06/22/2009 Trinidad to Home

06/09/2009 I decided to spend an extra day at Union Island. Jamie and Margot sailed in and I have had a good time hanging out with them. I had them over for dinner last evening. I didn’t think I would see them again as I was heading to Trinidad to haul out.
This morning I took off with for the southern coast of Grenada. I decided instead of making one long trip to Trinidad I would sail to Grenada, anchor in a quiet cove for the night and then make a day sail over to Trinidad. I sailed 41 miles today into St David’s Harbour. The wind was so good today that I made the trip in five and a half hours. If I knew it was going to be this good, I might have started earlier in the morning and made a straight shot for Trinidad.
I anchored in the quiet cove. There is a nice marina there and they provided free wi-fi into the harbor. I have not seen that in quite some time. I did not go ashore as I was not planning on checking into Customs here. It was a real quiet day sitting around the boat and preparing for the next day.
06/10/2009 I made for an early start today. I wanted to leave around 4:00AM, but slept in and left at 5:10AM. I did leave with a good sunrise and the weather was perfect. This would be my longest passage since crossing from Virgin Gorda to St Martin.
As I was putting down the miles I noticed that I could not see any land around. This is a first since crossing from Bahamas to Puerto Rico. There was the haze caused by the Sahara dust that blocked out Grenada when I was about 20 miles out and I was too far out to see Trinidad. When I crossed form the BVIs to St Martin, I was able to see Virgin Gorda until the sunset and then I was able to pick up the lights of St Martin.
The first sight I had was the gas wells that are located about 25 miles off the Trinidad coast. The platforms are an impressive sight. At night time I understand you can see them from many more miles away due to how much they are light up.
I was making real good time until I hit the Caribbean Current. As with the Gulf Stream, there is a strong current that runs along the north coast of South America coming from the Atlantic Ocean. Unlike the Gulf Stream, it is very unpredictable and they isn’t much written about it. I had about 3 knots of current against me as the wind dropped. I had a boat speed over the ground (SOG) of only 1.5 knots. I decided to run the motors and motor-sail for awhile until I could make it through the stream. That took about two hours.
Finally the winds picked up again and I made it through the current stream and making good time again. I was able to sight Trinidad and the coast of Venezuela. I ended sailing within 13 miles of Venezuela. Trinidad sits off the northeast coast of Venezuela.
As I was coming into Trinidad, it was getting late in the day and close to sunset. Wouldn’t you know it, but I had two cargo ships crossing my path. Are we on a collision path or not? That is the big question when coming close with other boats. I do have right of way since I am under sail, but I live by the tonnage rule. That is the bigger boat has rights and I will do everything I can to avoid those ships. They did clear ahead easily and no mishaps so close to the end of this part of the journey.
The next issue I had to deal with was coming ashore at night time. I really don’t like to do this. This is usually when most boats have problems and run aground, hit a rock or another boat. I pushed hard, but I was not going to make it before the sun set. I found a cove on my chart plotter and decided I would head for that for the rest of the night instead of pushing all the way into Chaguramas. I think the reason for this orange sunset, like the ornage sunrise, is the dust from the Sahara desert that is being blown across the acean from Africa.
I needed to go into a channel between a small island and the coast of Trinidad. As it turns out tonight, the moon is a late riser and it is pitch black. There a very few small lights along the coast and there are no channel markers. I am flying on instruments. It was so dark that I could not even see the cove. I had to totally trust the instruments to find the cove and it is a large cove. It is called Scotland Bay. There were a few boats in the cove with lights on and I found a good anchorage point and dropped the anchor for the night. I am now in Trinidad.
06/11/2009 I awoke this morning to a surprise. Scotland Bay is a beautiful anchorage. It reminds me of camping on Lake Grandby in the Rocky Mountain National Park or up on the Allegheny River in western Pennsylvania. It was nice and calm and steeps hills with trees right down to the water line. I was also surprised by how many boats were anchored in there with me.
I motored around the point into the bay at Chaguramas. This is the end of this part of the journey. I am now as far as south as I will be unless I decide to head into the Pacific. I am located at 10 degrees 40 minutes latitude. This puts me just a little over 600 miles north of the equator.
