Le Marin, Martinique – Christmas and New Year

Anchored out near Duprey, we were quite happy. The weather was windy and wet and it does sometimes seem that the so called dry season is wetter than the wet season, but there we are…

Christmas came and went as did New Year – a time we enjoyed just being out at anchor. Stargazer had her Christmas lights on (which consists of the mate’s fairy lights and a ridiculously small ‘tree’ she seems to find at this time of year). Nevertheless, we had a full Christmas dinner (with a Coquilles St Jaques filo parcel for the mate) or nearly a full one as sprouts and bread sauce cannot be found here. To make up for this I discovered a liking for canard – of which there was plenty to be found in Carrefour.

Back in the land of plenty. Decisions, decisions…

The first week of the new year found us working out our domestic plans, as the mate needed an eye test and such like and I wanted to make sure a couple of things on Stargazer were working properly (Martinique is the place to do this). However, whilst doing all this, we were Caribbeaned (see previous blog for the definition of this). We saw, with only one days’ notice, a sign telling all boats anchored out in Le Marin to move. The reason: a local Yole regatta. Yoles are local classic skiff type boats originally designed for fishing and now raced every Sunday by local people keen on keeping the tradition alive. I’m all for this actually, but a day’s notice was a bit short. Nevertheless, the mate and I started the engine, or we would have done – it was as dead as a doornail. Yes, the battery, which I had suspected needed replacing whilst we were in Martinique had packed in altogether. Still, we had to move. As there was little wind, we called a towing company and asked for a price to be towed to St Anne (just outside the harbour) – €360 had me telling them where to go and as a last resort we started Puffin (our suitcase generator). An hour later and we had enough oomph in the start battery to get the engine going. We called the marina and begged our way onto a mooring buoy which is where we are now.

Yole on the beach, Le Marin

I’ve got to admit, it’s very convenient here. The mate can get things done that she needs done pretty easily and I, in full confidence, started my engine battery hunt. Confident that this is France where you can get anything – alas non, Martinique had failed me – except it hadn’t! In the battery shop (who had kindly hunted around all their suppliers for us) a nice local chap said ‘I think I can help you’. It turned out that he is one of the island’s specialists for importing directly from mainland France by air (so it’s fast). His price was cheap, he seemed very professional and kind and so now all that remains is to locate a battery in France. This will be no problem, but where to start? It’s easy, one of my oldest and best friends lives in France – he’s pointed me in the right direction and if the cards all fall into place, we should have a battery in a week or so. This is fine as the mate has pleaded with the marina (it pays to do this in Marina du Marin) to remain on the buoy for another two weeks, we could probably stay longer than that if needed and so all is well… Why, do I hear some knowledgeable people ask, do I need to import a battery from France when there are so many chandlers and suppliers here in Martinique? Aha, the answer is very simple, Stargazer, being Stargazer, has a special spot for her engine battery and this spot is of a certain size – which is, you’ve guessed, too small for a standard sized battery. Also the battery has to be an AGM so it can be fitted on its side and also use our AGM battery charging system. It actually makes sense, as most of the battery space is taken up by domestic batteries ensuring we have enough power for all normal use.

Whilst we’ve been in Le Marin, we had a flying visit from our friend Steve on his Oyster 485 and a friend of his on a Bowman 47. With boats of this size around, Stargazer was looking quite small, but size isn’t everything as they say and we prefer Stargazer and her relative simplicity – it makes for an easier (and cheaper) life.

I’ve rambled on enough about batteries and things. So I’ll let the mate loose to see what she has to say…

It is lovely to be back in Martinique. We have been here six weeks and I haven’t over-cheesed yet! Skip did slightly overdo it with the Christmas cheeseboard (some of these French cheeses command respect) but he recovered relatively quickly, although he is still avoiding the Brique Affinée.

The Christmas cheeseboard – avec les rennesI

We had a great Christmas and New Year at anchor in Duprey – watching the comings and goings on the water, going to a local carol concert Caribbean style, catching up with family and friends on video calls, enjoying plenty of fine wine, fizz (the local supermarket ran out of my favourite Crémant before New Year’s Eve so I had to buy champagne) and food, and actually doing some relaxing. The weather was quite breezy but generally dry, although any trips ashore in P2 resulted in getting drenched in seawater as he bashed upwind through the waves! Now we are on a mooring buoy the commute ashore in P2 takes about one minute instead of 15 and we are much more sheltered – which is good as the forecast for the next couple of days is for wind gusts of 30kts…

We have enjoyed watching the yoles training at the weekends and, despite being displaced from our anchorage, enjoyed watching the regatta. It looks pretty athletic – the boats don’t have a keel or rudder and have a large, rectangular sail with one person with a large oar/tiller at the stern and several crew with wooden poles athwartships that they slide from one side to another on each tack/gybe. Then shimmy towards the end of the pole with their legs dangling in the water to balance the boat and keep it from capsizing. Once capsized then the only option is to be towed ashore and bailed out! There is also one crew member (who maybe doesn’t have the co-ordination required to shimmy around on poles) tasked with using what appears to be a mixing bowl to paddle the boat along. I think this might be my position if I made it onto the crew :)

Skip and the Mr. Bricolage-sponsored yole

We arrived on the beach just as the race finished!