Overcast but generally calm day. We do the usual morning chores and I try again to nail down the source of our water issues by soaking up all the water in the bilge to see where it is coming from.

A bit later than we wanted but not bad, around 1 pm, we depart for Anse d’Arlet, a favourite spot of ours. It is very calm though rolly one we get out towards Diamond Rock as the swell comes in from the Atlantic. We try to sail to conserve diesel, I am a little concerned about our reserves as we are down to about 1/4 tank and if we have to do a lot of motoring it will get close before we can fill up in Fort de France. Still, I have a spare 5 gallon jug so should be OK.

Generally give up on sailing after we pass Diamond Rock, the true wind speed is less than our boat speed. Besides we are dodging the fishermen’s net markers every 100 yards. Note to self, go outside Diamond Rock, the wind is better, the line is better and there are no fishing markers.

We roll into Anse d’Arlet and make a mess of our anchoring job as the wind is quite circular and we have a hard time staying in one place without getting too close to a neighbour. Finally we settle in after about 3 tries (very embarrassing). We are too close for my liking to one neighbour but they are clearly not living aboard so they are not going to mind.

We’re settled in by 5 pm. Christy makes dinner and I am down by 8 pm, been a pretty stressful and tiring day. We remark this is probably the cloudiest day we can remember in two years. Overcast the whole day, though not much rain. Typically it rains every day here at some point but to be overcast all day is very rare.