Martinique, Feb 12

Martinique

Feb 8, 2009

We picked Al up at the airport in Vieux Fort last Monday. We rented a car and drove down the East coast of St Lucia. Although the east coast was mountainous, it was nowhere near as steep as the west coast. There were very few hairpin turns and the road was in general plenty wide. What’s more, there were stretches of reasonably straight road.


Vieux Fort, true to the cruising guide description. is a busy town that hasn’t a tourist bone in its body.
We had a Creole meal at a pleasant little restaurant. We walked around town and strolled down the main street which was lined with women selling fruits and vegetables. One lady had fresh ginger and something we weren’t familiar with, so we asked. She didn’t know the English word for it and there was much discussion among the various vendors as to what it was called. Finally, someone identified it as turmeric root. Since they all knew its name in Creole, I asked for that, too and they were surprised and obviously pleased that I knew a bit of Creole. The name for turmeric root is ti gembré -- little ginger.
After meeting Al at the airport, we returned to Rodney Bay. We waited for a couple of days for the weather to give us a good opportunity to sail to Martinique. We left the marina and anchored in the bay in time for sunset and a great view of the Unicorn (known as the pirate ship).
It’s a real sailing vessel built many years ago in Europe and it used to carry freight between S America and the islands. It’s now an excursion boat and was also used in “Pirates of the Caribbean” and in “Roots.”
The sail across to Martinique was smooth and calm. Gentle six foot seas and enough wind to justify a reef in the main and a reefed genoa. We anchored at Marin and planned to check in the following morning. I may have already mentioned that the anchorage at Marin is very crowded. We found a spot that allowed plenty of room between us and the boats around us. There was however, a private buoy marking the anchor chain of a boat that was not there. It was pretty close to us and had there been a boat attached to it, we could not have anchored where we did.
We went into the marina the following morning to check in with customs. The customs office was closed due to a general strike on the island. So, we went to Mango Bay, had a croissant and coffee and got on the internet. Then off to the supermarket for provisioning. Provisioning on St Lucia was not a good experience and we were looking forward to French cheeses, sausages, olives, bread, wine, decent cuts of meat, etc. We got to the supermarket at 10 minutes before noon -- it closes at 12:30 on Sunday. That means that the employees go home at 12:30. So they don’t let customers into the store after 11:30. Oh well, tomorrow’s another day, Scarlett. I forgot to mention that we needed gas for the dinghy and there is a fuel dock within walking distance of the supermarket. Unfortunately, “pa ni essence” (no gas).

So, now it’s Sunday afternoon. It’s my birthday for cryin’ out loud. We’ve struck out at customs, we’ve struck out at the supermarket. What else could go wrong? We’re on the boat, we’re chillin’ (& some of us are napping) “Excuse me,” says the woman on a boat that pulls past us about 30 feet away. “That’s our anchor chain attached to the float just in front of your bow.” Now, this is a public anchorage. That means that anyone can anchor wherever there is room. The idea that anyone can claim “ownership ” to a particular place is nonsense. This would be like trying to claim a particular parking place by putting a sign on it whenever you go somewhere. Still, possession is what percentage of the law? The other boat proceeds to tie up to the anchor rode that they have left attached to a float. They are 15 feet in front of us and there is a disaster waiting to happen. So, we have to up anchor and move. We cruised around the anchorage looking for a likely spot and finally find a place a couple of hundred feet off the mangroves and in 12 feet of water. Shallow is always nice! All’s well that ends well and the new anchorage is quiet, pleasant and so much better than the spot where we were. (She said. We had a rhum to celebrate the new nice place!!

So, Scarlett, Monday arrives, we go into the marina to check in with customs. No problem. We duck into Mango Bay to get on the internet. No problem. We hop into the dinghy and go to the marina fuel dock for gas--”pa ni essence!” Oh well, we’ve still got a half gallon or so. On to the supermarket. The dinghy dock was crowded and people were lined up at the fuel station for gas. Oh boy. So, we stand in line and get 12 liters of gas for 32 euros (you do the math). We take off for the supermarket. “Odd,” Claudia said, “there aren’t any people with shopping carts around the dinghy dock.” Hmmm! The explanation was that there were no people shopping because the supermarket was closed due to the general strike! Currency exchanges closed, even ATM’s closed! Welcome to France! Well, tomorrow is another day, Scarlett.

