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And here are the tracks for our recent days in Martinique and St Lucia (for the first time). As before, the entry and exit into the section are coloured red. I have coloured the section of the trip with our guests in yellow. View Larger Map After a very gentle crossing we are now back in Rodney Bay, St Lucia. We’ve anchored fairly close to the marina inlet to minimize distances to travel to and from the shops. Having said that it’s a bit busy round here with personal watercraft, etc. so we may end up moving in a few days. When we left Martinique the seas were very, very calm, almost flat. We did get enough wind to sail most of the way but very little regeneration as the boat speed was quite low. We’ve set ourselves just the one boat chore today which will be to clean the deck and surrounds. We have quite a few things to do over the next few days so we’ll keep today fairly light before getting stuck into things. We’re looking forward to spending some time in one spot and hopefully getting to know a few more of the local transients. I have eaten three bananas today and we’re going to have banana flambee for desert this evening. We gave a bunch to the guy who came around trying to sell fruit. Long sail today from Soufrierre, St Lucia to St Pierre, Martinique. For the first 40 minutes we were in the wind shadow of St Lucia and had to motor initially. We then caught the wind and sailed most of the way. We were caught in a couple of squalls and had wind speeds up in the mid 30s. We arrived at St Pierre about 4:30. I went ashore immediately to check in. The customs is part of a restaurant which I found to be closed between 3pm and 6pm so I hope I can check in later. We’ve decided to all eat ashore tonight. We understand the strike is over so things should be open. Indeed, the supermarket was open so I was able to acquire 3 bottles of cheap French plonk. Before we left the boat this morning we noticed a mooring ball had become free on the opposite side of the bay where the snorkeling was supposed to be better than where we were. We therefore moved the boat over before heading into town. Rather than pay, collectively, $180 for a trip to the botanical gardens (as we were offered) we walked there. The fee to get in was only $5 each so our walk saved us a fair bit. The botanical gardens were ok – certainly not as fine as those in Deshaies but pleasant all the same. They contained a waterfall fed by a volcanic source. Again, not as good as those in Dominica but it was different in that the rock wall behind it was coloured yellow from the impurities in the water. Back in town we shopped then had lunch. Had a bit of excitement when a bottle of beer exploded when I put it in the fridge. Before going snorkeling in our new location I cleared us all out of St Lucia. The snorkeling in our new location (called Bat Cave) was excellent and most have been in the water several times. Now we’re settling in for the evening and preparing for a long sail tomorrow when we head for St Pierre in the north end of Martinique. Last night Simon and I went for a night dive off the back of the boat. Fortunately I had a couple of working dive lights which worked well. Diving at night is a very different experience. What you see is limited to the area lit by your torch (flashlight). Everything else is dark. Navigation depends a lot more on your compass as it is hard to know where you are by looking at individual rocks – which look different depending on what angle you look at them from. The marine life at night is quite different. The parrot fish are covered in self-excreted mucous and sleeping on the bottom. The trumpet fish are asleep and pretending to be reeds. We came across a squid, twice the size of my fist, asleep in the water. I was able to touch it. Lit by our torches it was iridescent. After 40 minutes we were both cold so we surfaced right by the boat. We surfaced to a brilliant night sky full of stars. A couple of shots of rum warmed us up. |
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