After leaving Saint Vincent and the Grenadines our next stop was Martinique.

A word about the sailing

We haven’t written much about the sailing between the islands as it was all very similar – a bit like being in the Solent but a lot warmer!! What we mean by that is it was windy and swelly, and it was quite challenging sailing.  During our time in these islands locals constantly talked about the unusual wind and that it was more like the hurricane season.  Indeed some friends were told that Charter companies were allowing people to cancel bookings rather than risk being out of their depth (no pun intended!) as it certainly wasn’t the calm and beginner conditions we were expecting.  Luckily not a problem for us, and we found it exhilarating!!

To French or not to French?

Originally we had considered skipping the French islands (Martinique & Guadaloupe) for another time, but everyone told us how the provisioning is amazing and just like Europe, so we couldn’t miss that chance!!

The French Islands also have their own checking in system, which is purely online! 100%! No finding an office in the heat and taking all your paperwork. It is all online – amazing!

We “checked in” at Saint Anne which is a HUGE anchorage and full of boats! Wow it was busy!

We are never too bothered about getting to the front of the pile, so happily found a nice quiet spot further out.  It also means that if our anchor is to drag there is less chance of bumping into someone.  Our friends on Joyce Ellen also came and joined us at a nearby spot and we had sun-downers together that evening.

They had arranged to go into the Le Marin marina the next day to fully fix their ongoing engine issues, and so we were soon on our own again… but not for long as our Aussie friends on Sea Dreamer arrived, just as we were heading into the town on the dinghy.  We thought we’d better go over and say hello as it would be rude to just disappear, and as always they invited us onboard for a beer!

To town with the Aussies

We then decided to all head to the town together on their super powered dinghy, and it turned into a full night. French island = French bars and restaurants = French beer and bubbles and a French meal!! The return trip was in darkness as we tried to find our boats! Luckily our anchor alarm app records the location we left the boat, so we were able to follow that!

Plans are a changing

We had also filled out an online form to get into the marina but after no reply and hearing of people having problems we decided to hire a car for a couple of days and go to explore the island and do the provisioning.

Exploring further afield

Day 1 we went to La Savane des Esclaves, which is a museum dedicated to the terrible history of slavery on the island.  It was obviously a labour of love for the guy who had built it, by hand, and was a range of authentic huts around the most beautiful gardens, with lots of boards telling the history. Fascinating, if a little unbelievable to us these days. We eventually found the onsite cafe and had a crepe each, we’re still not keen on crepes!

We left there to drive the whole way around the island, including up to the volcano with tight windy roads and the biggest bamboo trees growing everywhere.

We came back along the East coast where the villages are less commercialised and some poverty still exists. We were told that a few weeks before there had been riots on the island due to the rising cost of living.

Errands

Day 2 was errand day!! Chris went off to get his diving tanks re-filled – he uses them for pleasure, but also for scrubbing the bottom of Yanula Blue. Jenni went off to the laundry and got chatting to a lovely lady who had been living the cruising life for many years, although now spends half the time sailing and half the time on land. They had just bought a new (to them) boat and invited us for sun-downers to celebrate.  Sailors are very social beings!!

More culture

Day 3 was more culture and we went to Habitation Clements, a huge natural area built around an original sugar plantation, and still functioning as a sculpture park, museum and rum distillery.  The grounds were simply stunning and we spent an hour just sitting in the shade by a duck pond eating our lunch.

Funnily they had fake ducks bobbing on the surface, so it kind of felt a bit like home!  The distillery was fascinating and even had exhibitions to smell the various aromas that would be instilled in the rum and to allowed us to taste the products. Of course we had to buy some rum!

Back to life with a bump and then….

After spending a good 3 hours at Habitacion Clement we went to do the provisioning at the huge Carrefour Genipa!! We spent £380 on groceries, which felt like mainly cheese and crisps and chocolate (twix and lion bars are big in France) and carted it all back to the boat via dinghy.

We had also arranged to meet Joyce Ellen and Stamina for dinner, so as soon as we were back and unpacked we set off again.

Moving North

Grande Anse d’Arlet was our next destination in Martinique, although we weren’t sure where exactly we would end up when we set off. We looked at a few anchorages on our way and this was the best we could find.

Sea Dreamer also came and more fun was had on board with them, until they moved on … and Joyce Ellen reappeared, literally out of the mist on a rainy day!!  We told you sailors are social!

We went for a long hike one morning, and found the trail through the Mangroves full of crabs! They would bury their way into their burrows whenever someone came by and slowly and surely come out when danger was passed.

We tried to fool them and stayed as still as statues to watch them come out again – fascinating!!

There were a few restaurants on the beach and we had a good burger one day, having to move our table to shelter when a big rain storm came! Jenni actually bought a dress in a little store!

Next stop was Anse Mitan around the corner, where we only stayed for 1 night as the weather was turning and the anchorage could be in the line of it.  Whilst we were there we treated ourselves to a takeaway pizza and Chris pointed out the place was a little like Blackpool – very bright and touristy!

Sainte Pierre

Saint Pierre was the next and final Martinique destination. This is a place we definitely wanted to go to as the town had been destroyed by a Volcano in 1902!  There is a museum dedicated to it which was a fascinating (and air conditioned!) way to spend an hour.

There were also ruins of the original theatre and prison to wander around. Interestingly one of the only survivors of the volcano had been in the small, but very thick walled, jail cell at the time of the eruption!!

We moved to a buoy in Saint Pierre as the Capitainerie would deliver water to the boat there, but not to the anchorage and we reallly needed our water tanks filling!  Chris went to dive the wrecks of some ships that were sunk in the harbour during the eruption, with our friends on Relax, and Jenni waited for the water delivery.

Mixing it with the locals

It was Easter Weekend when we were in Saint Pierre and it was really very quiet.  We did join in with a group of locals at their beach bbq one night with Joyce Ellent too – we weren’t sure if it was private or public, but they sold us some beer, and then gave us some t’I punch as an apology for the smoke from their bbq. This is a traditional punch made from white rum, cane sugar syrup and fresh limes – boy it is strong!!

We ended up spending 4 nights on that buoy as it really was such a lovely place and very hard to leave.  Eventually we couldn’t put off the inevitable anymore and so we filled in the online checkout form and left for Dominica.