Up the Coast of Mountainous Martinique

Cruising up the west coast of Martinique reminded all of us of just how large the island is.  The hills that loomed above Le Marin, grew into full fledged mountains behind Fort de France while above the harbor at St Pierre at the island's north end looms the bulk of Mt Pelee, it's peak shrouded in mists.  Mt Pelee is the volcano that, on May 8, 1902, took out Martinique's original capital, snuffing some 30,000 lives and sparing only two individuals, one a shoemaker and the other a murderer in the jail.

Like Anse Mitan and Rodney Bay, St Pierre seems much bigger than Don and I remember from 1999, though the old town along the waterfront, showing the anchorage it's backsides, can't realistically be much changed.  It is surely our memories that have aged!  

What probably is newer and enlarged are the clusters of newer homes on the ridges above, but still keeping clear of the sleeping giant's flanks.  Mt Pelee is very green, as tall mountains catching the trade winds often times are.

The bay was deep until close to shore and the relatively few anchored yachts were strung out along the beach.  The water was very clear and we quickly jumped in for a cool down and to check the anchor.  

The boys launched the dinghy with good intentions of a late afternoon stroll and dinner ashore, but then Tom did the cruiser thing and went visiting, coming home having invited neighbors by for cocktails.

The couple he invited, Keith and Ida, were a youngish pair from Perth Amboy, NJ in their second year of cruising.  Their boat, Cheers, was only as long as Quantum Leap is wide!  I'm sure it was nostalgic for all four of us to listen to their accounts of  hikes and tours all accomplished with youthful energy and tight budgets!   Those were the days.  Tom quizzed them about places they have just been that we are headed towards, and the discrepancy between our delivery north -- leisurely yet steady -- and their meandering exploration south was somewhat bittersweet.  I know at least Don and I couldn't help but be wistful about all the things -- hikes, dives, meals, hidden coves etc -- we don't have time for this time.  Indeed,  happy hour stretched long enough that in the end we passed on dinner ashore, picked up the dinghy and readied then boat for an early morning departure.

That said, bittersweet aside, there is something easy about gliding by these places where we do have memories.  We swear we are going to spend two nights in Dominica!  and get off the boat!

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Anse Mitan

 Last night we spent a lovely evening in the much less crowded anchorage of Anse Mitan, a cove across the bay from Martinique crowded capital of Fort-de France.  There is a charming tourist community here, thought the big hotel on the point is gutted and abandoned!  We came ashore and did a bit of food shopping, then retired to the boat to sip wine and feast on pate, cheese and Bette's homemade foccaccia.  We then sat on the bow and let the evening breeze cool us down as the lights lit up the distant city.  A fine evening.

This morning we came back ashore to hunt up cafe au lait, pain chocolat and Internet.  Both successful...with some hassle. Speaking French is the fun part for me.

Sorry I did not transfer the photos ahead of time to the iPad.  Obviously, the sea is numbing my mind!

Onward to St Pierre.

Allons-nous

Our purpose in stopping in at Rodney Bay was three fold.  Tom, who as I mentioned before, is unhappy with the new genoa they got during the refit in South Africa, hoped to get the resident sailmaker to take a look and give his opinion.  but once we were already on the dock, it turned out the sailmaker was unavailable. This is when you miss the facility of making a telephone call to make an appointment!

The second and third purposes were to check out of the country and get duty free fuel.  In between we enjoyed a marina cafe with fresh juice green drinks and espresso coffees (prices in EC $) and, of course, Piton beer. 

  We bought vegies from the vegie hawkers, and we also enjoyed a nice dinner at an upstairs restaurant. Alled Thai One On.  The name notwithstanding most of us has curry goat stew.

We departed Tuesay morning with a lively wind behind us as we exited the long narrowing channel out into the bay proper.  On the north arm of the bay that wraps around to a tall promontory that Don and I climbed through the flamboyants to the hilltop fort fifteen years ago (see website!...I think!), a huge resort has been built.  This will be the recurring the theme of this trip, I believe, huge development of residences and resorts on what were barren hillsides.

