Goodbye Martinique, Hello Dominica

Wednesday 14^th January was our last day on Martin at what we decided was the best spot we had been to in the boat, Les Anse D'Arlet a few miles south of Fort De France Bay. Lunch the previous day was so good we decided to go back for more but prior to that we had a swim from the beach. On the way there we stopped off at our new neighbours an Oyster 37 from the UK crewed by young couple Matt and Amey from Portsmouth and invited them over for drinks in the evening. We then bumped into them a number of times ashore!

First objective was to find a spot on the beach with a bit of shade from which to swim. The beach is lined with little bars/restaurants and so we inevitably ended up close to one and so a nice cold beer was on hand after our swim followed by a debate about whether to return to the place next door to eat which we knew provided great food or to try the new place. 

View at Lunch

We both concluded that on balance a return to what we knew would be a good lunch was the best option and it was another good lunch. After lunch a wander round a bit of shopping and we then headed back to the boat to receive our visitors.

Not on the Menu!

Matt and Amey are a charming couple in the early stages of their round the world experience and we spent a most enjoyable evening with them. They landed in Saint Lucia a week before we got to Martinique and suffered a broken boom in a squall which caused an accidental gybe. They were therefore waiting for a new boom to arrive in Rodney Bay, Saint Lucia and were returning the next day to collect it and commence fitting. They would then be heading south to Panama to transit the canal into the Pacific.

The next morning, Thursday 15^th January we were up at 0400 in order to ensure we arrived in Roseau on Dominica in daylight. With the wind in the North East the passage along the west coast of Martinique was a mixture of calms requiring some motoring and squalls in flat water. 

The forecast was for 20+ knots from the NE and so we had a reef in the main in preparation for bigger winds to come. Approaching the NW tip of the island the squalls increased in intensity with higher mountains to windward and then the wind died down somewhat for a short period. It did not last however and we were soon sailing to windward under the reefed main and a well reefed Genoa in an increasingly lumpy sea as we progressed further into the gap between the islands. We saw a couple of other yachts in the vicinity but not many. Once again we were 'enjoying' a wet and bumpy ride. The boat handled the conditions well and we continued close hauled on a heading for Roseau at the 5+ required to get us in before dark.

On our approach to Scott Head, the most southerly point of Dominica we were eventually overhauled by slightly larger yacht from Denmark sailing well in the brisk conditions.

We eventually picked up a mooring at about 1700. There were a couple of locals out in their high speed boats touting for business and although our guide book said it was possible to anchor the moorings seemed to be in the best places and we didn't want to piss the locals off. $15 US a night was not to bad. Feeling quite tired after the long day we elected to remain on board for the evening and start our exploration the next day.

We got shore about midday on Monday - that seems to be the earliest we can make without a special effort!

Government House

First job was to check-in with Customs. Our guide book said there was an office in town and another further up the coast an a mile or so where the larger ships docked. It turned out we walked straight past the office in town. Still the walk was interesting enough – even though much of it was conducted in the pouring rain - and we got to see more of the local area than we might otherwise have done. On our return it was lunch time and the office was shut and so we of course had to have lunch. We found a great restaurant just over the road where we enjoyed an excellent meal at a very reasonable price and spent a couple of hours watching the rain come down.

Lunch stop

After lunch we checked in with Customs (they then dealt with immigration) and went off in search of a barbers and a bank and did some shopping. The town was a bit scruffy around the edges but had a vibrant and friendly atmosphere. There were a lot of reminders of the islands colonial past with a number of impressive buildings and a red post box outside the Post Office. We encountered a few hard sell merchants but most of the time everyone was friendly and we were able to wander freely. At the end of the day further down pours 'forced' us to eat ashore at the dock our moorings belonged to.

The island looks beautiful and is the location of a nature world heritage site. This afternoon we will take a bus up the coast and tomorrow we WILL get up early and take a bus into the mountains to explore properly! On Thursday we will sail up to Portsmouth at the north of the Island where we hope to meet up with Arvin, our guest on Christmas Day.

Bon Voyage Chris

On Thursday 12^th January we pulled the anchor up and said good-bye to Chris. We were starting our journey north to Dominica, albeit on a very short first leg up the coast to what turned out to be Les Anse D'Arlets although we had intended to get to the next bay, Grand Anse D'Arlets. Chris was waiting for Susan to arrive before deciding on his longer term itinerary which may be to cruise the Caribbean this year or head for Panama for the Pacific and eventually home to New Zealand. There was therefore a strong possibility I might not see him again for some considerable time. Chris has been an enormous help to me preparing the boat over the years and it is highly unlikely I would have been able to undertake the trip this year with the boat in a fit state without his help. I therefore have a lot to thank him for!

