Martinique to St. Lucia

We bounced down the coast of Martinique, skipping the big city port of Fort de France, stopping at Anse d'Arlet, Marin and St. Anne.  Anse d'Arlet was a rest stop so we didn't do much.  Then we had to beat east into the Marin area.  

Diamond Rock

Cul de Sac de Marin is an enormous yachting centre.  There are 5 or 6 charter companies based out of here so there are all kinds of services for boats.  The chandleries are well stocked and the grocery stores are a delight.  We spent the day exploring and shopping.  Bought several types of french box-wine so we are well stocked for our last month on the boat.  Our anchorage wasn't appealing for swimming so we moved over to St. Anne for our last evening in Martinique.

Quite a few masts

Marina docks

Flyboarding

Way better to have one of these in your lunch than a juice box.

St. Anne is a beautiful beach-side village with lots of quaint restaurants.  We committed to going to a restaurant - mainly because we often balk when we see the prices.  The place we chose had a wonderful live band of old guys, singing wonderful songs, including a tango.  We wanted to dance to it but we chickened out, worried that we had forgotten the steps.  Dang!

The restaurant was everything we expected.  The band packed up after half an hour and the wait staff disappeared.  But there was great people watching and we had a lot of fun, laughing about the poor service and lousy food.  

We will need to come back to Martinique next year and spend more time exploring the island.  Maybe rent a car and do a tour.

The beautiful Blue Pearl

Yummm - octopus stew, a lump of white rice and an indescribable vegetable compote

Our sail to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia was spectacular.  As usual, the wind we experienced was twice what was predicted and the seas were HUGE.  But we had a reef in the main and so we stayed mostly upright and did the 22 miles in less than 3 hours.  Not bad!

We ran into Serenity, our cruising buddies from last year and enjoyed a great reunion drinking rum and playing the guitar!  Glen is spectacular on the guitar when he has been drinking.

The camera we bought last year packed it in so we jumped on the local bus and went into the cruise ship dock in Castries to buy a new one.  Had a great adventure walking through the town from the bus stop to the docks and stopped for obligatory beers and a terrific lunch.  Today we decided to varnish and do laundry so, of course the skies clouded over and we were hit with a deluge.  So, wet laundry and no varnish.

Murphy the Dinghy is in for minor surgery so we will hang out here in the bay for a couple of days before heading to Marigot and then to Bequia.  According to our cruising guide, author James Michener claimed that Marigot Bay is the nicest bay in all of the Caribbean.  The 60s movie Doctor Doolittle was filmed there.  

The Marigot to Bequia leg is 50 miles so we will try to get an early start.  We will be arriving in Bequia in the middle of Regatta - not sure if that is a good idea.  We'll see.

Dead camera - by New camera

Rinsing off the soap from a deck lather

Fruit and veggie vendor