The Saintes - A French playground La - 15.52.01'N Lo 61.35.15'W Anchor to Anchor - Le Marine, Martinique to Terre D'en Haut - Iles Des Saintes 128 miles - 22 hours We left Martinique as it was in the midst of Carnival. As we slipped north along the coast the beat of the music could be clearly heard off shore. We had a lumpy but very fast ride north in a southeast 15-20 knot breeze, as we surfed along on a southeast swell. At dawn, as we reached Dominica's north coast, we encountered squalls, 25 knot winds with a large swell on our starboard side coming in from the south east. Fortunately we didn't have far to travel before we joined the crowd of yachts anchored in the lee of the Saintes. Since the carnival celebration was going on as well here the customs office was closed and it would be four days later, as we were attempting to clear out, that we would finally get cleared in. While at the Saintes we joined the crowd of French tourists at play. Each morning the ferries would make their way in the 7 miles from Guadeloupe. The few roads there are in the Saintes are too narrow for cars. This prompts a brisk scooter rental business. The daily crowd would spend their day shopping, swimming, sun-bathing, kite-boarding, wind surfing, sailing hobie cats, kayaking, dining in the fine restaurants, snorkeling, exploring the forts or just "bombing" around on the scooters from site to site. At the end of the day the ferries would return them all back to Guadeloupe and those of us left on the Saintes would heave a collective sigh of relief. While here an expenditure of 8 Euros allowed us excellent wi-fi access from on board. As we sat out on anchor under the stars we talked on skype and emailed well into the night.