We had planned on leaving at midday to give us plenty of daylight time to make Grand Anse but a prolonged trip ashore for breakfast, a look round and some shopping meant we weren't ready to go until after 1300. Then just as we started getting the anchor up a heavy rain shower arrived and so we had lunch instead. We eventually got the anchor up at 1400 and headed over to Chris to say our good-byes. We had a very pleasant sail (the best yet) – a real joy - in variable winds sometimes making 7 knots – on a flat sea up the coast and past Diamond Rock - the scene of Nelson's sailors' annoying the French for a couple of months. Closing on the Anse D' Arlets the wind became more fickle and our speed fell to 2 knots. We would not make port before dark at that speed, so reluctantly the engine went on and we made for the nearer Les Anse D'Artlet and dropped anchor just before dusk.

A handsome Brigantine lay just behind us and the town looked pretty as the town lights began to show. We decided we would go ashore in the morning to explore and had dinner on board – beef-burgers and rice with 'Ratatouille le Martinique' cooked by Mick and very good it was too, helped down with Rum Punch under a full moon.

The next morning – Friday 13^th (!) I went snorkelling around the nearby rocks (see below) before breakfast. There were some very impressive - what I took to be coral structures - that looked like the deep sea vents one sees on TV documentries – many the size of a milk churn (sorry only those of us of a certain age with a country background will make sense of that) or a road bollard and looked like they had been “thrown” by a very large Potter! I also saw large stuctures that looked like brains and a wide variety of tropical fish albeit not in huge numbers. I saw other corals too – both fans and finger types. Many of the structures, especially the milk churns appeared to be dead but there were patches of live coral too.

After breakfast in the cockpit (very pleasant) we took the dinghy into town and moored up on the dinghy dock. 

The Martinique authorities seem to have gone out of their way to provide one in every location one might want to land – very helpful. First on the agenda was a cool beer so we walked along the beach and settled in a beach bar with the sea lapping at our feet and ordered a couple of beers.

After a couple and despite our late breakfast we started to feel hungry and were delighted to find we had settled into a bar/restaurant offering the best value menu we had yet come across. A three course menu for 16 Euro. The main course was Pork Raggu and of very generous proportions. After lunch we were well and truly stuffed. The options seemed to be collapse on the beach or go for a walk round the point to Grand Anse D'Arlet – our original destination. We bravely decided on the latter and arrived within about half an hour after a pleasant walk. 

On the way we saw further evidence that "our" Egret (that had landed on the boat during our passage) was either from Martinique or was on his way there (max zoom the below and in the middle of the shot you will just be able to make out one of a number of Egrets)...

The bay was much more crowded with with boats than Les Anse D'Arlets and whilst the beach was lined with plenty of bars/restaurants there was no town to speak of and we were pleased we had diverted to Les Anse D'Arlets instead. Our impression of a somewhat second rate place was reinforced by the not cold drinks we were served with at the bar we chose! After that we walked back and looked around the town...

to find we had missed the last of the fresh bread – we bought some croissants instead and went in search of a beer to cool down. We found a very cold and very cheep beer at a locals' bar near the front which only served to underline our smugness at having chosen Les Anse D'Arlets as our port. The Mate was in particularly smug mood...

After that and a quick stop to capture the sunset (Arctic Smoke is the last mast on the right!)...

it was back to the boat – where, still too stuffed to eat further I wrote this post, Mick did some sewing and started investigating our failed searchlight. At the conclusion of writing he had tracked down that the plug and socket did not like eachother!

Tomorrow we'll spend here. By Sunday the north easterly winds should have returned and we should be heading for Dominica!

A Fool and his Outboard Motor and other Stories

Our anchorage in Le Marin was a bit of a row from the shore so we decided to try and get my old 2^nd hand two stroke Yamaha outboard motor going. So we unearthed it from the bottom of the cock pit locker where I had lived since Tony and I last used it May 2015 to tow Arctic Smoke into Caletta on Madeira after the exhaust system expired. Mick undertook the basic pre-run checks and we installed it in the dinghy on the outboard bracket and tried to to start it. Nothing happened. The motor was completely seized – it was not possible to turn it an inch. Back on the boat we considered the options. It really needed stripping down to remove the rust that was no doubt responsible for seizing the piston in the bore and perhaps the crank in the crankcase but we really needed workshop facilities for that. It might be possible to do it in the cockpit but it would be a messy job with engine bits scattered everywhere and the likelihood is we would need replacement gaskets and other bits that we did not have and the prospect of getting those quickly for such an old engine were pretty remote. So we decided to go for lazy option of pouring WD40 into the cylinder head through the spark plug aperture and then try and free it up by manually turning the engine. We tried that over the next 24 hours but whilst it did become possible to turn the engine over it was nowhere near free enough to run.

