Martinique to USVI

 Sailing up the island chain is now somewhat of a blur in memory; so much so that I must refer to our log book to remember where and when.

We arrived at Marina du Marin in Martinique on Thursday, 10 November 2016, and took a mooring, hoping to be there only 1 day so we could pick up a new propane gas solenoid from the Amel service center located in Le Marin.  The solenoid had failed on our final day in St. Lucia while I was baking muffins.  Gas supply shut down when the solenoid failed.  Bill found a union fixture at a local chandlery and installed that as a temporary fix.  The only solenoids available locally and online were the cheap kind and we wanted to replace it with exactly the same kind as original.  This is a German produced solenoid and costs about 6 times the price of the typical cheap versions used in most boats.  Bill telephoned Amel in Le Marin and learned they had 1 in stock, so we sailed up there. 

Rigger in Martinique replacing forward port shroud

That was quickly completed and we were ready to head off again when received an email from the buyers of BeBe stating that they would like to have a rigging inspection performed while we were there at the Amel service center.  There is a rigger nearby who is recommended by Amel.  The following day was a holiday but the rigger agreed to do the inspection then rather than make us hang around until the following week.  Next morning 2 riggers arrived shortly after 09:00 and 1 of them quickly was up the mast.  Inspection took less than half-hour.  The port side forward baby shroud had 2 tiny spots of discoloration near the upper swage.  The rigger said these 2 tiny discolorations could be an indication that 2 of the 19 twisted wires might be broken inside the shroud.  The rigger looked shocked when Bill immediately told him to replace the shroud.  Bill figured might as well replace it now while at a place recommended by Amel – why take a chance;  if there is any possibility of a problem with a piece of the rigging, then replace it immediately.  We moved the boat over next to the rigger’s office and work facility and within 2 hours the shroud was replaced and we were motoring out of Le Marin.

It was too late in the day to go anywhere so we anchored at St. Anne’s once again.  Ended up staying there a few days before sailing 26.5 NM up to St. Pierre, where we anchored only overnight (rolly!!  & tight spaces!!).  At 05:30 the next morning anchor was up and we were motoring out of St. Pierre in the dark.  This turned into a very lively day of sailing.  Forecast was for 12-15 knots wind from 110 degrees but we never saw that.  Actual experience was solid 25 knots minimum, mostly 30, with gusts to40 knots – from 40 degrees to 80 degrees!  Forget that downwind sailing we were expecting.  Wind was on beam or slightly forward of the beam all day.

Strange clouds at sea

As we sailed well westward in the lee of Dominica the wind dropped to comfortable levels, but jumped right back up to ‘a bit too strong’ as we crossed the channel to Ile des Saintes.  About half-way across that channel is when the top half of our wind instrument blew away.  We still had apparent wind speed, but no wind direction.  No more TWS, TWA, AWA; just apparent speed.  Bill tied 2 long plastic strips on the aft mainmast shrouds on port and starboard and those little tell-tails acted as our means of telling apparent wind direction.  Back to the basics!

More strange clouds at sea

We entered via the southwest cut into Ile des Saintes – and would never do that again!!  We had motored through this cut years ago with no problems, but today both the southwest and southeast cuts are filled with literally hundreds of fish traps.  This could be a real mess if attempted during darkness or during rain when could not see the floats to maneuver around and between all those fish traps.  I was very glad to put those behind us!

Where we used to anchor near the town of Terre Haut is now all filled with moorings, so we picked up a mooring.  Ended up staying there exactly 1 week.  This is by far our favorite island in all of the Caribbean.  We first visited Ile des Saintes way back in 1984 when took a Windjammer cruise aboard the Mandalay from Antiqua to Grenada.  It was like a tiny piece of Brittany placed on a Caribbean island.  We were impressed by the women outside washing their stoops and doorways in the mornings. The structures might be meager but the owners took pride in their homes and kept everything very clean.  Those days are gone; the next generation living there today no longer go to the trouble of washing their stoops and steps and doorways each morning.   A little sad to see this change.

Bill went up the mast to assess the damage to our wind instrument.  He ended up going up that mast 3 times and it still was not repaired.  That would happen later.

Bill posted on the Amel Yacht Owners Group and on the Amel Owners FB Group about the parts we needed.  Lo and behold, several people who have upgraded to newer electronics offered up their old units for spare parts.  Pat and Diane on S/V Shenanigans shipped exactly what we needed to Connections in St. John, USVI.  We are very grateful to them!  Connections is a mailing and shipping service in Cruz Bay which we used when we moved aboard BeBe in 2006.  Great service and reasonably priced.

