We traversed the 21 nm from Le Marin, Martinique to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia on May 10, making nice progress except when we slowed down to haul in a wahoo, our first of that species.  There is a lot of meat on a wahoo, so even though this one was a modest size, as wahoo go, we have had many fine meals since.  On May 11, Barb decided to use up some of the gluten-free flour she had purchased in order to support my glutten-free experimental diet.  Something went wrong; see below the picture we also posted on Facebook.  Next day, it was time to get the quarterly blood tests that are needed to monitor for possible bad side-effects from my arthritis medicines.  Barb went along, and we also asked for cholesterol tests.  A few days later we had the results:  no problems from my meds, and my cholesterol is just fine, thank you.  Barb, on the other hand, has had another spike in her cholesterol.  Faithful readers may recall that she had one about a year ago, and went on a crash program of reduced alcohol and carbs and increased exercise.  In just a month, she reduced her cholesterol by 100 points to normal, as verified by a subsequent test in Trinidad.  Guess who is once again on a crash program?  Speaking of crash(ed) programs, about a week ago after about 10 weeks on the experiment, I abandoned the glutton-free diet.  I never saw any real improvement while on the diet, and I have not seen any deterioration after getting off, despite some rather joyful episodes of gluttony as regards pasta, bread, pancakes, cake, cookies, chips and beer — not all in the same meal, I should add.

We got a lot done in Rodney Bay.  We both got our teeth cleaned at one of the few offices in the Caribbean that has a hygienist on staff; in most offices the cleaning is done by the resident dentist. We took the boat in to the Marina in order to equalize the batteries.  While there, Vision came around and we asked him to wax and polish the entire outside.  It took him and his lady Meshana two days, but they did a great job for a fair price.  Meanwhile, I got started on cleaning up the engine room and all four bilges, so that I could take pictures in support of a self-survey we must complete in order to change insurance companies.  We had hurried down to Rodney Bay in order to attend the Jazz Festival, but after arriving the weather turned rainy and the list of performers seemed too lack-luster to justify the steep admission fee, so we limited our participation to attending the free jam session held on the night after the official final close of the festival.

Rodney Bay is the home of one of our favorite restaurants:  A Taste of India.  We actually went twice during our week stay; once for dinner and then again the next day at lunch to take advantage of the marvelous 4-dish sampler that is offered every day (except Mondays) from noon until 4 pm, but with different dishes each day.

On May 17 we left Rodney Bay and motored on down to Bequia.  As we passed the Pitons on the south end of St. Lucia, we were joined by a pod of spotted dolphins that played in the pressure wave of our bow.  Initially there were many, but after a time there were only three, and they stayed with us for a very long time.  I always wonder, when they stay so long, how they can find their way back to the pod.  We hope you find your way back to our pod, um, blog.  Until next time.