Tuesday, November 22, 2022
That's right! We're back in the land of baguettes, champagne, and pâté!
We left Grenada on Saturday, November 5th, stopping at the uninhabited Ronde Island, which was stunning. We then continued on to Carriacou to check out of the country before jumping up here to Martinique. We came back to fill the boat up with delicious cheap French food and enjoy a few more anchorages we have yet to see. Our plan will be to stick around here for a couple of weeks, then continue our way north through the Caribbean chain.
While in Le Marin gathering all the French food our little hearts desire, we took Bosun to the vet. We were seeking a routine health clearance certificate as we'll need that to clear him into Dominica, the island that sits just north of Martinique. At the vet's office, we were bummed to learn that Bosun was heartworm positive. We've had him on preventative medication for heartworms, fleas, and ticks since we adopted him at 4 months of age, but we learned that if he was already infected, the preventative medication only kills the immature worms (larvae). The medication will not clear an existing infection if the worms have already matured past the stage of being larvae. We had Bosun tested back in August and he was negative at that time. Interestingly, it takes around 7 months for the test to turn positive as it detects a protein produced by female adult worms. Given Bosun turned 11 months old on the day he was diagnosed, the timing works out that he was likely infected when he was a stray pup before we adopted him. We're hopeful that the preventative medications kept the number of worms low as it would stop them from continuing to multiply by killing the larvae. We also feel as though he was diagnosed early given his test converted to positive sometime between August and now. Hopefully, if there is any damage to his heart, it's minimal. We are incredibly lucky to have needed a heartworm test for his health clearance to learn of his diagnosis as he was symptom-free, so we otherwise would not have been prompted to test him. We are thankful that we happen to be in Martinique with access to treatment - not to mention, affordable treatment. The same morning of diagnosis, the vet kept Bosun to get treatment underway. He spent two full days at the vets and is now back with us. Given he is a young and a very healthy pup, as well as likely having a low infection burden from being on monthly preventative medication, he tolerated the treatment well and should show minimal side effects.
Otherwise, life is good! We left Le Marin after Bo came back home to us and had a lovely sail along the coast. We actually experienced a downwind sail, which was truly beautiful. It's amazing how enjoyable a sail can be when you aren't beating east into the trade winds. We are currently anchored across the bay from Fort de France near Ilet Ramier and enjoying some amazing snokeling along a lively reef.
We've also managed to upload a video about our previous time here in Martinique during hurricane season. You can click the video below or find it, along with all the others, here on the website under the Videos tab.
Much love,
Keith & Becca
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