Also while in Ile des Saintes there was a chance meeting with another Amel owner.  Derrick Gates on S/V Brava, along with crew members Doug, Roger and Gracie, arrived and moored nearby for a couple of days.  It was a pleasure meeting them.  Derrick treated us to delicious dinner at a lovely little garden restaurant; the French do know how to cook!  Derrick has followed our blog and conversation was fun because he already knew so many of the places and experiences that Bill and I have enjoyed over the years.  This was a very enjoyable evening for many reasons – companionship, conversation, food, discussion with fellow Amel owners.  One of Derrick’s crew members also owns an Amel; I believe he said in Maine; and Gracie is his chef.  We enjoyed drinks and snacks aboard Brava before going ashore for dinner and I can attest to Gracie’s skills as a chef.  She produced some small fish cakes accompanied by a pickled lettuce garnish which tasted fabulous.  Thank you again for a lovely evening, Derrick!

Deshaies, Guadeloupe

Next leg of our island-hopping north was 35 NM up to Deshaies, Guadeloupe.  Once again, there were many fish traps encountered going out the northwest cut from Ile des Saintes.  If we were entering or exiting Terre Haut again, we would opt to go the extra distance and use only the northeast cut.  That is where all the ferries to and from Guadeloupe enter and exit and there appeared to be no fish traps hampering that route.  We arrived at Deshaies at 15:30 and the anchorage was pretty filled.  All the moorings were taken, plus there were 18 boats anchored outside the moorings.  And boats were pointed in every direction because the wind swirls through this bay due to the surrounding high mountains on 3 sides.  We dropped anchor pretty much in the middle of the bay in 9.9 meters depth and could let out only 46 meters of chain.  The bay was too congested to allow more scope.  Turned out not to be a problem; holding was excellent.

Montserrat.  The light areas are the ash flow that covered the major
town of Plymouth when the volcano erupted not so many years ago.
Not a single person died as they were evacuated to the northern tip
of the island.  The volcano remains active.

At 05:15 anchor was up and we were motoring out of the bay.  An ‘Oh-Dark-Thirty’ beginning once again.  It was a black pre-dawn exit with no problems.  This day would be 78 NM to St. Kitts.  We motor-sailed or sailed 75% and motored 25% of the distance.  Our course was basically 320 degrees and wind 20 knots at 120-150 degrees apparent and 2.5 meter seas, which meant jib poled to port and plenty of rolling all day long.  This time we skipped Montserrat, going up the western side well off shore to avoid any volcanic ash in the breeze.  We have seen boats really messed up by that volcanic ash.  It is so acidic and destroys gel coat on boats.  Normally we have gone on the eastern windward side of this island but this time we decided to chance the western leeward side as that was better direction for our desired route.  Thankfully, the volcano was not burping that day and we slipped past with no ash landing on BeBe.

Sometimes what you see is not what is real.  This
is called Long Point and it does look like a long
point protruding from the SW tip of Nevis.

As we approached Nevis and St. Kitts squalls were building.  I checked our log book and noted where we had anchored when last here in 2006.  We headed toward that waypoint in Ballast Bay  as a squall rolled through.  I was very thankful to have that waypoint; knew if we safely went there 10 ½ years ago then we should be safe returning there today – even though we could see nothing past 25-feet around our boat.  We dropped anchor and put up the yellow Q flag.  

And do you see any Long Point protrusion from the
SW tip of this island?  Nevis is basically a round
island.  But the topography is such that the SW
tip does appear to be a long point jutting out
into the sea.  An optical illusion. 

The following morning we motored out of Ballast Bay just before 10:00 and almost instantly a large rib zoomed up beside us filled with Dutch marines and a guy who worked for St. Kitts (coast guard?).  We slowed and several of them boarded BeBe.  They did not even do a cursory inspection; 3 of the Dutch marines stood on the deck while the St. Kitts guy sat in the cockpit and filled out a form, just the basic information and basic safety equipment verification.  He asked to see 2 lifejackets and the flares and confirmed we had VHF and HF radios.  Everyone was very friendly and within 10 minutes they departed and we continued motoring away from St. Kitts.  In all our years of boating this was the 2^nd time we have been boarded.  Coincidentally, the only other time BeBe has been boarded also was by the Dutch – in Curacao in August or September 2007.  That time they searched the entire boat; this time was just questions.  Each time everyone was very professional.