What a Ride! 


We rented a car the other day and drove down the West Coast of the Island to Soufriere (means “puffer” in French). The town is near volcanic vents that “puff” occasional bursts of hydrogen sulfide. On our way to Soufrière, we drove through some of the most spectacular mountains and jungles we have ever seen.



She said: Boy, what a ride! I almost went into cardiac arrest at least several dozen times! The road was so narrow, mountainous, filled with hairpin turns, very steep drop-offs. Oh, did I mention that the steering wheel was on the right? And we were driving on the “wrong” side of the road? But it was so beautiful--breath-taking! (No pun intended J) Peter did a great job.

Our first stop was Marigot Bay, described by James Michener as “the most beautiful bay in all the Caribbean.”

His description must have been written years ago. Today, the bay has been developed as a tourist site. There are expensive shops and restaurants, a posh hotel and a small marina that is home to a fleet of “Moorings” charter boats. The bay is packed with cruising boats and more charter boats on mooring balls. The pretty little beach is cluttered with rental dinghies and hobies. The charm of a lovely, secluded bay is gone.
From Marigot Bay, our route took us over tortuous mountain roads with terrific views of coastal towns and culminated with an unbelievable view of St Lucia’s trademark twin Pitons


as we approached Soufrière. Before leaving Soufrière, we visited the Botanical gardens and Diamond waterfall. If one could see only one thing on St Lucia, or indeed the entire Caribbean, this would be it! A jungle of tropical plants punctuated by a riot of colorful flowers and climaxed by a stunning waterfall.
 
 
 
 

We went to Gros Islet again last night.   We joined Pat and Peter from the boat Aku Tiki for the evening. Peter is German and Pat is Jamaican and they live in Toronto except for the 4 or so months that they live on their boat. They’ve been cruising these waters for years. At any rate, they came by the boat at 8:30. It was already dark, of course and probably past our normal bedtime. Our visit to Gros Islet the other day revealed a quiet fishing village. All that changes on Friday night for the “Jump Up.”
Streets are blocked off, restaurants and bars, closed the rest of the week, spill out onto the pavement, makeshift bars are set up on card tables like lemonade stands.   Grills come out to prepare street food, chicken, fish, conch, food on a stick The festivities had begun by the time we arrived, but we left long before they terminated in the wee hours of Saturday morning. The streets were crowded with tourists and locals from all over the island. On every corner, music blared from speakers as big as Claudia’s RAV4.

Rodney Bay, Jan 23

 

We walked to Gros Îlet yesterday. It’s a small community just north of Rodney Bay. Like so many other places we’ve been, it’s a mix of fairly nice houses tucked between ramshackle houses. Many of the latter are no larger than a storage shed from Lowe’s. Sheep and goats were tethered along the streets (forget sidewalks!) anywhere something green was growing. Chickens--definitely “free range”--pecked at gravel bugs and scraps, chicks peeping along behind. Again, like so many other places we’ve been, there were tiny shops everywhere; some simply operating from an open window in a small room in someone’s home. Nearly everyone selling some kind of food stuff, fruit drink and beer. It is not unusual to see people buy just one bottle of beer that they proceed to drink as they walk down the street. That’s something we first noticed in the Bahamas last year. One thing that struck us about Gros Îlet was the number of people just sitting around. Unemployment must be a major social problem here--20% in 2003. Tourism and agriculture are significant parts of the economy and the manufacturing sector is one of the most developed in the East Caribbean. Agriculturally, the banana is the main cash crop while many other things are grown for local consumption--yams, manioc, taro and pumpkins.
 
