Thursday 17 May – Thursday 14 June
WOW we spent 4 weeks in the beautiful
country of Martinique this time. Exploring more of some previous
visited anchorages and seeing some new ones and even renting a car a
couple of times to see part of the inner island. We still did not
get to see all we wanted, just so much to see and do!! Here is a
summery of our time in Martinique.
We had a fast 4 hour trip down from
Roseau, Dominica. Not as smooth as we would have liked with the 20
knot winds and 6 Fort waves but we made 8-9 knots with 1 reef in the
main and 2 in the genoa and anchored off St. Pierre, Martinique.
Friends on Ultra anchor near by a little while later. Friday
morning we go to check in at customs (tourist office) but their
computer is broken so after lunch along with JoAnne & Bill from
Ultra we take the bus down to Fort de France and check in
there. Stopping at a few stores before catching the bus back to St
Pierre. The town is having a celebration that weekend because Mt.
Pelee, the volcano that DESTROYED the town in 1902, has been quiet
now for 110 years. Booths with local artists set up along with food
vendors and a stage for music (all in French). Saturday afternoon
JoAnne & Bill want to dive a couple of the wrecks here in the
bay, of which there are many, some from the volcano others from
hurricanes and tidal waves. They are all deep dives and since I am
suffering from a head cold, no way I can equalize and get down that
deep. So I swim in the beautiful deep blue water while Steve, JoAnne
& Bill dive. Dinner on Ultra, delicious home made pizza
by JoAnne. Sunday more diving and snorkeling then back into town for
more of the festival celebration. Monday we take the walk up to the
Depaz distillery, passing through the town looking at the historical
ruins from the volcano eruption now a landmark. JoAnne & Bill
had made the same mistake we did on our first walk to see the
distillery, taking the long hilly road. They had left late in the
day so never even made it to the distillery before turning around.
So Bill was a little doubtful when we say there is an easy way. He
is also surprised at how easy it is and the fact that they did not
come this way the 1st time. The distillery is up and
running and the grounds are beautiful and the rum tasting is always
good, we load up on free mangoes before walking back. Tuesday is
another festival celebrating the abolishment of slavery so we go in
BUT can't use the dock for the dinghies as they are loading tons of
fireworks to be set off later that night. We find another spot to
land the dinghies and enjoy some of the afternoon festivities before
going back to the boats for dinner and a great view of the firework
show. Wednesday Ultra heads south but we stay to do laundry,
& defrost the freezer. We leave Thursday, during a break in the
rain, to catch up with them at the anchorage by Schoelcher, just
north of Fort de France. We make the 1 ½ hour trip staying dry but
once anchored the rain starts up again. Friday still on & off
rain throughout the morning. During one break we decide to make a
run to shore. Glad we were all wearing our ponchos, as it started to
rain on the way in and most of the walk up to the bus stop. JoAnne &
Bill are returning for their second trip and our 1st to
the mega supermarket and hardware store located between Schoelcher &
Fort de France. We are traveling by bus so limited to what we can
buy by what we can carry in backpacks and canvas bags. At least the
sun comes out for our return trip. Saturday noon departure for Anse
L' Anne. Short trip over and get re-anchored, then take the dinghies
over to Anse Mitan to check out town and surroundings. Sunday Into
Anse L' Anne to see what is there then out to snorkel around a little
island then over to Anse Noire & Anse Dufour for more snorkeling
before returning to the boat. Monday I go back to Anse Mitan with
JoAnne & Bill to shop :), Steve glad to stay back on the boat.
Over to Grande Anse D' Arlet in the afternoon get anchored &
settled in, before snorkeling off the boat since we are close to
shore line. After snorkeling HH with Joanne & Bill on Ocean
Star.
Another sad day as we will be parting ways the following day, as they head south
and we stay in Martinique awaiting arrival of guests.
Tuesday &
Wednesday boat chores and swimming. Thursday over to Fort de France,
stopping to get fuel first !! What a mistake that was !! We THOUGHT
we had gotten fuel there before but as we are approaching the fuel
dock we realize that NO we did not because Dave from Promise
had come over by dinghy and told us what a horrible set up it is. We
were there so decided to go ahead and give it a try. We had to back
the boat in to a small space next to a FLOATING dinghy dock with
small lines in the water for small boats to use to tie off to. I get
off with the stern line trying to find something to tie it to other
then the little rubber cleat on the floating dock. No help from
anyone at the fuel dock but luckily some men from the near by boat
yard were there having lunch and came over to help with the lines
tying them to the floating dock. Finding one real cleat onshore to
secure the boat so it did not pull the floating dock away. Fueled up
and a note made in our log to never get fuel there again. Glad to be
away from that mess and over to the anchorage off Fort de France.
Into town after lunch to start provisioning. Friday getting more
provisions and getting ready for visit from friends Gina & Barry.
We had it all worked out (so we thought) Gina's cell phone was set
to be able to receive and make international calls, I had a local
cell phone and our sat phone. Sitting up on deck around 10:25 pm we
see a plane landing saying that's probably them landing now. Plan
was to call at 11, by that time they should be en-route if not almost
to where we would pick them up with the dinghy. I start calling, but
Gina's phone is NOT working. A few more calls and finally at 11:30 I
tell Steve we have to go in that there must be something wrong with
her phone. We get to the dinghy dock and there is Gina but no Barry
!!! Gina is so relieved, her taxi driver did not want to leave her
there in the park by the dinghy dock in downtown Fort de France.