St. Kitts.  A fort on top of the small hill by the sea

The sail from St. Kitts to St. John was 146 NM and was very fast!  Course once again was basically 320 degrees with wind 20 knots from 80 degrees.  This placed jib poled to port and mizzen to port with preventer.  The mizzen acts to reduce twist and roll in the 2.5 meter confused seas; large swell from southwest and wind waves from northeast.  When in the lee of St. Kitts, again in lee of Statia and again in lee of tiny Saba, the seas calmed and sailing was very pleasant.  Other than in the lee of those 3 islands, seas were confused and uncomfortable.  When Bill glanced down and saw we were doing 10 knots SOG he decided to reef that jib!  We continued under single reef until sometime during the night when boat speed again crept up to over 9 knots SOG and I put a second reef in the jib.  Still our boat speed was faster than I prefer.  We sailed 146 NM is 20 hours – averaging 7.3 knots SOG.  And that includes the time for the Dutch marines boarding and the time motoring through the channel at St. John and finding a mooring at Caneel Bay.  So the sailing average SOG probably was greater than 8 knots.  I prefer 6.5 knots sailing speed.  I do not like fast sailing.

S/V Eos.  We last saw this mega yacht in Ponce, Italy.  A friend
worked as crew on this special yacht back then but now works on
another mega-motoryacht.  Eos anchored near us in St. Kitts.

This final overnight sail was bittersweet.  It marks the ‘last time’ and in some ways I am happy about that and in other ways quite sad about it.  The ‘last time’ for watching the bio-luminescence flow down the side of the boat at night.  The ‘last time’ for my enjoyable solitude at sea at night.  The ‘last time’ to see the sky laden with hundreds of thousands of stars, as only can be seen from sea with no ambient lighting from nearby lands.  The ‘last time’ watching other vessels pass in the darkness.  I will so very much miss these things and am very grateful to have had these experiences.

We picked up a park mooring in Caneel Bay, St. John, before 07:00 on Thanksgiving Day.  We rested a bit and then went into Customs and Immigration in Cruz Bay to handle inbound clearance.  While clearing in we learned that our LBO (Local Boaters Option) cards which we had obtained in November 2006 are still valid!!!  The official said these LBO cards are “pure gold” because these are much better than the current SVRS program.  With the SVRS program vessels are supposed to file float plans.  With the LBO cards, we merely need to telephone when we arrive in USVI or Spanish Virgins or Puerto Rico.  As long as we own this boat then these LBO cards remain valid, although these are not available anymore.

Update:  Effective 31 December 2016 all LBO information was purged from the systems.  The only option today is the SVRS scheme.  Biggest difference between the old LBO system and the SVRS system is that SVRS requires filing float plans online.  Which can be difficult since cruising boats are not connected to the internet 24/7/365.

That afternoon I roasted the small piece of turkey which was purchased at Ile des Saintes.  Our Thanksgiving feast was comprised of roast turkey, peas, mashed potatoes and gravy and followed by pecan pie.  The worst pecan pie I have ever baked, but appreciated by both of us regardless.  This was an impromptu Thanksgiving meal as we had thought we would be at sea all day. 

The following morning we loaded 7 of the 10 boxes of books which I had packed back in Trinidad and took these to the US Post Office in Cruz Bay.  There we learned that for whatever reason this particular post office location will not allow any shipments in boxes which have names of liquor or beer or wine printed on the outside.  The clerk said those alcohol boxes are the strongest boxes but she is not allowed to accept these for shipment.  She loaned me a black marker and I crossed out those offending words on some of the boxes, but the Heineken boxes had the word Heineken all over them.  We took these boxes down the street to Connections, where we purchased heavy brown paper and packing tape and wrapped the boxes.  Then back to the post office and shipped them.  We returned to the boat for the remaining 3 boxes and got those posted also.  Got to love the US Post Office right now!  They consider USVI as domestic postal rates and also allow media rate from here to the mainland.  We shipped 200 pounds of books in 10 boxes for total cost of around $130.  That is a deal!

While at Connections we picked up the package of wind instrument parts shipped from Pat and Diane on S/V Shenanigans.  They were life savers!  These parts are exactly what we needed.  Bill has already tested everything and between what we had and what Shennigans gave us, it all works perfectly.  If it works down here at deck level then it should work when mounted at the top of the mast.

All the shipping taken care of that could be handled this day, we slipped the mooring line and motored over to Francis Bay at the northeastern side of St. John.  This bay brings back many memories of our charter days with friends back in the 1980s and very early 1990s.  The following day friends Pam and Larry Shelton on S/V Southern Girl arrived from the BVI.  It was great finally catching up with them while on our respective boats.  Pam is one of those friends with whom we chartered back in the 80s and 90s.  They headed off towards Puerto Rico the following morning, while Bill and I remained on this mooring for several more days. 

We have made a couple more trips to the post office to ship more boxes, each time returning to the same mooring in Francis Bay.  Bill has installed the repaired wind instrument on top of the mast and all works perfectly once again.  I am very glad this is so.  It was more difficult than I imagined picking up a mooring pennant without knowing the exact direction of the wind.  Once we had to make 3 attempts to pick up a mooring.  That is shameful!  We normally get it accomplished effortlessly on the first attempt.

