We spent over two weeks in Martinique and had a lovely time, when the weather permitted. The trade winds kicked up to about 25-30 knots constant (the highest of the season) and we were having squalls up to 50 knots with each tropical wave that moved across the Caribbean. Hurricane season has officially started. Most of our days we were stuck inside, reading books or watching movies or playing dominoes, seeking shelter from the the howling wind, down pouring rain, and earth-shattering lightening. We moved our boat down from Anse Mitan to Marin, Martinique's best protected anchorage to ride out the [View Full Entry]

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Martinique produces some of the best rum in the Caribbean, distilled the same way for centuries with strict standards and using only local sugarcane. The French are as serious about their rum as they are for their wine, so we decided to visit a few distilleries and go rum tasting- yum! The adventure begins with us renting a car, actually I don't know if you can even call it a car, it was a "Twingo" about the size of a shoebox. The company theme is "it moves!" like they are actually surprised that the thing can run. It is what my [View Full Entry]

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We set sail at first light and got to St. Pierre on the northern tip of Martinique just before sunset, it was a long day. But now we are here, anchored in St. Pierre harbor at the base of Mt. Pelee- a totally amazing site! We are super excited to explore Martinique and are looking forward to visiting this famous town. St. Pierre has a fascinating and very tragic history. It was once the capital of Martinique and the epi-center of the French West Indies, often called the Paris of the Caribbean, rich in culture, sophistication and the elite plantation society. [View Full Entry]

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We crossed from St. Pierre to Portsmouth, Dominica. We had 3 to 5 foot waves with a little chop. Winds were 18 to 22 knots. 67 miles! Left at 0700 arrived at 1630. The first time anchoring, rock, or coral, Actually it was coral, but we have to say rock. Up came the anchor, reset it, then put out the Danforth as well, very crowded anchorage. Next morning we re-anchored. Finally only 1 anchor down! [View Full Entry]

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We are in Anse Mitan, Fort de France Bay. There is a weather window for Dominica Sunday through Wednesday. It was tough getting here today, squalls, wind from every direction, but we want to be in St. Pierre by Sat to make crossing to Dominica. Lot's of boats...All trying to make crossing. [View Full Entry]

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This past Monday, we rented a Clio for 43 Euros, split the bill in half with Cheetah II, including the gasoline which was 32 Euros. For those of you coming this way, we have found out there is a company worldwide called interrent.com. This company has cars for 12.99 Euros a day plus gas. The problem is you have to do the reservation 30 days ahead of time. Which for us cruisers represents a problem. We started our trip to windward, yeah is not a boat, to find Salines. This is where a huge beach is located with a park. The [View Full Entry]

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We left St. Anne this morning. Arriving in Fort de France around 2:30 pm. We had 25 to 35 knots of wind, current against, squalls. We are safe!! The chop went from 3 to 5 footers at times. We spent 3 weeks in St. Anne. We see a crossing window for Tuesday. We are trying to get set up by St. Pierre. We might even skip Dominica. We are at an achorage called Anse de Mitan. Problem here is ferries. Every 20 to 30 mins. Very crowded, as there has been no weather to cross. There is a large group of [View Full Entry]

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I understand recovery day now. It is the day after carnival, most everything is shut down. Carnival lasted 4 days, every night! And still we continue to party! Cruisers are like family, we meet, talk,laugh, sometimes complain, cry, etc. Last night we had a cruisers rendezvous, with lot of new boats. Some we had not met. It was a wine, cheese and pate sampler. Since our guest left us, the word has gotten around to other guests, that they are like another cruiser, so they also need to bring something. We had over 50 cruisers there, and 2 guests. Not a [View Full Entry]

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Carnival time! Every day there is a parade, do not believe the tourism office paper work, it never happens at the correct hour. We soon learned that 1600 hours is to early, more like 1800. It is crazy time. The locals dress up, have these parades with music, same as Gasparilla type thing. The costumes are not very dressy, not like Trinidad or Rio. It was interesting, the 1st group, 1dt night were playing the CONGA. How much Cuban music is here? You hear it all over the place, French love this type of music. Needless to say, our blood runs [View Full Entry]

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It is amazing what cruisers can do! There was a rumor yesterday morning going around that Exothique would be having the super bowl playoff at their restaurant. After the carnival, Kajun Diva took a dinghy ride, walked a mile, to find out that the super bowl was not on ESPN as someone had thought. Wilhelmina called us on the VHF, we made the announcement on VHF 16, and then people were disappointed. Not so much about the super bowl but the commercials, LOL. Awhile went by, and Non Linear called us. Jon has been alone for about 3 weeks, Marsha Mom [View Full Entry]

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