Petite Martinique – Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Petite Martinique

steve — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 10:47:58 +0000

After feeling settled we went ashore to explore the area near the dock. We had heard that Petite Martinique has good prices for fuel, food and wine and with Martinique in the name we were not without some hope of something a little exotic too.

The diesel turned out to be 10% cheaper than Grenada but food/wine was neither bountiful, exotic nor cheaper than elsewhere. We picked up some basics (including some wine) and headed back to the boat.

After watching a couple of old TV shows we checked our position before going to bed. We had dragged 50ft since our last check. As it was dark we weren’t going to reanchor unless it was a real emergency so we put out an extra 40ft of chain giving us 10:1 scope for the night. I also dug out my old portable GPS and set it beside our bed with an alarm set in case we moved too far in the night.

We were awakened before dawn to pouring rain, lightning, thunder and winds between 20 and 30 knots gusting higher at times. Fortunately our anchor had held firm overnight, there had been no further dragging.

As of writing the rains have stopped and the winds died down somewhat but the sky is still very grey and overcast. The forecast is for more of the same and more rain later. It is the rainy season after all. We had planned a walk around the island this morning before fueling and heading back to Carriacou. Not too sure about the walk right now.

Today is our 23^rd wedding anniversary. There’s a chance we’ll spend it stuck here but hopefully we’ll get away and have a nice meal out.

In the meantime, here are some pictures taken and digitally processed by John last Xmas, New Year.

Anchored off Petite Martinique?

steve — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 19:48:21 +0000

We received a call from Andy of In Stitches to say he stayed up last night to finish the stitching on our head sail. That meant I was able to bring it back and the two of us put it back on and set sail well before lunchtime.

We sailed / motorsailed round to Petite Martinique where anchored once, ate lunch, anchored again, dragged a good way and settled. I’ve been in the water watching the anchor set. Not the best ground but we now seem firm. We’re now waiting for the latest raincloud to pass by and to see if we’ve really set before heading ashore to have a look around. On the way over we spectacular caught no fish but we did momentarily catch a fishing buoy and lost yet another lure in the process. I’m getting the feeling I need to learn how to make my own.

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Grenadines Tracks

steve — Wed, 06 May 2009 21:02:54 +0000

Here are our tracks through the Grenadines.

View 2009 Grenadines in a larger map

Change of Plans – now in Carriacou

steve — Wed, 06 May 2009 18:09:20 +0000

We set off this morning for Petite Martinique less than a mile from where we were anchored overnight. We tried for half an hour to set our anchor but failed to find good holding. Twice we pulled up old submerged moorings which we had to untangle. In the end we decided missing one island won’t hurt. So here we are in Carriaco.

The sail over was pleasant. Just before we were due to pull in our lines we caught a 3-4ft barracuda. Unfortunately it was hooked through the throat and gills so we weren’t able to set it free unharmed. To ease it’s misery I dispatched it with rum over the gills. Barracuda can be eaten but I’ve been advised that barracuda longer than your arm have been on the reefs too long and too many poisons built up in the tissues. This barracuda was longer than my arm so it went off to feed the marine food chain.

We haven’t yet decided what to do ashore due to our unplanned early arrival. There is a Botanical Gardens so we may go see that. Carriacou is famous for it’s rum distilleries. We’re sure to visit some of these.

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Checked out of St Vincent & The Grenadines

steve — Wed, 06 May 2009 10:54:41 +0000

Yesterday we checked out of St Vincent. Kind of a slow morning as we were waiting for some communications from family. When we went in we bumped into Cat Tales and had a little chat before heading off to the customs office for clearing out. After this it was time for lunch so we had rotis at a local place in town – very inexpensive and quite tasty.

In the afternoon we sailed over to Petit St Vincent. It was upwind and while at first we made good progress tacking against the wind, the final mile or two was against the current too squeezing between PSV and Petit Martinique. We decided to motor this last bit. Three boats arrived almost together. The one nearest to us seemed to be picking the best spot in the anchorage so I headed for another. As we reached our destination this other boat squeezed through and stuck their anchor down too right by us. A bit cheeky I thought but then they may have felt the same about us. We shifted Dignity but weren’t happy with our spot so we left the cluster of boats where we were and headed around the island to another spot where we were the only boat. That is always nice.

We took a walk ashore along the beach before settling down for dinner then watching Captain Ron – quite a funny Kurt Russel movie, half of the laughs can be better appreciated as cruisers ourselves.

Today we’re off to Petite Martinique about a mike away. We may or may not head out to the nearby reef on the way.

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