Monday 23rd Oct
Le Marin
We pick up the car at 9.30am at the marina. Nice little polo, a bit weird to be in a car, haven’t done that for a while. Not much traffic at this time of day. Again the weather is not so good so we don’t feel that we should be doing something more interesting than spending the day in the shops. We found Decathlon quite easily and it turns out that the Hyper U is literally across the main road. Helpful. The place is busy, haven’t seen that many people for ages. Nothing like a bit of retail therapy. Found some quick drying shorts, pink, and they fit…most of my clothes are hanging off me nowadays and it is nice to have something that actually fit! I have been looking for a pink snorkel mask and tuba to go with my fins, found it in decathlon. Ian treats himself to a new pair of shoes, considering that we hardly wear any most days, we both find that shoes tend to fall apart quicker. Guess it is the humidity and salty atmosphere. And we go the hammock too.
We sort out a new mobile contract with Digicel. This should see us through the next season without having to buy more sim card every time we change island. Next stop, food shopping. Well, that shop is just enormous. Scary, aisle after aisle of food and drinks, freaking me out, just standing there amazed, not use to so much choices and the prices are so much cheaper. We need to provision for 2 lots of guests. A few hours later and 2 trolleys full we escaped. It barely fits in the polo… By the time we get back to the marina, it is dark but the wind has dropped completely, and the rain has stopped. It takes us 2 trips in the dinghy to bring everything back on board. We feast on cheeses!
Tuesday 24th October
A big chunk of the day is taken up by putting the food away, and it is only dry stores. We’ll need to get the fresh stuff when we get to Guadeloupe. We did get stranded in the mango bay cafe for a while by the rain. A quick foray in Leader Price, they had cheap bubbly last time and Christmas is coming! It is a challenge to find space for it all on board but we managed it. I must say we are not sure what we are going to find further up the chain of islands and it will probably be more expensive than here. Although the pound is now nearly 1 to 1 with the euro… not so good… bloody brexit!
Wednesday 25th October
Leaving the Marin this morning, going around the windward side, the Atlantic, this time. We figure that with the wind as it is we’ll go better and also we need to keep away from Dominica. Since the hurricane there have been report of piracy and Ian is not taking any chances, we’ll be at least 15 to 20 miles away from land. We also expect that on this side the crossing of the channels, the Martinique to Dominica and Dominica to Guadeloupe channels will be less bumpy, we should not feel the effect of the currents screaming between the islands and the funny winds that goes with it.
We follow the coast of Martinique close enough that we can identify the places we walked through last May. The nice coast guards came and warned us that there was a huge tree trunk bobing around in the water and to watch out for lobster pots. There were not lying… loads of pots and we found the trunk too. The sea is a little bit choppy and we can’t sail as we are right into the wind, but it is only for a few hours. Soon we are able to bear away and put up sails. Again we are going well, the wind instrument is not working, the cups at the top of the mast are not spinning properly, so we have no idea what strength the wind is. Not getting spooked and shortening sail too early… maybe we don’t bother fixing it.
Looking at the shore we realise that it is probably the last time we will see Martinique. Apart from Grenada, this is where we have spent the most time. And we had a lot of fun here, touring the island in February with Carole and her family, Fort de France and the carnival, St Pierre and the Mont Pele and then in May, le Marin, St Anne and anything in between. We like Martinique, we are a bit sad.
By night fall we are reaching the first channel and the light of Martinique are receding. We’ll soon be nearing Dominica, but no glare of light is showing at all. A few isolated lights from fishermen mostly in the north. The curfew is still in place there, not really sure how people are coping, although there were a lot of help being organised from all over, there was a big drive in Martinique.
Marie Galante is looming, you can see the glow for miles, the little one on the right is my favourite place, les Saintes. According to people we talked to in Martinique, both were relatively unscathed. There was a bit of vegetation torn down but very little damage. That is a relief especially after the alarmist reports we got in Grenada, just after Maria. According to some news broadcasts, mostly American, Guadeloupe, les Saintes and Marie Galante had been badly affected.
And then, Marie Galante disappeared, guess we are going to get wet, and sure enough, we got drenched! Thankfully it does not last too long and we know that Pointe a Pitre is now very close, once we pass Marie Galante, we’ll be on the home stretch. We got there for breakfast, just after 9am. We find our usual place in the deserted bay. Only a few boats are there this time.