St.Lucia to St.Vincent, & more Dolphins

We arrived at Rodney Bay, St.Lucia at 3pm. Rodney Bay is a port of entrance, and a good place to clear in. Once we were safely anchored in the bay Bob went ashore to clear in and make a conference call, while Edi and I stayed aboard to clean the boat and get ready for Justin who was due to arrive that evening. He arrived promptly at 7and we all had a wonderful dinner on board, I made my recipe for Szechuan Pork Caribbean style.
Tuesday 17th June
Following a short visit ashore to provision and look around the harbor we returned to the boat at 11:30 and weighed anchor to sail down island. We picked up a mooring in a beautiful setting right between the Pitons. Edi and Justin went snorkeling while Bob and I prepared dinner. Bob grilled fillet mignon steaks on the barbecue while I stir fried some vegetables. We were approached by several boat vendors offering for sale fish, t-shirts, and locally made jewelry among other things. I ordered some vegetables from one vendor, who agreed to bring them over in the morning. After dinner Edi discovered that we could pick up Internet, who would have thought sitting there in a little bay at the foot of the Pitons we would be able to pick up a signal!
Bob was able to get some work done, and I sent e-mails to my Mum and the girls. There was a lovely breeze in the bay that night and we all slept like babies.
Wednesday 18th June
We were all up early to move the boat to the other end of the bay for Ed & Justin to snorkel again. The local vendor brought my vegetables, among the selection was a vegetable I was unfamiliar with, namely 'Cassava' I've never cooked with it before so I'm looking forward to trying it tonight.
While the boys were snorkeling I watched a pair of Swifts that appeared to be looking for a nesting place, they seemed very interested in the hollow in our boom.
I watched them for a while until the Edi and Justin returned, and we set sail for St.Vincent, eating breakfast on route.
Once again we were lucky enough to see our friends the dolphins, as well as a Marlin that jumped clear out of the water. Flying fish were everywhere, amazing us with their ability to fly over the surface of the water for long periods of time. The sail was quite rough with winds gusting to over 30 knots. About an hour from shore we had yet another visit from a school of dolphins, this time I identified them as stripped dolphins. These beautiful creatures look almost hand painted. With an upward brush stroke toward the dorsal fin, the light gray flank divides the dark back and the white or pink belly. The easiest identifying feature is a thin dark stripe extending from the black beak around the eye patch to the underside of the rear flank. They were leaping and swimming along either side of the bow of the boat, one of them was zig-zaging in the front as we all stood on the bow watching them, both Justin and I were trying to take photographs, it was difficult and all I really got was allot of splashes, I don't think David Attenborough will be offering me a job anytime soon, although Justin got some great shots.
We arrived at Young Island off the tip of St.Vincent at 6:45pm just as the sun was setting.

Dominica to Martinique to St.Lucia, Dolphin encounters

We had lunch aboard as we made our way south to Martinique, we needed to be there before dark. About 4 miles off shore we spotted a school of dolphins, jumping and playing not far from the boat, we slowed down to watch them for a while before moving on. We had a wonderful sail across covering the 65 miles in just less than 8 hours, arriving in St.Pierre, Martinique, just before sunset at 6:15pm. We dropped anchor in the bay, and because I was tired I made a typical cowboys dinner, burgers and beans, we really know how to live.
Monday 16th June
Our schedule didn't allow time for to us to even go ashore at Martinique, and by 8:30am we were on our way again. Just a couple of miles off shore we encountered another school of dolphins, this time it was a huge school of Spinner dolphins, maybe as many as 100. They were leaping and jumping all around us, I was trying to take photographs but there were so many, they were swimming and racing with the boat either side of the bow. Bob slowed the boat down so we could get a better look, but the dolphins got bored and swam off, so Bob increased the engine speed and within a few minutes they all came back to race alongside again. They were so playful, jumping, performing acrobatic feats, and spinning in the air, which is how they came by their name. It was exhilarating watching them show off, leaping so high out of the water and racing along in the wake of the bow. We laughed out loud as one of the dolphins leapt high in the air by the side of the boat playfully slapping the water with its tail as it dived back in. They swam with and around the boat for about 15 minutes before moving on. We watched sadly as they all swam away. What an exciting start to our day, watching these incredible creatures so closely in their natural environment will never cease to thrill me.

Iles Des Saintes to Dominica,

Our sail across to Dominica was really exciting as we spotted a humpback whale; the whale was basking in the sun blowing water from its blowhole, which is how Edi first spotted it. We watched for a few minutes before deciding to try and get closer, we brought the sails in as the wind had dropped to only 5 knots, and turned in the direction of the whale. The enormous flippers seemed to wave at us as it rolled and splashed among the waves, before diving, waving goodbye to us with its enormous tail. What a spectacular sight. A few moments later we spotted two waterspouts about 1000 yds behind us. Bob slowed the engine and we watched for a while as they appeared to be coming in our direction, we waited expectantly, hoping to get another up close and personal encounter with these magnificent creatures, but it wasn't to be, after a few minutes the whales turned and swam back out to sea. Bob cranked up the engines and headed for the shore. Some 3000 whales visit the warm waters of the Caribbean during the winter months to breed and calve. The Humpback is the most frequently sighted whale in these waters, and is often happy to put on a performance for passing boats, as did the one we spotted. The males can grow up to 57 feet in length, and the females up to 62 feet. They will often approach boats with little evidence of shyness towards humans. They do not pose a threat and there is no need to fear them should they approach, if you turn your engine off you may even be able to their eerie songs through the hull.
In 1988 Dominica was the first of the Eastern Caribbean islands to offer whale-watching tours. besides the Humpback, there are also Sperm whales, Pilot whales, False Killer whales, Pigmy sperm whales, Spotted, Spinner, Bottlenose, Risso's and Frazer Dolphins that regularly frequent these waters.
As we approached the coast of Dominica we all stood silently on deck, taking in the incredible beauty of the island. This was definitely the prettiest island so far, mountainous, lush and so green, the rain forests looked incredible, I couldn't wait to go and explore.