Strange sight: Sunshine

Normally this would be a boring photo, but it's thrilling today, because - the sun is shining!  We have had overcast, rain, squalls (rinse and repeat) for about two weeks - I don't actually remember the last really sunny day.  

We came down to Rodney Bay, where I took this photo this morning, on Wednesday the 9th.  We had a great motor sail; we could certainly have sailed but we have been missing our solar power and so the battery charge needed a serious boost.  Au revoir to Martinique, after a final stop at the Leader Price (grocery store) for rum and red wine.  In the end, I think we all enjoyed the Martinique stay quite a lot, and will happily go back next season.  

We have several of our cruising friends (and a number of folks we know by their presence on the Grenada Cruiser's Net) here with us in Saint Lucia - Msichana is over in the Lagoon behind the marina (Sam is taking the last of her pre-college admission tests here); we wound up anchored right next to Mr. Mac.  And yesterday morning I was on line, and got an email from Terry on Nino, asking where we were and saying she hoped it was raining less than in Rodney Bay...of course I got on the radio immediately, and it turns out they are behind a dark blue hulled boat that is not far from us.  We had both boats on board Raconteur for a "heavy hors d'oeuvres" cocktail party - I made my mom's (and now sister's) recipe for deviled eggs, and we had tapenade on melba toasts, three-pepper Rondelé on melba toasts, a great tuna salad with walnuts and pineapples that Terry brought, and fish tacos.  It was a lot of fun - and seven on board including us is just right.

We have tickets for the last day of the Saint Lucia Jazz Festival (on Pigeon Island, just a dinghy ride from here) tomorrow, Sunday - Diana Ross and Toni Braxton, among others - and on Monday we will probably start meandering down the Saint Lucia coast, with a first stop at Marigot Bay.  For the moment, there is too much sea to take a mooring between the Pitons, but perhaps it will be possible before we head further south after the 20th.
We are starting to make plans for leaving her in Trinidad; we have a reservation at Crews Inn starting the 20th of June, and have let Rico at Power Boats know that we will be hauling out with them again.  We are planning to have the upholstery re-done while we are away, and have some fabric samples on the way from the US, so we will entertain ourselves with choosing the new scheme over the next couple of weeks.  We have a few other projects on the maybe list - lifelines, standing rigging - that we will finalize once in Trinidad.