February 6...Presently in Roseau, Dominica. A very nice sail yesterday from St. Pierre with an overnight stay there. Have to say, Martinique is a great place and if I were to charter, it would be from Marin. They have a huge number of boats, port is nice, but Martinique itself has a lot of nice anchorage spots. The French government has put in lots of infra structure and cleaned up the old fishing villages and the harbours themselves - they all have new dinghy docks which makes going ashore a pleasure - getting in and out and being able to dock and lock the dinghy - and it feels very safe as well. Only problem here is they have another strike on - don't know if it is only for fuel and gas but Martinique and Guadeloupe apparently have none or a limited supply. No problem for us as we have lots of diesel to keep going. At St. Pierre, we checked out and purchased French wines, baguettes and cheeses to keep us going until Guadeloupe. Peter also purchased some fresh marlin steaks from a local fisherman - 7E for three large steaks. Cooked them up that evening - par excellence! St. Pierre was the Paris of the late 1800's early 1900's. There were some very wealthy landowners here but the eruption of Mt Pelee destroyed much of the town and killed many many.
 |
| view of market with Mt. Pelee in background - always seems to be cloud covered |
 |
| rebuilt Catholic church |
 |
| street scene |
 |
| monastery gardens |
 |
| view of harbour |
 |
| spectacular sunset |
Here it also looks as if they are doing improvements to the main pier and the market area along the waterfront.
 |
| so exciting the pod of dolphins - they actually talkedto us! |
 |
| playfull dolphins en route |
At Grand Anse d'arlet, a good sail by the way, from Marin, we met up with Isabella and Andy, our Peterborough friends, for drinks and dinner. They are heading south to St Lucia and will put their boat up in Grenada again. We spent an extra day here at the beach. It is lovely and would gladly have spent a few extra days here. Maybe another time.
 |
| Grand Anse d'arlett |
 |
| beach at Grand Anse d'arlet |
 |
| my shrimp dinner! |
 |
| more masts in Marin |
 |
| and more...... |
February 1...After a false start leaving Rodney Bay due to a faulty radiator hose, we arrived in Cul de Sac de Marin, Martinique this afternoon. Good motor sail over ,pleasant winds and not too hot. This is an extremely busy port - relatively new charter area, chandlery and customs offices and stores. We had a difficult time in the mooring field deciding where to place our anchor! Lots and lots of boats and the anchorage is crowded. After a good shop today, for cheese, wine, bread and beer, hopefully at reasonable prices, we plan to leave for Grand Anse d'arlett tomorrow morning.
 |
| coming into Marin |
 |
| view of large Club Med coming into the port |
 |
| the port from Mango Bay bar - there must be 5 time this many masts |
