Relatively Speaking

  Le Marin, Martinique
Thursday, April 24, 2008

Relatively speaking, the Caribbean weather this winter has been well, stinky. I know this will elicit tears and moaning from some of our family and friends "up north", but the reason we came here was to be really hot and swim a bunch to cool off. While I can say that both of us are sporting tanned skin (not on purpose or from sun bathing), we've rarely been swimming - it just isn't hot enough. We may get warm inside the cabin, but when we get outside to the cockpit, the wind is strong enough to cool us off without all the bother of getting wet. And so, we simply pick up our books and read some more.







The main part of the stinky weather is the strong winds. These winds - ranging from 20-30 knots are enough to keep us boat-bound out of concern of dragging anchors. We watched a boat drag right next to us in Le Marin (with more of a concern for the other boat in it's path) - and this was with someone aboard. We decided that it wasn't the owner and this particular fellow didn't really know what to do. We stood by ready to lend assistance, but there wasn't much we could do. All the chap needed to do was pull the anchor up and reset it. We figured he didn't know how to handle the boat, but once he got just a few feet from the other boat, he started his engine and pulled up anchor. Why he didn't do it sooner was beyond us. And so, with the strong winds, we've done lots of boat watching in between pages of our books.


We have purchased a book called "French for Cruisers" written especially with boating phrases written phonetically. It is quite a wonderful book. It has sections for "getting directions"; "food"; "weather"; "navigation"; "anchoring and docking"; "medical and dental" etc. We are all set now if we can only find the phrase fast enough. We have some ready to go: "Mon ancre est la-bas" (mohn ahn-kruh eh lah-bah) - "My anchor is over there!" and "Vous etes trop pres" (voo zeht troh preh) - "You are too close!" I've been wanting to look up, "A little more clothing might be appropriate for your body type", but can't find that one.



This book would have been handy last year when my semi-French-speaking brother was visiting and we needed to find an ATM machine in Illes de Sainte. He tried everything and finally resorted (successfully) to charades. How much easier it would have been with this book: "ou y a-t-il un distributeur?" (oo yah teel uhn deess-tree-bew-turh?) "Where is there an ATM?"









Another fun aspect of cruising life at anchor is what I call "gopher boats". It is fun to watch other boats around us whenever the sound of an engine or anchor chain dropping is heard. Heads pop up from below decks all over the area to check out each one's "personal space".

After we checked in with Customs and Immigration at Le Marin, Martinique, we searched for the ever present taxi or bus drivers offering tours. Nada, oops, I mean Ce n'est pas possible. So, we decided to head further north on the island via the good ship Quest to be nearer the big city hoping to find more land transportation. We had a lovely day sail, ending up in Grand Anse D'arlet with water so crystal clear water that we could see the bottom at over 50 feet. Unfortunately, it was rolly and we were ready to leave the next morning. We had another quick hop to our next destination, but shortly after taking off, Chris discovered a problem with one of our two alternators (one per engine). Since electricity is neither Chris' nor my forte, and neither is French, we decided that we had to head back to the English-speaking island of St. Lucia. This was a big disappointment for me since we mostly skipped Martinique last year. But -- Au revoir, Martinique.

I really was hoping to do a bit of touring this time around. We turned around back to Le Marin so that we could check out. Shortly after we arrived in Le Marin, we overhead one of our friends we met in Grenada on the VHF radio. We contacted them and set up a lunch date. It was during the wonderful conversation with Hans and Hazel that Chris brought up our electrical problem. Hans offered suggestions which, translated for the non-electrical boiled down to, "just unplug the sucker." That seemed to eliminate the concern that we might blow up our batteries, so now we didn't have to leave Martinique just yet. Bonjour encore Martinique!





We sailed north past Diamond Rock, a 574 ft lump of rock about ¼ mile from the main island. The interesting part of Diamond Rock is that according to Frommers, "The British and French fought on so many fronts during the early 19th century that ships were sometimes in short supply. Only one ship was assigned to blockade the ports of Martinique from St. Pierre in the north to Fort-de-France in the south.

Short of ships, but not imagination, the British proclaimed Diamond Rock a man-of-war and proceeded to equip the islet with guns. No temporary gesture, it remained in service for two years." But what the heck were they thinking? As we sailed past it, we wondered how it could possibly have serviced as anything other than a bird sanctuary. Not to mention that it is approximately 25 miles from Diamond Rock north to St. Pierre. Don't you think the French would figure out that they just had to sail out of cannon range? According to another source, the French succeeded in reclaiming the island by wrecking some boats filled with casks of rum. After the British drank themselves silly, the French took the upper hand and got their island back. Again, we ask why? They could have let the Brits starve themselves off and saved the rum.

We continued north and anchored once again in the beautiful waters of Grand Anse D'arlet. This time we had no roll and enjoyed our brief stay. The second day we puddle hopped once more and anchored in St. Pierre, once the economic capital of Martinique. St. Pierre has the distinction of being the home of Mt. Pelee, which last erupted in 1902, and within three minutes, killed 30,000 people.

The one person in St. Pierre to have survived was a fellow who was in the prison. The rock walls of his cell kept him alive until he was found four days later. He later went on tour with the Barnum and Bailey Circus.

Not sure what would have been worse.





It was time to head south, and we set our sights on the capital of Fort-de-France for an easy check out. After stocking up on wonderful French wines, cheeses and sausages, we had an early morning departure for St. Lucia. The nicest thing about sailing in the West Indies is the proximity of the islands. It was about 30 miles from Fort-de-France to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia - a nice day sail.

Since we've already been in St. Lucia (been there, done that), we are happy to camp out and bide our time until our son, Owen arrives for a short vacation.






We still enjoyed a nice walk/climb up to Fort Rodney on Pigeon Island one Sunday. Even with the haze, we could see Martinique 30 miles to the north.



We met up with some friends we met in Bequia who have a condo in St. Lucia and we chanced a visit. They invited us to join them for a Sunday lunch at the St. Lucia Yacht Club. We learned that the Yacht Club has wireless for members. So we joined. Having internet aboard surely makes cruising civilized.



By the way, the weather has settled down into a more "Caribbean" style. The winds have tapered off, and we haven't had any rain to speak of for days. This is what it is all about, relatively speaking.