06/12/2009 Today No Rush was lifted out of the water and put on her racks for a rest period while I travel home. Over the next five days it is pretty much cleaning, repairing and making preparations for work on her while I travel back to Colorado for at least a portion of hurricane season. I hired Sam to clean the hulls and I had to run the sails and sail cover over to the canvas shop for repairs. There was maintenance and taking all of the canvas off for the summer and emptying water tanks and such things. There never seems to be enough time. I do want to thank Jamie and Margot. They allowed me to spend my last two nights on their boat. The heat and mosquitoes just would not allow me to sleep at all. We had great evenings together hanging out. I will miss them.
06/16/2009 My last little adventure. I had decided since I had an early morning flight that I would stay at a hotel near the airport. I found a low cost place and made a reservation. I would also use the bus services instead of renting a taxi.
After a shower at the marina, I grabbed my bags and walked out to the main road to catch a bus or what they call a maxi-taxi. Most buses in the Caribbean are mini-vans. I got on the bus and started heading into Port of Spain. This is the capital and main city of Trinidad. I was told that I would need to catch three buses to get to the airport. I started talking with the bus driver about how to make these connections. He told me all what I had to do. This is going to be a real adventure. When we made it to the main terminal in Port of Spain he made me an offer. He offered to take me all the way to the airport for half the normal cost. It would cost TT$120. That is about US$22. I would have had to walk two blocks to catch the next bus. Then I would have had to find a taxi for the last portion. He said that since I was a foreigner that it would be difficult. I took him up on the deal and we had a great time talking about the country and cricket.
We finally found the hotel. We had to drive through an old village that was pretty run down. The hotel has a block wall fence the whole way around with barb-wire across the top. Not your usual Holiday Inn. We had to call on the intercom for them to open the gate to allow us in. I checked in and there wasn’t another soul in sight. I had dinner at the restaurant there and was the only person. I think I may have been the only person staying at the hotel that night. I felt like I was in a movie staying at the Bate’s Motel. Don’t get me wrong, it was clean and the air condition felt great, but not what I am use to.
06/17/2009 Today I fly home. I caught a five hour Delta flight from Trinidad to JFK Airport in New York, a five hour lay over and then another five hour flight from JFK to Denver. All went well and I am home again for period of time.
There won’t be much new going on the blog unless I find some adventure while I am home. Keep an eye out for changes. Thank you for all of your support through this last year.

06/08/2009 The Grenadines

06/04/2009 The Grenadines are a series of islands south of St. Vincent and north of Grenada. They are all one country including St. Vincents. So with that the collective is known as St. Vincents and the Grenadines. Today I sailed out of Bequia on my way to Mayreau. It is a small island towards the south end of the chain. It was recommended to skip the few other islands between and enjoy my time in the south.
Last night I went to start my generator to charge the batteries and use the laptop. The starter cord finally had it’s last pull and the last few strands shredded. Now I have no use of the generator. On my trip south today I decided that I had nothing to lose by taking the generator apart and trying to replace the starter cord. I had not wanted to do this since I did not have a manual for assistance and I have not taken a pull starter apart in about 30 years. After an hour and a half I had it taken apart, found some replacement line and reassembled the whole generator and had it working. It is a good thing I am a man, since we don’t really read instruction manuals anyway. (Just joking!!!!) (Sort of!!!!)
We had great winds and the auto-pilot did it’s job as I had my head down in my work, except to stick it up and look around to make sure we were not on a collision course or anything like that. I sailed into Salt Whistle Bay at about noon. It was a twenty-five mile trip I made in four hours. The bay is just beautiful. It has a white sand beach that is lined with palm trees. As with all of the anchorages, there are the boat boys. Since I was anchoring they did not bother me much. I did end up buying a fresh caught snapper from Joseph.
Not I have fresh fish, how do I cook it. It got me thinking about my grill situation. The grill on the back of the boat has not been working since Puerto Rico when the gas valve froze and I cannot use the grill. I have with me my Magma grill that I have been using on different boats since 1996. I had not mounted it on the boat as the only place I had was on one of the stern rails by the steps and it would be hard to keep lit in the direct wind like that. The idea I came up with was to remove the boat grill on mount my Magma grill in it’s place. It fits perfectly and now I have a real grill that will broil the meat and fish or whatever the way I like my grilling. It is also much easier to keep clean. Nothing like fresh fish grilled for dinner.