You may have noticed that place names here, as on Dominica, are French. This island like all the others in the Caribbean were hotly contested by France and England for most of the 18th century with France seeming to dominate early on. Even though place names here are French, proper names are mostly English and English, of course is the language used in school, commerce and government. However, Créole is widely spoken by many--especially older and uneducated people. Créole is loosely related to French, but contains elements of English, Spanish and West African languages. The Créole that is spoken here is understood by the people on Guadeloupe, Dominica, and Martinique. It is similar to the Créole of Haiti and Louisiana, but not completely understandable there.

Roseau, Anchorage Hotel

She said: Just a few more words before leaving lovely, friendly Dominica. First off, many of the Dominicans have surnames that we think of as first names; Frederic, Peter and Paul. The most prevalent surname, however, is Joseph. We were told that a full 5 pages of the Dominica phone book is devoted to the surname of Joseph. Second - The last two nights that we were waiting for good weather we went to the Anchorage Bar (and hotel). There we met other cruisers and were charmed by the young, handsome bartender - Earl Joseph!! He made a rum punch that would knock your socks off and you wouldn’t even realize it!!! He gave me his secret recipe (which includes going to a cinnamon tree and shaving some fresh bark as well as picking up a fresh nutmeg from under the tree and grating it into the punch!!) So when you visit, I will make you an Earl Joseph rum punch. (But please don’t ask for the recipe, I promised him I wouldn’t give it away J )

St Lucia, Jan 21

We left Roseau on the 16th headed for St. Pierre on Martinique. The ride down between Dominica and Martinique (the first of the windward islands) was not bad. C thought it a bit rough, but the 6 foot swells were far apart and the wind was a consistent 15 knots. Lee had said a few days earlier that the weather may not have been the best, but it might not be too uncomfortable so we should go sooner. . We waited, though. We ran into a couple that we had met in the Saintes. They had set out for St Pierre even though the weather was not the best a few days earlier. They said that they have been doing this for 40 years and that this was the first time they had ever turned back. Glad we waited ,we definitely chose a good day to make the crossing.
We anchored in 12 feet of water at St Pierre (that meant that Lee only had to lift 12 feet of chain at a time instead of the 32 feet at a time that he hauled in at the Saintes!

She said: as a point of interest the 32 feet of chain probably weighs about 54 pounds--then there is the 35 pound anchor as well.

We cleared in, bought some fresh French bread and a bottle of the famous Martinique rum. We had a delightful supper at l’Escapade. Eating in France and the French Antilles is never a disappointment. It’s a shame that we couldn’t spend a couple of days at St Pierre. However, Lee had to be in St Lucia in time to catch a plane on the 19th.
So, we headed for Marin on the South Coast of Martinique. There, at least, if the weather turned bad, he could catch a ferry to St Lucia. There was very little wind and the sea was calm. We saw a huge pod of dolphins, the first on this trip. They were magnificent! The little ones leapt from the water and were obviously enjoying themselves.   We passed several small fishing boats on the way. It’s hard to believe that people venture forth on such craft, but seeing is believing. C and I had been to Marin before, but we didn’t recognize a thing! There were a gazillion boats in the anchorage--well, at least 400--but we found a likely spot. It seems there’s always room for one more. We had a bite to eat at Mango Bay, checked our e-mail and talked to folks back home on Skype and returned to the boat. P went in to town in the AM to clear out and returned with a fresh baguette and a couple of bags of ice. We had a bit of a problem raining the anchor--due in part to flukey winds and in part to peculiarities of the ground tackle on Second Wind. It didn’t help that transmission was in neutral when the helmsman thought it was in gear! At least we were again in shallow--15 feet--water.
 The ride across the St Lucia Pass to Rodney Bay was a bit difficult. The wind was fine--on the beam most of the way and the seas were not choppy. However, the 9 foot swells came on our stern quarter. First they would push the stern to starboard and then as they passed under the boat, she would round up to port. It made steering difficult. Once you got used to the rhythm, you could hold the course by feel, but it took a lot of effort at the wheel. The swells would lift the boat up and then lower it into a trough 9 feet below the crest. We saw whole boats a quarter of a mile away rise on a wave and disappear into a trough only to reappear riding the crest of another wave.