We pronounced the Yamaha deceased and went in search of a replacement. I had heard there was a second hand chandlers ashore and therefore we tried there. Sure enough they had a second hand 2 HP Suzuki in perfect running order we were assured, for 350 Euro. We reserved it and went back the next day to collect it with the dinghy leaving the old Yamaha outside the shop for “safe-keeping”! On speaking to the member of staff on duty then, it turned out that the Suzuki was not in perfect order, indeed it was stuck in gear and the fuel tap was in bits. I therefore decided against it and we went looking for an alternative elsewhere.

Round the corner was a marine shop that sold Outboards. They had a four-stroke air cooled 2.3 HP Honda for 1200 Euro. We bought it (Mick kindly contributed 200 Eur towards the cost which was most generous). 

Back at the dinghy I topped up the fuel tank with the fuel I had brought from the boat and motored over to the nearby fuel/water station to pick up Mick and replenish our water containers. The lady in the shop warned us that the motor might smoke a bit whilst running in. On the way back to the boat it appeared to be doing just that in generous amounts. We were also a bit puzzled by the fact that we had to leave the choke on all the time otherwise the engine would stop.

The next morning after breakfast we got in the dinghy to go ashore to shop. The engine refused to start. It was Saturday early afternoon by this time and after ringing the shop we concluded they were now shut and would not be open until Monday. I was rather fed up. Almost the only new bit of kit I had bought for the boat had packed up on the second day! I needed a lie down to recover. Whilst doing so it occurred to me that the engine had been fine on the short run from one dock to the other and that it was only on the way back to the boat that it started smoking. Could there be something amiss with the fuel I had added? I had topped up the petrol container in Pacito Blanco, perhaps it was not unleaded! Unlikely we agreed. Perhaps in 2015 I had mixed a two stroke mixture in the container. More likely and possibly the cause of the problem but it would be pretty dilute after topping up the container. Still it was worth exploring. So I went to the locker with the fuel cans and pulled out the one GREEN container that I had, which along with a black one contained spare diesel for the boat engine. At that this point I started to feel a little unwell. This was the very same container I had taken in the dinghy to fill up our new outboard. The RED container that I had filled up with Petrol in Pacito Blanco was buried further back in the locker!

I had filled up my new outboard with Diesel! Only the fact that the shop was closed had prevented a very embarrassing diplomatic incident from occurring. So we drained the tank, flushed it out and the carburettor too and the engine started. Relief all round and perhaps the Outboard shop wasn't run by “a load of French scoundrels” after all! I also have to confess to previous convictions for similar offences – three in fact. That's three times I have filled up the family diesel car with petrol. My youngest took great delight in reminding me about that. After everything was sorted out we happily motored ashore and did our shopping.

The next day, Sunday 8^th January we motored down the bay to St Anne to meet up with Chris on J&B. Chris had kindly offered to stitch up some canvass for me to make sun covers out of so the next morning I measured up and took the canvas over to his boat. He was out but had mentioned that I could repay him by cleaning the bottom of the boat which I spend the next few hours doing. On his return we cut and pinned the canvas and later that day he stitched it up using his sewing machine.

On Tuesday we took the dinghy back into Marin past the local Club Med....

 to meet up with Richard a fellow Cruising Club member on his motor yacht Dauntless. 

Richard is a New Yorker who had spent a couple of years cruising Europe and was now en route to Panama, his ultimate destination being Korea. We spent a very enjoyable afternoon looking around Dauntless – so much space - and then had lunch with Richard and his Nephew from Hawaii, Mike, at a local restaurant before motoring back to the boat in St Anne where we arrived after dark at about 1900.

Wednesday was supposed to be a beach day but on Tuesday night Mick put his foot through one of the inspection hatches in the cabin sole (the wooden support for the hatch had split) and so after I had scraped the bottom of the boat before breakfast, we spent the rest of the morning fixing that. Then we decided we might as well re-wire the faulty stern light circuit. Mick had earlier diagnosed that that circuit which was part of the navigation lights circuit was producing a small current (presumably as a result of sea water ingress) and that that was the cause of the mysterious flashing of the bow navigation light we observed during the latter stages of our crossing even when it was switched off!

Tomorrow we are due to start our journey north. We will probably not go far, just a few miles around the coast to Grand Anse which is supposed to be very pretty. We'll have to do a little shopping first and will probably leave around midday. Chris came over for dinner and we spent a very enjoyable and possibly our last night with him. If he goes to Panama in a few weeks which he might, we'll not see him again until I manage to get to New Zealand!