I did swim around and check out a small reef at the end of the bay and swam ashore and hiked around a little. There is a small resort here that has a neat little outdoor restaurant. Each of the tables is separate from all of the other tables. The table and wrap around bench are made out of stone and they are covered with a thatch roof. It is a very nice little intimate setting for friends to gather.
This was a banner day to complete a banner few days since arriving in Bequia. I was able to resolve my fuel issues and now repair my generator and hook my grill.
06/05/2009 I decided to stay in the bay for another day. I met a couple on another boat, Jamie and Mora, and have been hanging out with them. Also Bill and Michelle stopped by to say hello. I met them at Tommy’s Cantina in Bequia. They are on a charter boat going from St Lucia to Grenada.
I went for another snorkel today and came across a spotted eagle ray. This may be the first time I have seen one of these and definitely the closest. I swam with it for about 10 minutes. I do need an underwater digital camera to capture some of these sites. Also Bill and Michelle stopped by to say hello. I met them at Tommy’s Cantina in Bequia. They are on a charter boat going from St Lucia to Grenada.
06/06/2009 Today I took No Rush over to the Tobago Cays. It is a Marine Park that is protected. There are many turtles here along with a large reef structure. The trip only took about 45 minutes from anchor up to anchor down. As I was setting the anchor I had my first turtle sighting. This turtle appeared to live in this area as I saw it all the time around my boat the two days I was anchored there.
I took the dinghy over to a protected beach where it is roped off to make a turtle sanctuary. While swimming in the area I spotted about a dozen turtles just eating grass on the bottom. These turtles ranged in size from 2-3 foot or more. I also came across a school of squid. I tried to sppok the squid to see if they would use the ink to escape from. They did not, but it was interesting to see them change color and try to camouflage with the bottom. When I was around sand they would change a tan color like the sand and when around the grass they would change to a greenish-brown.
Later that day I went out the reef. It was late in the afternoon and probably the latest in the day I have ever snorkeled. The reef was alive with all kind of fish. I saw grouper, schools of blue tang, parrot fish, snapper, grunts, more turtles and a shark. It was a black tip reef shark. I have not seen any since the Florida Keys. The water is so clear here also. It is shallow also. Most of the water is only six foot deep. It was like swimming in an aquarium. This is an amazing place.
06/07/2009 This morning I went out for a couple more snorkels. I was by myself and came across the shark again. I get a little spooked when I am the only one in the water. On my way back to the boat I came across a large Southern Stingray. It was working on burying itself. There are also the largest live conch I have seen anywhere. These animals have been harvested so much that it is hard to find any good size ones in shallower water. We really need to be thankful for the people that work to bring these Marine Parks into being so that we can enjoy seeing live like this.
I talked about in my last entry about being closer to West Africa than Colorado. Today I ended up with Sahara Dust on my boat. We had a tropical wave blow through and it brought with it dust from the Sahara Desert. The typical winds in this part of the world blow from the east compared to the typical wind in the US blowing from the west.
Later in the afternoon I pulled anchor and sailed down to Union Island. I plan on clearing out of there through Customs. From there I make a hop to Grenada for then over to Trinidad. I hope the good sailing holds up these last few days.
The Grenadines has been a wonderful part of my trip and probably my favorite place since leaving the Virgin Islands. I would recommend that any of you that have experienced the BVIs to try something different and charter down here. I believe you can do one way charters in both directions between St Lucia and Grenada or you can do the round trip. It is a beautiful, wonderful place. It is English speaking and very cruiser friendly.

06/03/2009 Windwards (Dominica, Martinique, St Lucia and Bequia)

05/26/2009 This morning I set off from Guadeloupe for Dominica. The plan is to sail onto St Lucia with anchor stops in Dominica and Martinique and then onto St Lucia. I had a wonderful sail out of Pointe a Pitre on my to Dominica. I sailed past The Saintes, a cluster of islands just south of Guadeloupe. The wind was with me the whole way. I ended up with a fifty degree lift in the wind that carried more right to the bay I planned on anchoring in. A lift is a sailing term usually used in racing. It is when the wind veers, or clocks towards the stern of the boat. That allows you to sail more towards your destination and not need to tack the boat at all.
I sailed into Prince Rupert Bay. The town there is Portsmouth and there was, as most time, a fort overlooking the bay. It turns out this is a much larger fort. It housed at its peak during the American Revolution and the French Wars, about six hundred men.
