Island Hopping - Heading South - The Leewards (The Saintes to Dominica)

Becalmed - A day of unusual calm conditions had us motoring most of the way to our next anchorage off the black sand beach at Canefield, Dominica.
Here we sat back and enjoyed the simple pleasure of watching day-to-day life on shore.
On the beach, engrossed in music, locals bathed and children played as ash gently drifted down from a cane-field burning above them on the mountainside.
Just down from us we watched 5 trucks and a front-end loader as they synchronized to unload gravel from a barge only to refill it with soil; the job complete and the barge silently slipped away before dawn.
In the evening we listened to a local radio station's broadcast of a football game between the veterans (old guys) and the new-comers, who happened to be boasting new uniforms for the occasion.
Life was carrying on around us but it was as if the whole world was becalmed and standing still.
The next day as we made our way in the calm, early morning hours a rainbow spread its reflection across the flat, still sea. We sipped our coffee and slid past the town of Roseau to see it, as the sun peaked over the mountain, bathed in radiant sun-beams of light.
We didn't go to shore in Dominica nor tour any of its sights. We simply made our way southward along its lee coast yet we felt completely contented with our time there. Perhaps we saw all that mattered.
Anchor to Anchor - June 1, 2008
The Saintes to Dominica (Canefield)
34 miles - 7 hours
under power - becalmed