Blogs from Marin, Martinique, Central America Caribbean

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Sunday was raining so we spent all afternoon on the boat in Saint Pierre after going back to the Alsacian restaurant to complete our customs forms, play chess and drink Perrier! Yesterday we sailed back, first to Sainte Anne, then to Le Marin as they found us a spot on the jetty. It was a hairy trip across the harbour past Diamond Rock to Sainte Anne. The winds averaged 40+ knots and Daddy made the boat tip all the way to the side!! It was very scary so I clutched on to mummy to stay on board! We went to a restaurant called Mangue on the marina for dinner. This morning it took all morning to pack and clean up the boat - luckily we came back to the marina last night!! We all shared our ... read more
Disembarking for St Pierre
Sunset over Fort-de-France
Night time lights

Central America Caribbean » Martinique » Marin December 11th 2009

Après notre repas de retrouvailles, nous retournons avec nos amis aux Tobacco Cays; et cette fois, nous allons ancrer à côté de l’île Baradal, la réserve des tortues. Le fond est très bon et on y ancre dans moins de 15pi d’eau. Là, à peine ancrés, vous avez les boatboys qui vous livrent du pain, de la glace, du poisson, des légumes, des fruits, et même des T-shirts! Et, évidemment, les gens du parc qui s’empressent de vous faire payer le séjour (10$EC/pers). De là, le 28 novembre, nous partons vers Béquia; le vent adonne mais nous gardons le moteur pour faire de l’eau. Vers la fin du trajet, le vent nous oblige à monter le régime du moteur pour nous maintenir dans le peloton des amis. Je remarque alors que la température du moteur monte ... read more
Tous autour de laq table dans Emerald Seas
Rendez-vous « fraîcheur » aux milieux des bateaux
L’ancrage des Tobacco Cays

Central America Caribbean » Martinique » Marin February 7th 2009

Once again the Rum Runners are in Martinique. And what do the Rum Runners do in the one of the most abundant areas of sugar cane and rum? We do rum tours! This time we set out from Marin to visit the rest of the rum factories we missed on our last visit here on our tour of the Caribbean. Martinique is a very manicured island, not disturbed by the slowdown in sugarcane production. Most of the other islands in the Caribbean have either reduced or stopped growing their own sugarcane for rum, and use molasses imported from South America instead. But not Martinique. As you drive through the hills and valleys there are extensive plantations of sugarcane, bananas, coffee, pineapples, and other island fruits. It seems most of the island has been allotted for production ... read more
La Mauny
Gallion
Penninsula

Central America Caribbean » Martinique » Marin January 15th 2009

Windscreens get mended, cars get taken back and baguettes get bought for lunch. The windscreen is all repaired and hopefully will do us until we get a new one. It was tense to do the work but Alan was good as ever and now we think it will do the job. We are off to St lucia tomorrow, we came down here to st annes yesterday and anchored off the sandy beach just in time for a swim. Later we went ashore to the little village of st annes, a small centre with a square, a church, a few restaurants, couple of supermarkets and best of all between two houses two ladies cooking and selling accras, like cod balls, very tasty. 10 accras and two glasses of planteurs, french rum punch for 10 euros. very nice. ... read more
ste anne snorkelling 006
ste anne snorkelling 007
ste anne snorkelling 001

Central America Caribbean » Martinique » Marin January 14th 2009

Le Marin We have always liked Le Marin, it is a real boaty place with probably 200 plus yachts anchored off and a large marina. The Marina is well equipped with chandlers and useful shops, boutiques and nearby a big supermarket that you can drive up to with the dinghy. The wine is reasonable here, and the cheeses and pates,are just like the real 'France'. We sailed up from st pierre, and it was a boisterous sail. The reefing block flew off again, another job for Alan, but the boat was fine. We motored into the estuary below Le Marin, it was blowing 30knots but not too rough. I think that Le Marin emphasises the wind. The channel into Le Marin goes past the club med, and a beautiful long sandy beach, it looks lovely. The ... read more

Central America Caribbean » Martinique » Marin January 12th 2009

Les Saintes These pretty little islands are about eight miles from guadaloupe and as we sailed there a big storm blacked out the sea and the island, we even had to put the radar on. but soon the islands appeared and the little town on the island of haut terre was very sweet, with a few streets cafes, restaurants, and a ferry full of tourists arriving each morning to fill the island. when they have all gone it seems very quiet and tranquil, almost as if the island is relaxing again and taking a deep breath. We had been here before with Jim and Jan a couple of years ago, it did not seem to have changed much. There is a fort on the top of the hill overlooking the town, loads of iguanas run around ... read more


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 dad would call a rolls can'ardly. Meaning it can roll down hills quite fast, but can'ardly get back up. So here we are, driving this thing like a road rally car (the French are crazy ... read more
Roll Out The Barrel
Rum Tasting
Depaz Distillery

Central America Caribbean » Martinique » Marin February 2nd 2008

We are back to St. Anne. The carnival starts officially Sunday. We are looking forward to these events. The Martinique rum is not drinkable. Lorraine beer is ok. Pates are excellent!! And the cheeses, yum! We were supposed to bring a share a dish this past Thursday night to a cruiser function, we fixed it last night and went to Cheetah II and shared it with them, it was chicken livers Maribel's style. Jane fixed kidney beans and cucumber salad.... read more


We left the Fort area headed for Marin, we stopped in at some of the anchorages on the way. Arriving in Marin we found Chateau anchored out. We had a few drinks with them. They gave us pin pointers as to what and where to go. There is a very nice hurricane hole in this area. The marina is huge. All med style mooring. We paid 9 Euros for 1 gallon of diesel. Ouch!! We only put 10 gallons as we were headed for St Lucia next and had been told this was the cheapest place to fuel up and propane was readily available, so we waited. There is a charter company out of France named SWITCH. They have 2 catamarans that are 70 feet long, amazing. Any charter company you can think of is here. ... read more
Better pic bateau




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