Trinidad north to Martinique

On Tuesday, 2 November, we were up at 04:00 to begin the process of leaving the dock at Crews Inn Marina in Trinidad.  This marina does not simply pro-rate the electricity for the final night docked as is common; they want an actual meter reading when that power cord is unplugged.  We, of course, wanted air-conditioning for our final night at dock; hence, the extra early wake-up time.  What’s an extra hour of sleep!  Plus this provided the advantage of enjoying our morning cups of coffee before the last-minute rush to depart. The hotel desk is staffed 24/7.  Bill had to awaken the dock master so he could read our electric meter; the front desk clerk prepared our final invoice; and at 05:00 we were finally ready to depart the dock.  We waited around for another 15 minutes until sky was light enough to see well in this crowded narrow bay. 

BeBe went around the moored yachts rather than go through the middle of the mooring field in the still somewhat darkness, then headed straight for the Bocas channel.

We were sailing this day in company with 7 other northbound yachts.  We all had filed float plans with Trinidad officials with destination of Grenada.  No Venezuelan pirate worries this day.

Weather was great for the initial part of this passage.  Cloudy skies, but plenty of bright clear blue patches, about 15 knots wind from SE on our starboard aft quarter, and positive current assisting us with an extra 2 knots of SOG.  BeBe sailed and/or motor sailed for about 6 hours at over 8 knots SOG.  We dropped a fishing line to trail once we had passed the Hibiscus gas platform.  A couple of hours later that line sped out extremely fast!  We had a bite and it must have been big!  Within seconds the line snapped.  Whatever it was had taken our newest and best lure -- what I call a treble treble.  One that swims 10 to 15 feet below the surface and had 3 treble hooks.  I prefer this type lure because, after all, the more hook barbs increases the likelihood of keeping the fish on the line until it gets gaffed and aboard BeBe.  Goodbye best lure.  No more fishing for us this day.

And then our pleasant passage all changed.

We had been watching the sky over Venezuela off to our SW all morning.  The sky looked very strange – an odd cloudless solid dark steel gray-blue.  Around mid-day the wind died to nothing; to pick up soon thereafter coming from the SW!  That is really weird!  The wind just never comes from the west in the Caribbean except during storms with circular motion like hurricanes.  (Except for 1 day in February; almost every year for 1 day in February west winds usually surprise sailors at some point in the Eastern Caribbean.)  In all our years of sailing in the Caribbean we have never experienced westerly winds or southwesterly winds during November.  That weird inversion over northern Venezuela caused some strange weather.  The SW winds stayed up for hours.  As we approached the SW tip of Grenada the winds switched to come from the NE at 18 knots.

Another sunset

This was one strange day of Caribbean sailing.  We changed sail configuration more frequently than ever has been needed in the Caribbean on one day.  We started off with jib to port; then jib poled to port; then jib poled to starboard; then to starboard without pole; then back to port as we beat into 18-knot headwinds and 2-knot adverse current for the final few hours.  We sailed 91 nautical miles, arriving in the St. George’s anchorage at 19:00 in pitch blackness -- no moon and no stars, with many strikes of lightning off to the west.  It was impossible to see some of the boats as we slowly crept into the anchorage.  Boat owners who use those garden lights have no idea how poorly lit their boat appears as someone approaches an anchorage in pitch-black darkness with the shore lights in background.  When I suddenly saw a boat to our starboard because it swung a bit and the shore lights displayed the motion of that dark boat, I pleaded with Bill not to attempt to go any further.  We dropped anchor at that point in 8 meters depth and put out 55 meters chain.  Ended up being the boat farthest out in the anchorage and that was fine with me.  The next day I saw that the boat which we could not see at all in the darkness was painted a bright orange on port side and dark blue on the starboard side.  We could see neither color at night and this boat did not display any form of anchor light.  It was pure luck that we did not have a collision.

This was not a fun day of sailing.  It was very tiring and hot.  Downwind sailing always is hot because the boat is moving with the wind and you do not feel much, if any, breeze.  We were beat and too tired to care about dinner.  We each grabbed a shower and felt good enough to share the last can of chili on the boat.  (We are slowly eating our way through my over-filled food lockers since will be selling the boat in a couple of months.)

A special gift from very special friends.  We will
think of Hassan and Zeyhra (and little Carlos
Santana) every time we look at it.

The following day we met up with Turkish friends Hasan and Zehrya on S/V KANDIBA.  They had returned from a summer in Turkey only the previous day and it was great catching up with them.  They presented us with a small silver dish for our home in Galveston.  It is stamped with the symbol of the Ottoman Empire as a remembrance.  Hasan and Zehrya plan to head to the South Pacific early next spring and it is very unlikely we will see one another again.  They hosted us for a delicious dinner at a restaurant in the Port Louis Marina.  I enjoyed sautéed shrimp and leeks and it was cooked to perfection.  The next morning we upped anchor and sailed to Carricou.

