May 19–May 31 Montserrat and Guadeloupe As we approached Montserrat from the north we could see the Soufriere volcano, but couldn't tell if it was smoking or just covered in clouds. Last June it was clearly smoking. It's erupted several times in the last year with the last event (pyroclastic flows) in January of 2010. We stayed in Little Bay in Montserrat for a couple days and took a tour of the island. Joe, our tour guide, gave us a good feel for what things were like before the volcano came to life in 1995 and how things are now. He took us across mudflows and ash 30'+ deep and let us walk on the roof tops of covered buildings to get a feel for the extent of the damage. The capital city of Plymouth was destoyed in pyroclastic flows and has since been completely covered in ash and mud flows, even a building 4 stories high. A new capital city is being built near Little Bay. Since Montserrat is still a British colony, a lot of the funding for the new building comes from Britain. We also visited the Montserrat Volcano Observatory where we saw an interpretive movie with footage of eruptions, pyroclastic flows and mudflows. The observatory monitors the volcano's activity and issues warnings. Very few people have been killed in all the destruction that's taken place in the last 15 years. Outside of the volcano and the areas that have been covered in mud flows, the island is very lush and green. People are busy relocating their homes and businesses to "safe" areas and going on about their day to day business.

When we were in Antigua, Agnes Meeker gave us a contact for a tour guide in Montserrat. We contacted Kenneth Farrell, but he was on a construction job for the government. The next day while we were on our tour with Joe, Kenneth called and asked Joe to bring us by the constuction site so he could meet us. Joe obliged. That evening Kenneth came by the dock and picked us up and took us out for Thursday Night Bingo, a fund raiser for the annual Christmas festival. We had fun, got to know Kenneth and did our part to support the Christmas festival (we didn't win any games). This is a small island with very friendly hospitable people.

There were friendly people in the harbor too. We met Jacque and Kate on J3 and helped Jacque celebrate his birthday with brownies, coconut cornbread and Planter Punch. Linda and Kate shared many stories from the perspective of a "reluctant wife" while Jim and Jacque talked boats. It was a very enjoyable evening. Thanks Kate and Happy Birthday Jacque.

Our next stop was Guadeloupe, a French island. The first stop was Deshaies to check in with Customs. This was our 3rd time in Deshaies, so after we got some French bread and pain de chocolates, we left for Pigeon Island and the Cousteau Underwater Park. We picked up mooring balls in a couple different places around the island. There were more fish and live coral here than we've seen in a long time. Great snorkeling, but not a good anchorage, so we went somewhere else for the night. The following day we sailed to The Saintes just south of Guadeloupe. We'd been here before too, so we went to a different anchorage, Marigot Bay, away from the main town. It was a relatively protected and secluded bay with only 1 or 2 boats, only a 15 minute walk to town. The water was clear, there was good snorkeling, and there were conch! Oh yeah, Jim went in to his hunter/gatherer mode just like in the Bahamas. To supplement the fried conch and conch salad, he went into town every day and came back with fresh baguettes. Walking in to town seemed to take you off into a different world. You walked down a narrow lane, up a hill and back down again in to town. Walking past little houses with gingerbread trim and well kept yards and gardens, you were more likely to see someone on a bicycle or scooter than in a car. The town was small with lots of quaint little shops. In the morning it was bustling with activity - all the ladies with their market baskets out to get bread, fruit and vegetables for the day. There were a lot of people out shopping and visiting in the mornings and mid afternoon. Most shops were shut down between 12 noon and 3pm. We took in the ambiance of this place till the end of May and then it was time to move further south again.

Teenage comment of the month: Oh yeah, that's a French boat. I see the flag and they're all wearing Speedos. Over 50 comment of the month: Snorkeling has become like a hiking. It doesn't matter if you see anything spectacular. You're outside getting exercise and enjoying whatever is around you.

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May 1–May 18 St Maarten, Statia, St Kitts, Nevis St Maarten is a difficult place to leave. Everything is convenient and reasonably priced and we find a lot of familiar faces here. It took till May 7 before we finally left this time. Many cruisers use St Maarten as a starting point to head north to the Azores and on to Europe. We said good bye to Kevin on Exodus, a single handler, who will be leaving for Ireland. We also said good bye to Jennifer's new friend Jay and her family on Sea Warrior, who will be returning to Scotland after a 5 year adventure both on land and sea. (Opus is on a pretty mild adventure compared to some of these folks.) Many other friends like Sim & Rosie and Jennifer's friend Jordyn, we hope to meet up with again as we head south.

The first stop after breaking away from St Maarten was the small island country of Statia (St Eustatius). The whole country is about 2 miles by 5 miles. As you approach the island you see an extinct volcano and dozens of storage tanks. The number of tanks seem strange for such a small island, but their whole economy is based on oil trade. It's brought in by the tanker load, stored and shipped out. We saw as many as 10 tankers at a time waiting to load or unload oil. Statia has been a big duty free trade center since the 1700's when they traded food stores and ammunition. They even sold weapons to America during the Revolutionary War. We didn't trade any oil, but Linda and Jennifer did hike to the top of the Quill, the rim of the extinct volcano. They had a good view of Statia as well as several other island countries from the top. Jim took Linda (and Jennifer) out for a Chinese dinner on Mother's Day. Hey, not much is open in Statia on a Sunday and the food was great.

The next stop was St Kitts (St Christopher). Big splurge here. We stayed in a marina in Basseterre, the capital, for $12.50 us per night and went on an island tour. The economy of St Kitts isn't booming like Statia. It used to be based on sugar cane, but the government shut down the sugar mill in 2005 because it wasn't profitable and now they rely almost entirely on tourism. On our tour we saw an inordinate number of schools. St Kittians have decided that education is key to their future and had put a lot of emphasis on it. As a result their litteracy rate is 98%, something that they are very proud of. Two of the highlights of our tour were Brimstone Hill, a restored British fort, and the Caribelle Batik factory. The Brimstone Hill fort is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It's huge and they've done a fabulous job of restoring it. At the batik factory we watched a woman applying wax to cotton fabric by hand to create a design, and we learned they had to go through many iterations of waxing and dying the cloth to get the differnt colors and designs. It's an interesting art form and very labor intensive. No wonder their stuff is so expensive. The whole island of St Kitts is green this time of year. There appears to be a lot of lush farmland between the coast and the mountains/volcanos in the middle of the island. Until 2005 it was planted in sugar cane. Since then there hasn't been any large commercial farming going on for export, only enough to supply the island with fruits and vegetables.

After St Kitts we went to Nevis. The visitor guide books call St Kitts and Nevis as a "twin island federation". They are considered one country, but they operate like two separate countries. For us that means we fly the same courtesy flag in both islands, but we have to check in with Customs and get our passports stamped when we move from one island to the other. We stayed in Oualie Bay, a pretty little bay in the NW corner of the island, and then moved further south to Pinney Beach, near the capital city of Charlestown. We spent most of our time on the boat enjoying the quiet and pretty scenery. Jim went to shore several times to check in, shop and get his hair cut. He tried a beauty shop first and told them women did a better job of cutting his curls. They sent him to a barber shop and told him women didn't cut men's hair in Nevis. Jim told the barber to take off a little. The barber either misunderstood or just cut it the way he cuts everyone else's. He left "a little" - about 3/8 inch! Aunt Ginny, check out the picture. Jim's hair won't be too long for a long time!

Have you ever considered going to medical school? St Kitts and Nevis each have one. St Kitts has Veterinary school too. They do the classroom work on the island and go to the US for clinicals. It's apparently a way to boost their economy. It brings in the staff, students and their friends and relatives who come to visit.

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