I was met by my first boat boy as I turned the corner into the bay. They are not really boys, but men. This is their lively hood. They offer many services such as helping you hook up to a mooring, water taxi, take you for a snorkel, schedule up excursions, laundry, etc. This is a new experience for me and something I have not been looking forward to. I told the man that I would not need a mooring that I would anchor and he said that he would check in with me later. I made my way to the anchorage and dropped the anchor without any problems.
As soon as I was finished dropping my anchor I was approached by a man on a wind surfing board. He was paddling it and offered to sell me fruit and vegetables. I was the approached a little but later with a man trying to sell country flags. Later that day the original boat boy came by and we talked about a river trip, but it would require more than just me to make it worth wide. I did have him take my laundry though. I decided to check into Dominica as there was very little cost at Customs and spend a few days here.
05/27/2009 First thing this morning I was approached by the first man on a wind surfer again. I bought some passion fruit from him. I never had this before and had to ask him how to eat it. It is really tasty. All you need to do is cut the fruit in half and then scoop out the meat from inside with a spoon and eat it. He also recommended putting some sugar on it. A new experience.
After breakfast I took the dinghy across the bay tp the ferry dock and checked in with Customs and Immigration. I was also able to check out if I left within three days so I did that also.
After working around the boat for the day, I took the dinghy into shore and walked through the village. It is not very large and I was definitely out of season as there weren’t many boaters anywhere. After my jaunt through town, I walked out to the national Park where the Fort is. It was quite impressive compared to anything I have seen so far. To me it is amazing how back then they would use the lay of the land, the bay and the typical weather to build a fort. The bay I was in was a few miles across, but they could defend the whole bay against a navy ship because the ship would always need at some point to tack towards the fort and the soldiers would open up the cannons on the ship at that point. The fort only saw one battle when the French came ashore further south and marched to the fort. The British repelled them and the French left the island. By the mid 1800s, sugar cane had fallen on hard times and the fort was abandoned as were most other forts in the Caribbean.
05/28/2009 Today I set off for Roseau, the capital of Dominica. I was approached by another boat boy on my way in. I did pick up a mooring and his help was welcomed. The only issue I had was that my cruising guide indicated that the cost would only be US$10 for three nights. He charged me US$10 a night. I paid it and also added a tip. I hung out on the boat for the rest of the day and planned on going into town the next day. I was also looking forward to hanging out that evening at the restaurant and bar at the hotel where I was moored at. The was no activity that night so I stayed on the boat.
05/29/2009 The excitement started at about 4:00am in the morning. My boat was boarded by a man. I was able to scare him off, but he was in my cabin looking for who knows what. I am a lite sleeper and thought I heard something moving on the boat, but did not move until I saw him in my cabin in the dark. He was like a shadow. He did grab my safety harness and one of my first aid bags, but dropped them on the way out. He was moving so fast he jumped in the water and swam away from his windsurf board. I decided to leave as soon as the sun came up. I had bad feelings about Roseau. I don't believe I will return there. I know it could have been worse. I did release the surf board as I was leaving the bay. I am happy that as far as I can tell nothing was stolen. I will start putting the hatch boards in before I go to bed.

Later that morning I had a rainbow which raised my spirits and as I sailed into Fort de France I saw a turtle. I am doing much better now. The boat has been sailing well on I am so happy with the positive wind shifts I have been getting. I did have to put in one tack today when I was sailing into the large bay towards Fort de France. Ah too bad.
This is suppose to be an anchor only stop for me also. I do go ashore to check things as it is a large city. I like the French islands very much. I believe since they are still members of the nation of France, they receive a lot of financial support from the French government. They also use the euro. It feels safer here than on the post English islands. The down side is that they really only speak French and it is hard to find someone that speaks English. There is a large shopping district here in town and I walked around. As before in Guadeloupe, I could not even read any of the menus.
05/30/2009 I still have not checked into Customs and I have that brought on by myself pressure. I had read that there is a marine store that supports Honda generators. I have had a problem with mine as the pull cord is disintegrating. I wanted to see if they had any parts or a manual I could look at. It turned out they did not provide any support and off I went.
