Sunday, March 30, 2014

Manger, boire et faire la sieste en Martinique

So... we've been lazy.  What's new?!

We checked into Martinique at Marin and wandered around a bit.  Checking into the French Islands is a dream.  Don't know why it has to be such a pain elsewhere.

Found a cool pub that served draft Leffe, Hogarten and Lorraine.  The beer was terrific.  So was the price.  Terrifically high.  Won't be doing too much of that.

We read in the cruising guide that there is a place here that will mix paint and a hardener in a spray can that would allow us to individually fix the little bumps and scratches on our gelcoat.  Glen found the place, approached a clerk and pantomimed mixing paint in a spray can for a little while.  After everyone was thoroughly amused, Brad finally stepped in and rescued him.  (That's why we put the kids in French Immersion - so they could rescue us on our travels.)  Turns out that the place DOES NOT have the spray can technology so that turned out to be a bust.  Too bad.  Terrific idea.

We cruised around the Leader Price Supermarche and scanned all the cool stuff.... ended up with some French box wine, and a few appies to have with our dinner.  Our previous post about "Bahamas Boiled Fish" or "Glen's Fish Soup" inspired several of you to try your own version.  We are thrilled!  Hope it turned out well for you.  Talking about that got the saliva glands going so Glen made it with mahi-mahi.  It was as spectacular is it always is.

Wow!

Made enough for 6 - ate it all!  None left for breakfast.
While we were in Marin a freighter came in with a huge mega yacht and a sailboat.  We watched them unload the sailboat with a mammoth crane and saw the boat slip away and anchor not far from us.  On our way into the harbour to rent a car, we stopped by the boat.  They are a French family with 5 or 6 kids and decided to ship their boat from Florida rather than do the Thorny Passage.  The mom told us it was expensive but only took 4 days.
Weird looking...

Big Lift
It loaded another mega-yacht and took off for Italy!

After a day in Marin we moved out to St. Anne.  We love St. Anne.  Not much here but it is a quaint little resort town with neat little bars and beaches.  Last year we found a bunch of old geezers playing some really great music at the Dunette... notably some unbelievable tango pieces!  We were served a substandard meal by a snotty waiter at exorbitant prices - but somehow it just ended up being the most charming evening.

Getting ready to try out the GoPro camera

At the Dunette

We wandered down to the Club Med to find a EuropCar rental place.  They were closed but we found another rental spot.  It wouldn't open 'til 14:00 - another 15 minutes - so we had beers and a sorry, expensive croissant avec ham at a nearby boulangerie.  You needed a magnifying glass to find the ham and it was so dry that we needed several beers to choke it down.  Echk.

A Car Rental
Wandered along the beautiful beach, near the Airstream Trailer Park and had a cooling dip before heading back to the Blue Pearl for another cooling off dip, sundowners, salad and spaghetti avec sausage, crib, internet thanks to a stray Netgear signal and a blissful rest.

Makes you nervous when someone anchors too close and then puts up all their fenders

Cool dip

Sunday sailors!
Tomorrow we pick up our car and tour the island... en francais!





3 comments:

  1. Everything and everyone is looking good!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Two things easier than Martinique - eSea Clear and SailClear. You only enter your info once and then all you do is update your entry or departure date. When do you haul out this year?

    Bobby

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