 

Rodney Bay is a first class marina and there are numerous shops and restaurants within walking distance. A bus ride to “the mall” costs $1.50 EC or about 50 cents US. The marina is not full but there are about 200 boats here that form a veritable forest of masts, Many of them have just completed the ARC, the race from the Canary Islands to St Lucia. Although there are several American flagged vessels here, boats from all over Europe predominate. Gregory comes by every morning in his flag festooned boat to sell fruit. I blew him away with my limited creole! 

We watched the presidential inauguration on TV today. It was exciting and gratifying. The TV at Scuttlebut (a bar and restaurant) was surrounded by a crowd from all over the world. When Obama took the oath of office, everyone cheered and when he gave his address, there was a standing ovation. One group even ordered a bottle of champagne! 

Under Way Again, Jan 15

Well, when we last posted, we were still in the Saintes, waiting for Lee. Internet access has been a sometimes thing. Sometimes, we could not connect to a wireless network, sometimes the wireless network was down and sometimes the wireless network was unable to connect us to the internet. At any rate, Lee finally arrived on the 6th of January. We immediately introduced him to the pleasures of the island--ti punch and people watching. Lee brought patch material for the dinghy, but unfortunately they were not up to the task. So, when the time arrived to leave, we hoisted the dinghy on board and lashed it to the deck. The Saintes were wonderful, especially the restaurants--we never found a bad one. Every meal that we ate out was very, very good and the three meals that we had a Les 3 Boats (Chicken George’s) were stellar. Georges prepares an excellent tartare de poisson (raw fish). La Case aux Epices also does a good tartare de poisson.
The trip down to Portsmouth was pleasant enough even though the seas were a bit trough. Four and five foot swells combined with wind chop made for a splashy ride as we came across the pass between the islands. As soon as we were in the lee of Dominica (pronounced doe-mee-nee-kuh with the accent on nee) Things smoothed out considerably. We anchored upon arrival at Portsmouth only to learn from one of the numerous yacht helpers that we should pick up a mooring ball. After clearing customs, we arranged for a river trip with Martin Carriere (Providence).
The trip up the Indian River was fantastic! Unspoiled jungle line the banks. It has been said that if Columbus returned to the Caribbean today, Dominica would be the only island he’d recognize--it has remained so unchanged. We enjoyed the river trip so much that we set up an all day car tour for the next day. We saw medicinal plants, exotic fruits on trees, bushes and vines, bay trees, cinnamon, nutmeg--all growing wild.

She says (we hiked to a bay still that is still in use that extracts bay oil to make bay rum - we also learned that Rose’s Lime Juice was first produced here as Dominica had perhaps the largest production of limes)

We saw gardens and banana and taro plantations. Agriculture is the backbone of the Dominican economy. We hiked into the caldera of a dormant volcano to see pools of water bubbling with hydrogen sulfide gas. Truly, Dominica is a magical place! Rainbows several times a day (of course, this means it rains every day! But it usually is light and lasts only a few minutes.)
Next stop Roseau. Roseau is the capitol of Dominica and much more populous than Portsmouth. There is a cruise ship at dock every day and downtown is crawling with tourists eager to buy souvenirs, duty free liquor and perfumes. We wandered around and had lunch at Guiyave, a pleasant upstairs restaurant with a balcony for people watching. Lunch was Creole fare and the Callaloo soup was excellent. Callaloo is the young leaves of the taro plant and tastes somewhat like spinach. It was the object of our quest and we were satisfied.
Roseau has turned out to be a weather stop. We’d like to continue down to St Pierre on Martinique as soon as possible. However, the winds between the islands is blowing 25-30 and the seas are running 9 feet. It’s hard to believe because here, in the lee of the island, the sea is smooth and the winds are gentle. Things are supposed to settle down a bit tomorrow and we hope to get underway.