We had a perfect sail across to Martinique.  The wind held at about 25 kts just forward of the beam yet the seas were amazingly moderate, allowing Quantum Leap to make a steady 8 kts for the 24 miles passage.  We had decided to head for Le Marin, a deep bay on. Martinique's south shore that is the center of French Caribbean yachting.  None of us had been there, in our case because we were usually coming from the north and never wanted to work east to get there!

Le Marin is actually a complicated weav of bays and reefs, anchorages, marinas and mooring fields.  it is actually a surprisingly lovely area, thought very, very full of boats.

Still thinking he might get his sailmaker's opinion, Tom made a pass all the way into to the head of the bay amongst all the the med moored catamarans.  Had Don and I been on our mono-hull, I would have been seriously stressing about finding room enough to turn safely in the still stiff breeze, and I said as much to Tom who then spun this 51' behemoth around virtually on the dime.  OK, another argument in favor of catamarans!

There must have been hundreds and hundreds if not a thousand boats in Le Marin.  Actually, for the French, I thought them fairly well spaced out.  I think, however, our hosts are still adjusting from their empty ocean passage because once we were moored, we never left the boat!  It is all a little overwhelming, especially with the language difference.  We ended up having a huge salad at about three thirty and then settling into our books.  and that was the day!  Bette Lee reminded us, as Tom disappeared to his cabin, thathe had the night watch all the way across the Atlantic.  Evidently he's having some trouble switching his body clock back!

So, this morning we left Le Marin without having gone ashore, and now we are sailing up the coast to Anse Mitan, a tourist center across the bay from Fort-de-F range, Martinique capital.

First Sail

Monday morning we dropped the mooring in Marigot Bay and motored out the pass to open water where we raised the main and set the genoa.  

Tom is unhappy with the cut of the new jib acquired 6000+ miles ago in South Africa, and we could see the issue when the full jib was out. 

 Fortunately, the winds were gusting from 20-30 knots so we were able to leave both sails reefed.  Even then Quantum Leap was easily making 9 knots.  That' s almost twice what Tackless II would have made.

Of course, we were in the lee of the island so the seas were not high.  We'll see how things feel tomorrow when we are out in the open between islands!

Now we are in a slip at Rodney Bay Marina, a yachting center that has exploded probably ten-fold since we were last here in 1999 and more since my first visit in 1989 (that time on the dive ship Aquanaut Holiday! ). Our ship was leased to some Canadians who were aiming to run gambling charters between St Lucia and Martinique and they were actively wooing government officials with sunset cruises and the like.  All in all it was a rlative disaster, and it surely didn't help when the very slow, open tender on which I was ferrying the dignitaries from the marina out to the ship in the outer bay got caught in a torrential downpour!

   

Advil!

When Captain/Doctor Tom offered a round of Advil with dinner last night, I should have taken him up on it.  Stiff and sore this morning!  Guess Jazzercise doesn't prep swimming muscles.

Play Day in Marigot Bay

This a beautiful place.  Marigot Bay, which we have not anchored in before, is a deep inlet on the west coast of St. Lucia about midway along the coastline.  

For thirty some years, up until January of this year, it was the base for the Moorings charter fleet.  The Moorings has now moved to Rodney Bay up at the north end of the island, and Marigot Bay is trying to remake itself as a destination.  

With the crowd of Moorings boats no long clogging the harbor, Marigot Bay has become an inviting stopover.  The marina has a pleasant restaurant, where last night we had rum punch and roti and from where tonight Don and Tom are collecting a 4-cheese pizza to go with our healthy salad, and they are hoping with the stern-to docks encircling the mangrove-lined shore to attract power yachts and mega yachts.  

There's a nice mooring field, where Quantum Leap now sits plumb in the middle of things, where we catch a steady breeze through a notch in the mountains.

I cannot tell you how well we slept our first night aboard.  Yes, it is a flat anchorage, and yes, we'd been up since 3am and had had a full travel day, and yes we'd had a few Piton beers and rum punches to celebrate our arrival, BUT all that aside, the is nothing like sleeping on a boat with the night breeze coming through a hatch an arm's reach over your body.