New Years Eve to 4th January

New Year's Eve tour of Martinique

Chris picked us up at about 0645 (that was difficult) and we headed up the west coast to Pierre the old capital of the island before it was engulfed in a volcano eruption in 1902. Rumour has it that one of the very few survivors was a prisoner in the local prison!

First stop was the market next to the rebuilt stock exchange. 

Lots of local fruit and veg on sale at prices significantly cheaper than in Le Marin but still not cheap. We bought some stuff to take back. At the time of writing we had tried the avocados, tomatoes and the pineapple. The last was small and much more expensive than at home and to be honest a little disappointing. The Avocado and tomatoes though were superb.

Next stop was the semi renovated Cathedral where the history of the volcano's devastation was displayed and I have tried to summarise that in the photographs below.

Then we drove up the mountain/volcano but unfortunately the weather turned sour and all we could see when we got to the top was this..

After the volcano it was a visit the Rum Distillery/Plantation “Rhum Depaz”. There were of course all sorts of rum related goodies to tempt one. I bought a smallish bottle of mid range rum and hope to get it home or at least keep for a special occasion! The grounds of the Distillery were very attractive.

Then we headed over to the East coast to see the peninsula “Presqu'ile De La Caravelle which is a nature reserve. It was very striking but the weather was once again not conducive to exploration by foot and we therefore resolved to return the next day.

New Years Day

So we returned the next day. The town of La Trinite lies at the beginning of the peninsula and we arrived there around midday in need of refreshment. On the way we had stopped off at Le Robert. We timed it just as Mass was getting under-way in their impressive looking modern church in the centre of town. Not a shop or cafe were open and so we pinned our hopes on La Trinite.

Mass was still underway on our arrival there and the portents were not good. Nearly, all the shops we could see were closed. We hailed a chap standing outside one that was open and asked if there was a cafe open anywhere. He pointed down a very steep the hill so we parked up the car and toddled off. Down the hill we were on the water front and there was cafe after cafe – all closed! We walked on to the end of the street where we found a boulangerie that was open and they had coffee too. So we stoked up on coffee and pastries before heading to the peninsula for our walk.

After another hour's drive some of it along some very rough tracks we arrived in the middle of the peninsula and the nature reserve. We hiked for some three and a half hours through woods up to Phare De Le Caravelle lighthouse and some fantastic views. It wasn't the sunniest of days so the photos aren't great but you get the idea..

The next leg of the hike was along the coastal 'path'. In some places there was not much of a path but we passed a young couple with baby in a sling so if they could handle it so could we. At the top of a cliff a couple of squalls blew in from the sea and so we took shelter behind some trees before carrying on. The path descended into muddy mangroves for a while before heading up through more woods to an old Chateaux which was of course closed.

Monday 2^nd January

A day tackling jobs on the boat. I fixed the Genoa roller furling and patched up the tiller that had started to delaminate with screws and glue. Mick tackled the outboard engine which I had totally neglected since Madeira in June 2015. It had had liberal amounts of the Atlantic Ocean splashed all over it that year and of course during this crossing. Anyway surprise, surprise it was totally seized. We squirted liberal amounts of WD40 in the head and left for a day but whilst it could then be moved there was no way it was going to run. It needs dismantling totally and we don't really have the facilities on board to do that. Perhaps we can find a local mechanic but round here most of the boats are huge with equally big tenders and outboards so something like our little 2.5 hp two-stroke Yamaha has probably not been seen for 10 years! Anyway on Wed we reassembled it and put off a decision on what to do to another day.

Tuesday 3^rd January

Sharon's Birthday and the first one I have not been around for in 24 years of marriage. I rang her from a sunny Caribbean beach at the south of the Island.

Fortunately my resourceful daughter, Ursula had everything under control and had taken Sharon out shopping earlier in the day and by the time I rang they were back with their haul and Uncle Winston was cooking the Birthday dinner. Most of the family were at home and a good day was had by all thank goodness.

Wednesday 4^th January

Another day on boat jobs. Got as far as possible with the outboard as mentioned above and tackled the VHF (Mick did most of the work on both jobs). Towards the end of the passage we had experienced a couple of vessels not replying to our transmissions and given the rubber grommet around the microphone cable into the set had been split I was beginning to wonder whether the set was transmitting. We tested the transmit function with one of our two hand-held sets – nothing! It was beginning to look as if there was a fault. However when we tried the other hand-held everything worked fine – thank goodness (except the hand-held). Mick re-positioned the set so that the grommet was shielded from further damage and I reinforced it with some hosepipe held in place with cable ties.

We spent the afternoon on the Internet trying to plan rendezvous with family and friends. A thankless task!