want to stage to have a better chance of using the tidal current to our advantage for a change. The water tends to flow toward the moon so when the moon rises in the east the water will begin to flow east. That's good for us as our course to Martinique will be on a course of about 160 degrees true. You get another chance to take advantage about 12 hours later as there are two tides a day. So, we'll sail to Roseau and spend the night and then leave early the next morning and hopefully get a little help from the tidal current for a change.

Some of you may have lost track as to exactly where in the hell we are! I thought it might be a good idea to put up an overview of our trail since leaving BVI. As usual, click to see big version.