This time we sailed about 1 ½ miles off the western coast of Grenada.  This allowed us to catch more wind than if hugged the coastline.  We went west of the exclusion zone for Kick’em Jenny, the active underwater volcano situated slightly NW of Grenada; then angled to beat into Tyrrel Bay, Carricou, arriving just in time to launch the dinghy for Bill to zoom in to handle departure clearance from Grenada and Carricou before closing hour.

That evening we enjoyed a special treat of a lobster dinner ashore.  On the way to the restaurant we noticed S/V FROST and stopped to chat a moment with Mike and Rebecca.  We last saw them in Martinique last spring.  The lobster dinner was unusual, cooked differently than the typical boiling or grilling; these were pan seared tails.  It was good but did not compare to fresh cooked on our boat.  The highlight of the meal was dessert of homemade buttered almond ice cream.  THAT was delicious!  Roasted almonds cooked into a butter brickle and then broken into homemade ice cream.  Whoever invented this recipe has a winner.

Early Sunday morning we upped anchor and enjoyed a day of sailing perfection up to Bequia.  We went west of Union Island, skipping Mayreau and Canouan and Mustique.  We talked about going to Mustique once again because the wind was of good enough direction to allow us to sail that far eastward; but decided that we will cherish our memories of that special island.  We have visited Mustique 4 times.  Why chance a 5^th visit and possibly destroy our good memories there if it has changed, which inevitably is the case.  We continued onward to Bequia where we anchored for only 1 night.  Good memories of that island many times too.  Thirty years ago there were maybe 5 cruising boats anchored in Bequia; today there were about 200.  Sigh….is this better for the local people?  I fear the island rapidly is becoming too dependent on tourism and they are losing their traditional ways of life.  I am not certain this is a good thing in the long run.

On Monday, 7 November, we departed Bequia at first light in company with several other boats headed north.  The Salty Dawg Rally BVI had a rum punch party scheduled for Tuesday night and everyone was invited, not just the rally participants.  But the wind was right to sail this day and would not be right if we waited to attend that party, so off we went.  Since this would be a long day (70 miles) we opted to motor-sail until lost all wind in the shelter of beautiful St. Vincent; then we motored until just past the northern side of this very high island.  There we again caught the wind and were able to sail to St. Lucia.  The topography of the island of St. Vincent is gorgeous.  It might be the most beautiful of all the Caribbean islands --  but we have not once stopped there because of the high violent crime against cruisers.  This is well-known and has gone on for decades.  Too many sailors have been attacked by men wielding machetes and guns for us to consider stopping there.  Such a shame.

Anchor was down at Rodney Bay, St. Lucia at 16:15 so this was an excellent day!  Motor-sailed or motored 56% and sailed 44% of the 70 NM trip.  We were happy with that.  This time we anchored closer to the beach than ever before.  We cleared in and out, saying we plan to depart early the next day; then we hit the supermarket.  That supermarket was the primary reason for coming here.  I found 1,000 EC currency in a purse a few months ago.  That currency is good only on certain islands of the Eastern Caribbean.  We blew some of that EC cash on those lobster dinners at Carriacou and would spend the rest of it here in St. Lucia buying whatever.  That has now been accomplished and it is time to move on to Martinique.

Wednesday, 9 November 2016 – We stayed put for at least 1 more day even though we had already cleared out of St. Lucia.  Our propane solenoid failed and the only replacements available in St. Lucia were the standard cheap models; we wanted the German produced original part (which costs about 6 times the price of the common solenoids sold in marine chandleries).  We contacted Amel in Le Marin and learned they did have this part in stock; so, to Le Marin it would be – even though we had not planned to go there. There was a LO system which passed through on Wednesday and it would have been a miserable day at sea.  When this weather system passed we sailed up to Martinique.    

But more nasty weather followed for yet another day.  On Thursday we enjoyed a beautiful sail towards Martinique until the final 45 minutes.  Off to the east the sky was black as far as we could see.  We quickly took in all sails and turned on the engine and motored straight for St. Anne’s; no way we would attempt the long jagged narrow entrance channel into Le Marin during nasty weather.  We arrived in St. Anne’s in a 40-knot squall, dropping anchor near the stern of the first anchored boat we could see through the water-filled air.  We each grabbed something for a quick lunch while waiting for the squall to pass, then motored into Le Marin where we had arranged for a mooring for 1 night so we could pick up the solenoid from Amel.  Mission accomplished.

