Thus wraps up our Caribbean tour after 7 short weeks. Bittersweet as it is, the weeks have been long and Barbados is just a distant memory. I'm more than ready to continue the journey west and explore the other side of the world, where far fewer have been.

Fishing this week has been excellent, a welcome relief after many a slow week around Dominica and Guadeloupe. The Atlantic passage, with boundless mahi to the point of returning half back to the ocean to live another day, really warped my perception. The waters here around the French West Indies experience intense fishing pressure from the locals, with most any fish big enough to be worth eating already snatched within a several mile radius from the coast. Despite this, lionfish, with their extremely venomous spines, are everywhere, and with cautious spearfishing can provide worthwhile food. Squid rings are one of my guilty pleasures, and I was elated one morning to swim past a pair of cuttlefish - and securing one to become lunch later that day. Rounding things off is the beautiful wahoo I miraculously hooked just one mile from our anchorage near Fond Boucher, Martinique. We were coming in from Roseau, Dominica; the wind had died, sails were packed away, and we were in the final stretch when one of the rods started screaming as line peeled off. This 12kg (26lb) fish is one of my best and will certainly provide excellent eating over the next few weeks.

Next week starts our yard period in Le Marin, where over the next few weeks we'll have work done on Stardust. Thankfully all minor repairs as well as a few much needed upgrades, and she'll be ready for Panama and beyond.