Laurie here.
We are in Grande Anse D'Arlet. We arrived mid-morning yesterday, after stopping under Q flag in St. Pierre the night before, and slowly put the boat to right before going ashore to check in with customs and immigration. While we were busy, and, actually taking a break, in waltzes the 48 foot "Spyglass", a friend from last year. Chris had left his boat near ours in Peakes Boat Yard, Trinidad; and flew home feeling not well. While back in Vancouver, he finally got a correct diagnosis of a heart virus. He made what is considered a miraculous recovery, and is sailing around again, late in the season, trying to decide if he should continue single-handing down here with what is a "for-life" disease that could debilitate or kill rather quickly. Regardless, he's upbeat and it was great to spend time with him and his daughter.
At any rate, it was great to see him, and visit with him and his visiting daughter Kate.
s/v Spyglass sails in and anchors right beside Cat Tales. We were very excited to see Chris out this season after his health scare! 
Chris, from Sypglass on the right. Laurie on the left.
Kate, Chris' daughter visiting for the next week or so.
Here is Kate negotiating a car rental (She speaks fluent French). The office was closed the first time we went in to see them, but now that it's open, we find out that they only have one car and the car has been rented out for the next several days to the gentleman on the right in the background. Oh well, off to the next port to see if they might have another to offer!
Together we went in to clear Customs. However, there is a new round of strikes in the French islands this year. A month or so ago, very little could be had because the dockworkers wanted more money. Now there are rolling power blackouts because the utility workers want their share. So, initially we could not clear in, because the little bistro that has the Customs computer had no power. We asked for an ice cream bar, but the girl said she would not open any refrigeration while there is an outage.
We went for a walk, and a couple of drinks at a bar at the far end of the beach where they were less afraid to open their fridges. We came back after the power was reestablished, and she sat us down to the computer. We could check in, but not get a paper copy of the procedure, as they were out of paper. Well, that is a little useless to us, as we need the paper for other offices down the timeline. I finally printed mine on the backside of an older clearance, and the girl found an old notice on yellow paper Chris could use after removing the staples. The printer accepted it, and she stamped the printed copy. As Hugh Whalen often says: "You can't make this shit up."
Katie and Chris went next door to rent a car. The rental agency, that also rents boats and toys, said they only had one car, and had just rented to "this guy here", standing beside them. With that, we went back to our boats to enjoy some socializing. Spyglass left today to attempt to rent a car in St. Pierre.
It has been a beautiful day here, with us reading, relaxing, and taking a nice long swim. Its happy hour, so I'll sign off now.
Here are a couple more pics from Dawn:
A few days ago, Bounty, our boat boy in Dominica gave us these beautiful mangoes and a big breadfruit. We brought him his favourite cheese from Guadeloupe and he came back in the morning with these gifts to us. The mangoes will be ripe in about 2 weeks...yes, all at the same time!
