Blogs from Martinique, Central America Caribbean - page 6

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 storms. But we were anxious to move on and found ourselves singing a modified version of Tom Petty's song. "It's time to get going, time to move on, where I'm going I have no way ... read more

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. It was also a major port town and an important stop along the trade routes for both Europe and America, the harbor was often full with large schooners and tall ships. That was until May ... read more

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 1st beach we are told is a gay beach, 2nd is a lesbian and 3rd nude. We did not get out of the car, we actually went to gate, realizing then we had made a ... read more

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 American waiting in St. Pierre, another group here, yet another group in Le Marin. St. Lucia is crowded as well. Will try to post details about this island later.... read more

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 hot when we hear this type of music. We both waited for all the bands or groups to go by, they come around 3 times before disbanding, St. Anne more like a village. 2nd time ... read more