I wanted to fuel up before left and more excitement for the day. I found the fuel dock with no problem, but again no one spoke any English and I with no French. I asked for gasoline and they handed me the black hose. I filled my starboard tank, my dinghy fuel tank and both fuel jugs. I left the dock and set off for a anchorage on the other side of the bay to stage for a leave the next morning. As I entered the bay I tried to start my engines and the starboard engine would not run. What is going on? I set the anchor and played with the motor. I decided I better go back to the fuel dock and talk with the attendant. It turned out they gave me gasoil, or what they call gasoline. It is diesel. I now have 13 gallons of diesel in my starboard fuel tank, 12 gallons between my two fuel jugs and three gallon in my dinghy fuel tank. While I was there, there was a man trying to clear into Customs and he was kind enough to do some translation for us. The marina next door provided a place for me to dump all of this diesel fuel. I was able to siphon the starboard tank and dump all of the fuel. I then filled my tanks with gasoline from the green hose. In the States, the black hose is for gas and the green hose is for diesel.
I still could not get my starboard engine to run, but decided I probably needed to replace the fuel filters and spark plugs. I left the marina and went back to the anchorage I was in the night before and worked on the starboard engine. I still could not get it to run after replacing two fuel filters and the spark plugs. The engine would just not fire. I then tried my outboard on the dinghy. I had the same problem. It would just not fire. I am not sure what kind of gas they use there, but it did not smell like any gas I have use. I could actually out some on my finger and hold it up to my nose and it would not even bother me. When it was splashed on the water, it did not even leave a rainbow as most oil products do. Luckily I had a full tank of good fuel for my port engine. I spent over $200 and have no useable fuel to show for it.
To top off a perfect day like this, as I was climbing back on the boat from trying the dinghy, I slipped on the deck and went for a swim. If anyone had been on the boat, I know they would have had a hard time trying not to laugh. I did try to laugh at it. I needed to cool down anyways. I wondered who would be the first to fall climbing from the dinghy to the boat. I guess the odds were with me.
05/31/2009 This morning I set off at 6:00am for St Lucia. I need to resolve this fuel problem and I hope that they use a good regular gas. I expect to pull into the first harbor on the north end of the island as it is an IGY marina. They are common here in the islands and are a first class marina.

Today I made my furthest easting I will do on this trip. I made it east of 61 degrees longitude. I am actually closer to the west coast of Africa than I am to my home in Colorado. The furthest west I traveled on this trip was Key West.
I was making such good time with the winds I had I decided to push on. I made it down to the Pitons and then I was going to have to deal with boat boys, a National Park and I would have to use a mooring as there is no shallow water. I am still very leery after my experience in Dominica and the cruising guide talks about needing to pay for security when you leave your boat. Not in the mood for this. I did sail past the Pitons and they are beautiful. There is suppose to be a lot of good snorkeling in the area and I might check it out on the way back.
I sailed onto the town of Laborie on the southern coast. I made it into the anchorage just as the sunset. It was a beautiful sunset. One of the best I had seen I a while. As I watched it drop off the horizon, I saw a real green flash. This is a spot that goes green right as the sun drops of the horizon. I had seen a shadow that people would call a flash, but this was green. I never saw anything like it before. I was the only sailboat anchored here tonight. That was ok as I have been looking forward to an empty cove to myself. I did sleep with the hatch boards in though.
06/01/2009 The first of June. Official start of hurricane season in the Atlantic. All the buzz is about how storms are starting where they are not suppose to be. It has been that kind of weather all year for me on this trip and it has worked out in my favor most of the time.
I took off early again this morning. My original plan was to sail into St. Vincents and clear in with customs. When I started to read about trying to anchor and make it to a Customs station, it is not all that easy for a cruiser. I would pretty much need to anchor in one bay and find a cab to take me into another town. I decided to push on to Bequia. Bequia is part of a chain of small islands known as the Grenadines and with St. Vincents makes up one country.
With the wind direction I had, I decided I could sail to the windward side of St. Vincents. I have sail the leeward side of all the islands as I came down from St. Martin as I have not had enough of a lift to make the windward side. When I sail down the leeward side I usually need to do some motoring as the islands have enough height in the mountain ranges and size that they block the trade winds from the ocean. Today I had the wind to sail to the windward and low and behold there wasn’t stormy weather when I made it there. I was watching the weather and it typically cleared as the day went on. Not today. I went through a couple of squalls that had wind speeds exceeding 35 knots apparent. I did reef the main sail before the first squall hit and No Rush handled the weather just fine as she always has. After the squall pass through, we had the heaviest rain I have hand since I don’t know when. There was very little wind to go with it. When you have lemons, make lemonade. This heavy rain gave me a chance to scrub down the decks with all the fresh water I could handle.