Tom and Bette had reminded us before we came  that it was hot here, but in fact it is less hot than back home in Florida!  Plus the breeze is at least 15 knots.  The temperature range is about 78-85 daily!

The sun is up before 6am..... but we weren't. We lingered in bed awhile, before getting up for coffee around 7am.  The steep hillsides encircling the narrow bay are packed with handsome vacation homes, condos and hotels, with bouganvillea and the odd early flamboyant tree providing splashes of bright color.  The rest of the hillsides are still relatively dry and leafless, the dry season not quite yet over. Although dark gray clouds roll through every few hours, so far none of them have let loose any real rain, just a few mists that struggle to rustle up weak rainbows.

Tom called for a play day.  He may have said lay day, but Tom is proud of his toys, so after a divine Sunday breakfast of cheesy eggs, sautéed sweet plantains, and chunks of fresh baguette picked up from shore, we launched the windsurfer and paddle board and loaded up snorkel gear before puttering the 100 yards or so to the palm dotted spit of beach behind us.  

The breeze was too stiff for us novices to attempt the windsurfer, so Tom dominated that activity, but the rest of us took turns getting our sea legs on the paddle board.  (Sorry all the pix of water play were by Don on his new Go Pro....which we haven't figured out how to add to the blog!

Later Don and I took the dinghy out to the point and wetted our snorkel gear in salt water for the first time since we were last aboard in Indonesia, and did my best to work off the punches and baguette by swimming half way back!

We returned to the beach where local kids were doing cartwheels into the water, and the tourists were frying in beach chairs, to find Tom and Bette over at Doolittle's enjoying a piña colada.  well, you gotta patronize the keepers of the beach, right!?  We stayed for lunch -- I enjoyed a Caesar salad with blue marlin -- and then came home and napped!  Napping is right up there with sleeping!

Tomorrow, the plan is to sail up to Rodney Bay where Tom hopes to get a sailmaker's opinion on his new gib -- well, it was new two-months ago when they left South Africa to cross the Atlantic!  He's not happy with the cut of it, but it's hard to persuasive with sailmakers thousands of mikes behind you.  from Rodney Bay, the next stop with be Martinique!

Arrived in St Lucia

After a smooth and comfortable flight, we are safely landed in St Lucia.  This is our first time coming into the southern airport -- Hewannorra.  No hassles with customs or immigration, and we lucked into a wonderful cab driver. -- Felix -- who gave us a most enjoyable ride up the island's east coast (new territory for us, and a less tortuous road) to Marigot Bay where Tom and Bette Lee were awaiting us.

Quantum Leap in the mooring at Marigot.

Made it to the Airport

Bright eyed and bushy tailed at 4 in the morning.  Thanks to Goldwing pal Terry who volunteered to drive is to airport.

We're linked!

Thanks to Sherry of sv Soggy Paws who just happens to be in Palau, Micronesia, this Blog is successfully linked on our home page of www.thetwocaptains.com, which may be easier to remember!

Preparations!



Don & Gwen in Vanuatu days

 
 
Heads up, friends, The Two Captains are headed back to de islands.... well at least for five weeks.

Our friends Tom and Bette Lee of the wonderful St. Francis 50 catamaran Quantum Leap (See our Sail Indonesia Blog http://2csinindonesia.blogspot.com) have invited us back aboard for a trip up the island chain from St. Lucia to the Bahamas.  We'll start by revisiting several familiar islands - on the itinerary is St. Lucia, Martinique, Antigua, and the BVI (Home!) -- and then onto new territory for us Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Turks & Caicos, and Bahamas. 

Quantum Leap in the Komodos

It'll be a relatively fast trip, done more at the speed we did Indonesia rather than the leisurely meandering we've practiced elsewhere on our own, but of course Quantum Leap is also a much faster boat!

Not sure if I'll be able to get this blog linked up with our tried and true website www.thetwocaptains.com before our departure (Our webmaster is cruising Micronesia;  not sure what her access to Internet is!), but for now I will just send you by email the direct link on www.blogger.com



We are in the throes of last minute preparations.  Our cases are filling up with snorkel gear, spare parts, more shorts, bathing suits and sarongs.  And decaf Java Planet coffee!