Mate’s sister on board

The mate and I were very excited to see Vicky arrive at Martinique airport. It’s always great to have Vicky onboard and this time she was going sailing!

But first, back to the airport. It was taking some time for Vicky to come through arrivals and we were starting to get a bit concerned. The delay was caused by one of her bags still being in Paris (we were pleased they knew where it was!). Still, she had nearly everything she needed and we were told that her bag would arrive on Thursday (she arrived on a Tuesday). Normally, Air France would deliver the bag from the airport to the boat, but Thursday was another bank holiday – ‘another one?’ I shouted. ‘How does anything ever get done in France?’ Still, undeterred, the mate hired a car (it was cheap (it was small! - Mate)) and as we had the car for the day we went to explore the eastern side of the island. We had intended to have a potter and a picnic in Le Robert and were a little surprised to find it almost deserted. However, as we opened the car doors the reason became clear –piles of Sargassum seaweed from the Atlantic had been washed up on the beach and the smell of the decomposing weed was quite overpowering! We managed to find a not too smelly park and enjoyed our lunch just before the heavens opened. The Caribbean enjoys bank holiday weather too…

On the boat back at Z’Abricot marina we looked at the weather. No choice, we’d have to stay another day or so unless we wanted to be blown away at anchor. Still, I was able to do a mini Duogen refit and the girls did a bit of local exploring.

On the fourth day, we left Z’Abricot and headed across to Anse Mitan after a mini tour of the baie. This was Vicky’s first time at sea on Stargazer, despite coming out to see us twice before in the Caribbean. She seemed quite happy, until, when anchoring at Anse Mitan a squall came through. The mate and I got the anchor down and Vicky went below. I saw the tell-tale signs first – bouncing around at anchor in a squall had led to Vicky having low level/background seasickness. The mate administered the medicine (one of her seasickness pills) and soon all was well. Except the weather continued to blow and blow, meaning we’d probably have to stay put for a few days (one morning was so bouncy that both the girls took a seasickness pill – at anchor!). We’d hoped to be able to snorkel from the boat but the sea state was too rough, so the best we would do was launch the dinghy (Pierre II) and bash ashore with a very wet ride.

Anchored at Anse Mitan (note correctly flying an anchor ball) – bye girls :)

We discovered quite a nice quiet beach, enjoyed a nice meal ashore and the girls were taken by the local Bokits (some sort of sandwich which looked a bit stodgy to me). After eating them, my thoughts were confirmed when the girls couldn’t move due to ‘eating too much’.

Before Bokits

Apres Bokits

Anse Mitan was very rolly when we first went there earlier in the year. It was much better the last time we went as the ferries were on strike and as luck would have it the ferries were still on strike – vive la France!  We were looking at the weather forecast (this has been a very wet and windy year out here) as we had to be somewhere sensible for Vicky to be able to get to the airport when the time came. You have to do everything online here and so we requested berths at Marina Z’ Abricot again and also Marina du Marin. Luckily Marina du Marin said they could accommodate us and so we booked a 30 day slot there. You have to get 30 days as a massive discount kicks in, meaning it’s pretty much the same price as 12 days – what would you do?!  Anyway, we like Le Marin and it was a great spot for Vicky to spend her final few days before flying home.

The girls preparing for snorkelling near Anse Mitan – I refused to be involved

We left Anse Mitan to head round to St Anne for a night before moving into Marin. As soon as we’d weighed anchor a squall came through, but quite frankly the mate are used to this by now. In fact we always hoist the main with a ‘perma reef’. We had a downwind sail to the Anse d’Arlets and a beam reach towards Diamond Rock. As we approached Diamond Rock, we did a few tacks with a view to being able to sail past it. Vicky enjoyed the tacking, but as for sailing past Diamond Rock I’m not sure this is possible – I certainly don’t know anyone who has!

Vicky at the helm; ship’s mascot standing by (not me!)

Diamond Rock is a large rock about 400 metres offshore of the south eastern most tip of Martinique. Years ago, the British established a naval base on it so they could attack French forces heading in and out of Martinique’s ports from HMS Diamond Rock – what a feat! But after the 100 years’ war France had to give up territory to the British (who had won). The Treaty of Paris handed over French Islands to the British, except one – Martinique. Josephine (who was born on Martinique) pleaded with Napoleon to keep her beautiful ‘Island of Flowers’ (as it is called) and so Napoleon said to the British, ‘I will give you Canada if we keep Martinique’. The British said yes and the rest is history…

Back to Vicky’s trip; after motor-sailing for nearly three hours we arrived in St Anne and after an initial try and fail we got a good hold on the anchor. St Anne has very good holding so we probably hit a dense patch of sea grass; the water wasn’t clear enough to see, which is unusual here. We had a very nice evening, showering by swimming off the stern and rinsing off in the cockpit with the mate’s new Isabella shower (Isabella Maserati (or Izz Bezz Mazz!) is a very swish portable shower with a battery operated pump. She has revolutionised cockpit showering on Stargazer – Mate).

Fear not! This was before showering…

The next morning, we waited for a gap between squalls and headed into Marina du Marin. We were shown a berth which looked a little tight, but mooring stern to we squeezed in with the help of a marina chap who pulled the bow of the boat on our starboard side away from us to enlarge our gap. However, there are normally two marina people to help, one shows you the way in and the other catches a stern line and passes up the lazy line. However, this was yet another bank holiday – so no one was there to catch a stern line etc. Within seconds, the mate had the safety line off the stern and lept ashore herself. Vicky positioned a fender and I kept us off the pontoon with some forward engine. The mate’s feat was both valiant and perfect – she saved the day :)

A few days in and around Le Marin and the beach at St Anne (which is a short bus ride away) followed and we showed Vicky all our favourite places. We all had a lovely time, but all too soon it was time for Vicky to leave us. We hired a car (much cheaper than a taxi) and headed for the airport, saying our long goodbyes. The mate and I were quite sad, but we cheered ourselves up by eating out that night in one of the local bars where the mate found the associated music quiz very amusing. On another happy note, Vicky will head out our way again next year – wherever we happen to be…

On the beach at St Anne (which is probably our favourite Caribbean beach)

As I write (18^th June) Stargazer is booked into the marina until the end of the month. The weather is looking very wet and windy for days and days, so we’ll see how it goes. It is hurricane season now and Martinique is in the hurricane belt, plus we have a lift out booked in Trinidad (which is well south of the hurricane belt) in August. But… we’ve got to get there first.