When we checked email we learned that the buyers of BeBe would like to have a rigging inspection performed by a rigger who was recommended by the Amel Service office here in Le Marin.  Today is Veterans Day (called something else in France) and the rigger said he could not do this inspection until Monday.  We talked to him yesterday afternoon and he said he would make an exception and come out to inspect the rigging this morning, even though it is a holiday.  As I type this blog posting it is now after 09:00 and we have heard nothing from the rigger this morning.  Maybe we are leaving today and maybe not until Monday or Tuesday.  There are far worse places to be ‘stuck’ than here.  We enjoy Le Marin very much. 

Yoles, dancing and more

There were a few activities hosted by Cornell Sailing for the Atlantic Odyssey rally participants which I neglected to mention in previous posts.  When organizing photos I realized that these activities had skipped my mind when writing the blog almost 2 months ago.

Starting the process
Turing the yole upright

Some of the rally participants enjoyed an afternoon learning how to sail yoles.  A yole is a native craft of yesteryear particular to Martinique.  A yole is a sailing vessel, since obviously they did not have engines years past.  This craft has a keel of sorts, being a solid piece of wood running the length of the hull; but that keel provides merely inches of draft.  And there is no ballast.  So that keel is pretty much useless except for providing hull strength.  As there is no ballast, there are poles placed out to each side on which people sit as needed to balance the boat.  

Flip it over.

At the first arrival cocktail party a woman from the office of tourism asked me if we would like to participate in a yole race.  Having no idea what a yole was, I inquired as to the physical activity level required to sail on a yole.  A young guy standing nearby said that it requires good agility and is very physical.  In that case -- NO!  Neither Bill nor I would want to participate in that activity.  But sign our crew member, Andrew Blum, up.  He enjoys physical activity; sounded like something right up his alley.

Climb on and balance that puppy!

The following week many of the rally participants gathered on the beach where these yoles were located.  We had just enjoyed a bus trip to the old slave plantation camp and then relaxed in the shade of a nearby restaurant, imbibing beer or wine or rum punch along with grilled fish lunch, all compliments of the office of tourism.  Most everyone was well-prepped and ready to display their balance skills on these tipsy yoles.

Free lunch!  With drinks!  You know the cruisers
will welcome that!

2nd yole heading out

Two of the yoles were soon assembled and dragged down the beach to water's edge.  The rally participants divided into 2 groups and selected their chosen yole.  The local guys directed everyone to the best place for balance.  And off they sailed.

Found their balance!

This is 'racing'?

We watched for awhile.  Soon both yoles were out of sight, sailing between anchored and moored boats in the large bay.  Once the yoles were no longer visible we decided to walk on back to the marina, leaving Andrew's stuff with Virginia on S/V Libertad since she was stock there waiting for her crew members who were on the yoles.  No point in all of us having to wait there.  We heard later that only 1 of the yoles tipped over during this 'race' and it was soon upright.  The local guys know how to operate these vessels well.  Had it been left to us more modern-day sailors, both yoles likely would have been on their sides most of the afternoon.

This was a fun activity for most of the rally participants.  Made more fun because of the drinks consumed at lunch just prior to climbing out on those poles on the yoles.

Judy and instructor

Another rally activity that we enjoyed were dancing lessons. We mistakenly thought we were going to watch a local dancing exhibition.  It was not until we arrived at the assigned place that we learned that we were going to participate in learning a couple of local traditional dances.  Well...make that...learn a local traditional dance.  It took so long to teach our group 1 dance that time ran short and we never got to the second dance.

Bill and the professional dance partner

The instructor arrived late.  In fact, he was so late that Pascal and Pascale were about ready to cancel the activity altogether.  (Don't you just love those names!  Pascal and Pascale are husband and wife from France.  With the same names.  Great people; very nice.)


The steps and moves for the dance we learned were quite simple.  Soon everyone could do the basic steps.  And then the instructor sped up the beat!  And it all fell apart.  None of us could do this dance even half as fast as the instructor and his assistant.  But we all had lots of laughs trying.  That instructor did not have an ounce of fat on his body.  I danced with him several times and he felt like solid muscle.  Like the body of a ballet dancer.  

The professionals.  Their dance looked nothing
like that of our group.

This was a fun evening and I was drenched with sweat by the time we finished for the night.  
This is not a dance I will be trying again.  And I never understood the name of this dance. Like everything else said in French, I have no idea what the people were saying. 

Local people gathering for a small carnivale parade.

A few nights before the rally farewell party, there was a small carnivale parade presented just for the rally participants.  We were all docked on the same pontoon.  Some of the marina staff, along with employees of the local office of tourism, and along with a few local residents, presented a musical parade.  They beat drums and played various musical instruments as they wound through the marina grounds and then down our dock and back to the office area.  Cornell Sailing has encouraged all rally participants to dress in carnivale costumes and participate, but few of us did.  Bill and I stood on the stern of our boat and watched the parade pass both directions.

