Location: Pain de Sucre, Les Saintes
The time has finally come to say goodbye to Dominica and all of our friends there. It’s safe to say that the entire crew has thoroughly enjoyed their time here and count it as one of their favorite islands. After a delicious breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes, the crew started learning about biology in OCE class. After class, it was time to get underway. For this passage, I put the challenge to the crew to get the boat underway and sail completely on their own without coaching from the staff. It took a bit longer, but the crew figured things out and were able to get Ocean Star underway and sailing on their own. We had a great sail, making 7+ knots on our way to Les Saintes, a cluster of French islands just north of Dominica. Just before getting there, the crew was surprised by a fire drill, making sure that they were always on the ready in case of an emergency. Arriving at our destination, the crew took charge again and dropped and flaked sails on their own. With sails down, we did a bit more of a complicated anchoring process as we went stern to the rock at Pain de Sucre. After a good day of sailing and the boat secure, we had dinner and prepped to end the night with sailing class. All around, it was a great day, and we’re all pretty excited to be in Franceland.