Unable to speak the language in a foreign place in the middle of the
night. He told her of a safe hotel near by just in case she did not
find us. The park / dinghy dock might not be the safest place but it
was still pretty crowded with families so at that hour it was still
not the worst place to have to wait (easy for me to say- Gina might
disagree). But we did show up and get Gina only to find out that
Barry had missed his connecting flight so he was still in Puerto Rico
and would be arriving the following night. Saturday we go into Fort
de France walking around town seeing the sights and some stores and
the market place. Back to the boat and over to Anse Mitan to anchor
where it is much calmer than rolly Fort de France. We had talked to
Barry and he would take a taxi here to Anse Mitan when he arrived.
Gina & I go into the town of Anse Mitan walking around and
shopping. Saturday night Barry arrives, we meet him at the dock and
get him back to the boat and settled in. Sunday we go to anchor in
Grande Anse D'Arlet. Snorkeling off the boat and visiting town.
Monday we do the hike over to Anse D'Arlet have a nice lunch before
hiking back, followed by a nice cooling swim off the boat. Tuesday
we head over to St Anne, not the best weather prediction to go east
but not too bad and with guests on a short schedule we go. To Steve
& I it wasn't that bad, just a little rough. Gina & Barry
got to learn first hand what the term “beating to weather” means.
Not all days are smooth sailing, that is why we anchor in a spot and
don't move around so much. Timing our moving with the right weather
window – not something you can do when you are visiting for just a
week. We get anchored in the lovely bay of St Anne and go into town
to walk around. We have another generator problem (leaking shaft
seal on the sea water pump) and Steve wants to talk with a guy over
in Le Marin about getting it fixed. So on Wednesday morning we
decide to take the dinghy over ?!! Even with the new dinghy &
outboard with 4 people it was a wet ride, another fun experience of
the cruiser to introduce our guests to. Steve & Barry go find
out about the part for the generator water pump while Gina & I
walk around. Have lunch on the pier then Steve & Barry go back
to bring the big boat up to Le Marin while Gina & I do a little
more shopping. The guys finally meet back up with us and we get back
to the boat to get cleaned up. Thursday we drop Steve off to drop
the generator water pump off and we go to rent a car, then go back
and pick Steve up by car (FYI – Euro Car cheapest car rental by
far). We are heading to a place called MangoFil, in Trois Ilets to
go zip lining. Stopping at the Trois Rivieres rum distillery on the
way. The French know how to do adventure parks, they cost a fraction
of what they do on some of the other islands, giving you a 10 minute
orientation and practice then let you go and do the course on your
own. This was the first zip line / obstacle course for Gina &
Barry and I am glad it was a pretty good one with 40 different
sections. They have several spots where getting on or off the zip
line is at an awkward angle, they could use some serious adjustments.
But for the most part it was a fun course and we had a great time.
Found a spot to grab a bite to eat before continuing along the
coastline seeing the magnificent views. Back to the boat for well
needed showers before going back into town for dinner. Friday Steve
picks up the generator pump and Barry returns the car while Gina &
I sleep in. This is their last day (so they thought) so they wanted
to spend it just relaxing and swimming off the boat so we go back
over to St Anne a nicer anchorage for the day. Back to Le Marin as
the sun sets and dinner on board as Gina & Barry pack to catch an
early taxi to the airport. During dinner Gina gets a text message
saying their flight is delayed from an 8:30 departure to 10:30, so
she calls the taxi driver to change their scheduled pick up time.
Steve drops them off and they are on their way to the airport. Steve
back on the boat where he tackles the job of swapping the fixed spare
water pump with the still leaking one on the generator – a job that
takes major dis-assembly of both the generator compartment (to get
access) and the generator. I get the dirty clothes ready to bring to
the laundromat the following day. Saturday night just relaxing
getting back into our normal routine. Sunday I go and spend a couple
of hours doing laundry. That night on FB I see a note from Gina that
she is still NOT home ?? We learn a few days later that the text
message she received from Delta about her flight change was WRONG and
their plane left at the earlier scheduled time without her and Barry.
They wound up renting a car Saturday afternoon and driving around
more of the country, staying at a hotel near the airport to catch the
Sunday morning flight out to Puerto Rico. I hope the air travel
problems don't ruin the memory of a fun vacation in between. Monday
a few more boat projects, get the 2nd generator pump in to
be fixed. Tuesday Steve & I rent a car and travel up the east
coast stopping in the towns of Le Vauclin, visiting the beautiful
Clement estate and rum distillery. Among the beautiful grounds and
restored plantation they had 3 separate art galleries that had some
of the most bizzare modern art that we have ever seen. Seeing the
towns of Le Francois, & Le Robert, La Trinite before going out on
the Caravelle Peninsula, a Nature Reserve and seeing the ruins of the
old Chateau Dubuc. They have some good hiking trails out there but
by the time we got there it was too late to do them. Great sights
and views all along the drive up the coast making for another great
day. Wednesday just took it easy in the morning then after lunch
went by customs to clear out, we stayed a few days longer then what
we had originally put down when we cleared in, and not that the
French care but we knew going to St Lucia they would question the gap
in days. But being a Wednesday the customs office was only open a ½
day, same with the post office when we went by there. One of these
days we will get the hang of when things are open and closed.
Thursday morning a quick trip in to complete Wednesday afternoons
tasks, back to the boat dinghy secured and on our way to St Lucia by
11:30. A great sail down 1 reef in both sails wind aft of the beam,
6 ft seas parallel to the boat that we cut thru at 8 + knots.
Anchored in Rodney Bay by 2:30 next to friends John & Linda on
Kool Kat.
Link to Pictures & VIDEOS ; https://picasaweb.google.com/103931849054358791487/Martinique2012?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCLLci4Tw2I3PFw&feat=directlink