Being I only had one engine due to the fuel issue, I slowly motored along in a confused choppy sea until the wind started to build again as I passed the southern edge of St. Vincents. I then had a great sail the rest of the afternoon right into Admiralty Bay. Just as I was entering the bay, I had my first boat boy come and check with me. He wanted to know if I was interested in a mooring ball and I told him I just planned on anchoring. With that he left with no issue. I made it to a place to drop anchor and was set for the night. Life is good and I had a feeling this was a good place to be.
06/02/2009 After a good night sleep I siphoned some of the fuel from my port tank and put it in the generator and fuel tank for the dinghy. I was able to get the generator running with no problem. After I mounted the dinghy motor and connected the fuel tank, the motor started on the very first pull. You would not know how that made me feel.
I then took the dinghy into town. I needed to clear into Customs and Immigration. It was the first time I was challenged about where and when I last cleared out of a port and cleared into a new port. I had scheduled clearing out of Dominica for May 30th and did it on May 27th as they would allow a clear in and out if I was only staying three days. The documentation was dated for the 27th and the agent questioned why it took 6 days to make it here from Dominica. I explained about how I was allowed to clear early and that I anchored on my way down here. He did allow me through after that.
After being officially cleared in, I took my usual walk through town to see what was around and hit the bank to pick up some local cash. You need a lot of it around here as they use the EC (Eastern Caribbean) Dollar. It is tied to the US dollar, but the value of about .40 on the dollar. I am paying about EC$8 a gallon for gas. That is about $48 for every gas jug I fill up. It is sort of like monopoly money. There are plenty of restaurants and bars here as this is cruiser and charter country.
On the way back to the dinghy I made a stop in the local fresh market. The people there were really pushing different things. Made my head spin, but I ended up trying and buying new kinds of fruit including mangos and passion fruits. I tried a couple of others, but figured I had enough fruit after buying local grown pineapples, passion fruit, mangos, bananas and a water mellon. I also picked up cucumbers and green peppers.
I took all of the fresh fruit and vegetables back to the boat and grabbed a fuel jug. I wanted to test the gas from the Shell gas station before I started loading up all of my tanks again. I took the jug to the station and handed over a fifty for my first tank full. After making it back to No Rush, I out in a couple of gallons in the starboard tank and needed to suck the fuel through the fuel line from the tank to the engine through a filter. This seems to take forever, but I now have a system down. As I was working on this I looked behind me and the boat that anchored behind me was moving towards me. That didn’t make any sense. My anchor was slipping. I was able to fend off the boat without any damage and then reset the hook. I was happy that my port engine started on the first try which it usually doesn't. I wasn't angry or upset, but happy that at least I was on the boat.
After that little run around I played with the starboard engine and she finally fired up and is running great with this gas. After lunch, I made a run into town to fill up both fuel jugs and made it back to the boat to start filling the fuel tanks. While I was at the gas station, they sold soda as most gas stations do. The different thing was they were selling Coke and Pepsi, but it 16 oz. glass bottles like in the old days. For me there is no better Coke that straight from a glass bottle. I noticed here in the islands that they still use the glass bottles quite a bit. I am happy to see that as they are very recyclable and people tend to return them for the deposit and there is not plastic bottles floating in the bays.
For dinner this evening I planned going ashore. I checked out the local establishments and found Tommy’s Cantina. It is a Mexican restaurant that had some interesting dishes on the menu and the prices are reasonable. I usually want to try local foods, but I could use a tex-mex fix. It turned out I was able to get both. I had a fresh fish dish that might have been the most flavorful dish I have eaten on this trip since Pete's in Little harbor in the Abacos. It blew me away.
When I arrived around 7:00PM there was only one other table with customers. The hostess was going to seat me to next to them in the dining area. I asked if I could eat at the bar and she obliged. I figured it would be easier to have a conversation there as there were the hostess, bar maid and a customer at the bar. It turned out the customer was Pam and she is the owner along with her husband Tommy. With dinner I had a great conversation with an ex-pat from San Diego. We talked about business and she told me how rough it has been down here and I told that it has been the same way through out the trip. This capped off the best day I had seen probably since leaving St. Martin.