A few days later all the rally participants got together and chartered a bus to the big carnivale in Fort du France.  I think Bill and I were the only people who opted not to attend.  We have seen carnivale on several of the Caribbean islands.  Fun the first and maybe second time, but not really our scene anymore.  Our crew member, Andrew, however, did join the bus group.  He and a crew member off another American boat did not return to the marina that night.  No worries; they probably were just having a grand old time at carnivale. Then, they did not return the second night.  Okay; they probably were just still having a good time.  But after 48 hours past when they had originally been expected to return, both Bill and I and the owner of the other boat began to get slightly worried.  The other guy wanted to contact the police but Bill discouraged that.  Good thing he did not get the police involved, because both guys returned to the marina that night.  As we all had expected, they had just been having a grand old time at carnivale.  No problems.  Glad they got to experience a true carnivale.

Unusual musical instruments used in parade for carnivale.

A day trip around Martinique with friends

One of many flowers at mountaintop botanical gardens

Recently friends invited us to accompany them on a day trip driving around the island of Martinique.  They had rented a car and it was barely large enough to accommodate the 3 of them plus the 2 of us.  Cramped quarters but manageable.  We joined Hassan, Zeyrha and Fatma of boat Kandiba for a day of land sight-seeing.  Bill and I had rented a car here years ago and had already seen the entire island, but that was so long ago that this day was a new adventure.  Plus, Hassan did all the driving; thus providing Bill an opportunity to actually see the island rather than just watching the road and other vehicles.

Bill strolling in front of the old church at top of a mountain.  

First stop was a very old church at the top of a mountain.  There was no literature available onsite which could have provided information about this church and I have not had sufficient internet access to research it.  But it appeared to be quite old...as Caribbean island churches go.  Views down the mountainside were pretty even on such a gray and dreary day.  The skies drizzled off an on all day long.  The name of this church was Misericordieux Comme Le Pierre.

The Virgin Mary and Jesus are black.  Why not.

Not too far down the road we stopped for a nice creole lunch at a restaurant called the Bamboo.  Hassan refused to allow us to pay for a thing all day, as he insisted we were his guests.  This attitude likely is a Turkish custom.  We felt a little guilty about that as it is customary among cruisers to share expenses on these type outings and we felt a little like we were not pulling our own weight.   Lunch was good, but the creole cooking here on Martinique does not remotely resemble creole cooking found in Louisiana.  The Louisiana version is much spicier; and, frankly, much more to our tastes.  The creole foods here on Martinique are quite bland in our opinions.  I find this a little odd because they also cook with Scotch bonnet peppers and these are very hot.  Guess we just have not ordered the right foods to taste the spiciness. 

Stream at gardens

Our 'guide'.  Beautiful girl.

After lunch and a bit farther down that upper mountain road we came to some large botanical gardens.   We walked the grounds until rain began again and then we ducked into one of the informational buildings, sort of like a museum.  In one area there were a few video presentations.  These were all in French except one which was narrated in English and had French subtitles.  A little local girl stood with us and 'explained' many of the things discussed in the video.  She was adorable.  Loved her self-confidence and attitude.

Anchorage at St. Pierre.  Note the black sand beach.

The rain stopped and we moved on, farther down that upper mountain road and then twisting and turning down to the seaside at St. Pierre, where we found those famous black sand beaches.  The sand is black, even after more than a century, because of the ash blown down during the 1902 eruption of Mt. Pelee.  I blogged about Mt. Pelee back in 2006 or 2007, so will not write about that again.  Readers can research that volcanic eruption if further interested.

Canon atop the wall of the old French fort appear to aim at
the cruising sailboats in the anchorage at St. Pierre.

This is a nice anchorage on the northwestern side of Martinique.  In 2007 when sailing from Dominica to Martinique our prop became fouled with an old fishing net section which must have been floating submerged.  When we got into the lee of Martinique the winds died and we turned on the engine and discovered that the blades of our auto-prop could not spin.  We again put out full sail and it appeared that we were making slow forward progress.  But our electronic chart showed that in reality we were being forced toward the rocky shore faster than we were making forward progress.  We put the dinghy in the water and tied it just behind the beam on the port side and used the outboard motor to propel BeBe.  Actually got the big boat up to over 3.5 knots speed over ground!  Once at St. Pierre, Bill kitted up and dove to check the prop and discovered a huge ball of netting wrapped around it.  He cut it away and problem was solved.  That day is when we decided that we would never have an outboard engine so small that it could not be used to propel BeBe during an emergency.  That also was the last time we had visited St. Pierre until the day of this road trip.

Our new 3D dinghy and new 10 HP Honda outboard engine.
Photo taken at Rodney Bay Marina last month.

