The world offers so many places to visit, so many sights to see, and so many people to meet. Of course there is never enough time to do it all. Now, though, on our slow trip north, we are taking in so much that we missed on our way south. The islands are gorgeous and every single stop makes us appreciate the varying cultures and offerings. We will never see it all, but at least we are seeing more.

Beautiful Marigot Bay.  I will always think that this is one of the most beautiful places on earth.Entering Rodney Bay, St. LuciaThe night of the Super Moon.  Buying cucumbers, bananas, and grapefruit from Gregory in Rodney Bay.Riding in the dinghies in Rodney Bay.  Thankfully this pirate ship is as close to the real thing that we have seen along our travels.Evenings in Rodney Bay were unbelievably colorful.

Leaving St. Lucia.  Here is Symbiosis under sail.  I love black and white pictures of sailboats!

After staying in Marigot Bay on St. Lucia for a week we joined up again with our little flotilla in Rodney Bay, also on St. Lucia. Tropical Blend and Symbiosis were getting some work done on their boats, so we decided to have a little change of scenery and wait with them. Rodney Bay’s marina was not as luxurious as Capella Marina in Marigot Bay, but it did offer grocery stores and a small mall in walking distance, little shops, several restaurants, and a swimming pool. Those features made our stay there very enjoyable. Unfortunately, the wifi in Rodney Bay was sadly lacking which is why an earlier post to this blog was impossible. During our time there, we took the dinghies out for a ride, experienced the super moon, swam in the pool, and generally relaxed with our friends. Finally on November 18^th, we left the beautiful island of St. Lucia and steered northward to Martinique.

Going ashore in St. Anne, MartiniqueAt the fish market.The Marketplace in St. Anne

I know, more sunsets, but this is such a classic “sailing off into the sunset” image.I really love silhouettes.  So many little rainbows here.  That’s Tropical Blend in the foreground.Debbie and Larry from Tropical Blend at a beautiful beach on the south end of Martinique.

The Caribbean is so full of color wherever you look.The southern tip of Martinique.Our first stop in Martinique was St. Anne, which is a lovely little French village where shops abound. Of course, only French is spoken and, at times, that limited our purchases and made our lunch orders a gamble, but the local bakery is always stocked with croissants of every variety, sandwiches, sweet breads, and long baguettes that sell for 1 Euro. There is a marketplace on Saturday that is loaded with fruits, vegetables, jars and bottles of mystery contents, meat, flowers, jewelry, clothing and much more. On the way to the marketplace is a stand where fresh caught tuna can be purchased. The heads from the fish are prominently displayed and were offered to our friend Noi for free (she refused). We spent several days in St. Anne before we decided to move a few miles northward to visit a new anchorage.It was Thanksgiving on AfterMath.
And the Thanksgiving rainbow over the anchorage.

We arrived in Grande Anse d’Arlet on Wednesday, November 23^rd. It was a rainy afternoon, but we were ready to relax and start our preparations for Thursday, Thanksgiving! We really missed being home this year, our first ever without any of our family around, but we were lucky to have Debbie and Larry and Scott and Noi with us. The group got together ahead of time to plan our feast, which turned out to be as traditional as it possibly could be while on a tropical French island. Together we came up with deviled egg and shrimp for pre-dinner appetizers, then grapefruit, in the Daigle tradition to start the sit down meal. Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans with carrots, and delicious homemade cranberry sauce made up our main course while banana cream pavlova and apple tarts with whipped cream were the desserts. Truly, in the Thanksgiving tradition, everyone was too stuffed to move much after dinner!

The little village at Grande Anse d’Arlet.That’s Larry on the left and John on the right.Debbie and Noi.  This little shop doubles as a laundromat.As I took a little walk I met this kind man.  I asked (in English while showing him my camera) if I could take his picture.  He answered, “Mais, oui!)A  little boat for tourists to see underwater.  Note the windows on the bottom.  Don’t you just want to sing “Yellow Submarine” when you see it?The village from the water.

These photos are courtesy of Scott Neuman as my underwater camera is out of commission.  Thanks to him for sharing these gorgeous shots with us.

Grande Anse d’Arlet is an amazingly beautiful spot. Here the anchorage is completely surrounded by tall hills that drop off sharply into the water. There is a little village at the edge of the water that is one street wide and is lined with casual restaurants and one or two small shops. No one is in a hurry here! Ordering lunch in a café is an affair that easily lasts a couple of hours. There is wonderful snorkeling in this anchorage. Yesterday we swam from the boat to the water’s edge to see the sights. Today we tied our dinghy to Symbiosis and jumped in to see countless starfish, sea cucumbers, various fish, and the star of the show, huge sea turtles. Afterwards we took the dinghies to a huge roped off area reserved for snorkelers. Obviously this is a place that Martinique is protecting for its corals and it was beautiful. Fan coral waved and huge schools of colorful fish darted about. Much of the coral in the Caribbean has lost its color, but here we saw yellows, oranges, reds, and even tiny bits of blues coming back to life. It was a gorgeous spot and we are happy it is being so well protected. Obviously, I am very sad that my underwater camera is not working!

So, for a few more days we will remain in Martinique before making our way to Dominica. We are thinking of all of our friends and family during this holiday weekend, hoping you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving, and sending wishes that you are taking time to live your dreams.

Here is where we are today.