Bill, Hassan, Zehrya and Fatma at St. Pierre

After St.Pierre we drove down the western coast of the island to the main city of Fort du France, where we found a large shopping mall so Hassan and family could shop for a few items.  Bill lucked out and found a sportswear store and was able to buy several of those ultra-thin shirts that wick moisture and are so cool.  He also found some shorts in this material.  He now is all set for the hot weather of summer.



From Fort du France we headed east to return to Le Marin.  We stopped at a local roadside produce vendor and purchased a few things just as it was getting dark.  For what it is worth, the fruits and vegetables here are about 5 times the cost of similar items in Turkey.  And the selection here is very limited and usually poor quality.  Recently we started to buy a cantaloupe in a local supermarket.  We weighed it and printed out the price label.  11.16 euro for a single cantaloupe!!!  That is $12.68 USD for a single normal sized cantaloupe!  We put it back in the melon bin; refused to pay that absurd price for a simple cantaloupe.  The only bargain on these French islands are the daily baguettes.  Everything else is priced high, just like on all the other islands.  People planning to cruise down here need to be aware of how expensive things cost.  The popular idea promoted on sailing forums that one can cruise on $500 or $1,000 per month is totally unrealistic.  Food alone will cost more than $500 per month for only 2 people.

A little of this, a little of that

 A few people have asked why we have not updated blog postings, so here is one .... although we have not done much lately.  

Colorful bloom on a palm tree in Le Marin

BeBe is still sitting at the dock in Marina du Marin; we will leave here Saturday and move to an anchorage somewhere.  Maybe we can find a spot among the reefs to anchor closer to Le Marin rather than out at St. Anne's.  It is too far to take the dinghy into Le Marin from St. Anne's, but closer anchoring options are limited.  We prefer the shopping options of Le Marin over the quiet village of St. Anne's, plus we are enjoying the social scene here.  We are not in a hurry to head southward just yet and will wait for weather to cooperate.



We did make a 2-day trip down to St. Lucia a few weeks ago, anchoring in Rodney Bay and dinghy-ing in to shop at the nice supermarket with all those American brand products.  I needed to stock up on jalapeno peppers and flour tortillas and Pepper Jack cheese and real honest-to-goodness sour cream instead of that nasty creme fraiche sold here.  I wanted to stock up on things that are not to be found in Le Marin markets.  And BeBe needed some boat cleaning supplies that were available at Island Water World but not available in Martinique.  When we returned to Marina du Marin the captainerie put us right back in the same berthing spot on the Amel service pontoon #4.  Right back in the midst of our new friends.  This is beginning to feel like home.  Too bad this is too far north to stay for hurricane season.

When at a French island, be sure and fly a Dutch courtesy flag.
Seen at St. Anne's anchorage for 2 days before someone pointed
out to the boat owner that he was flying the wrong country flag.

Just when you think you have seen every
way imaginable to stow a dinghy, you
come across this.

Last evening Rick and Linda on a Super Maramu 2000 named Rascal hosted 8 of us fellow Amel owners for drinks and snacks.  Ten people in the cockpit and we all were comfortable; I think the most we have had aboard BeBe is 8; now we know that cockpit can accommodate 10.  The guests included Fred and Patrick on Django-something; Steve and Liz on Aloha; Gary and Robin on Adagio; and Bill and me; plus our hosts.  Foods were delicious and conversation was very enjoyable.  This is what we have missed during those years in the Med -- the cruiser camaraderie.  It is so very, very nice to find it again!  We enjoyed the evening a lot.









Our Turkish friends, Hassan and Zehrya and their niece Fatma on the Amel 55 Kandiba, have returned after exploring the islands all the way up to Anguilla.  Kandiba needs a bit of service and then they will be heading south for hurricane season.  We will get together for dinner on Friday night and catch up.  It will be interesting to hear their opinions of all the Caribbean islands they have visited thus far.  It will be fun to 'see' the islands for the first time through their eyes.

Our granddaughter made decorated this nail bag (with help from her mom) when she was 4-yrs old.  It was a
Christmas gift to us just before we left to begin cruising.  Over the years most of the decorations and some of
the glitter glue have fallen off and it now is developing holes.  I use this at least once weekly.  Maybe she can
make a new one for me as this year's Christmas gift. Sometimes it is the small things that are most appreciated.

By the way,we are docked next to a newer Amel 64.  That boat makes 13-year-old BeBe look like a neglected step-child.  Bill likes the retractable hard bimini on the 64.  I like the deck cleats.  The Amel service center offered to give us a tour of this boat but I declined.  No point in looking at something that we cannot afford.

I have deck cleat and chock envy.  Aren't these gorgeous!  On the Amel 64 docked next to BeBe.