Our first days in the Caribbean

It took time and some patience to get our tools back. The diagnostics on our PC says “corroded” and finding a new one, then a plug adaptor, then a proper connection to download a proper video editor, etc etc was a test.

Hereunder is a first video of the crossing, more focusing on daily life onboard.

https://youtu.be/rtsu3VG6eyY

We are currently in St. Lucia – Marigot Bay, after having spent 9 days in Martinique and then a 3 days at Rodney Bay (North East tip of St. Lucia).

The first night upon arrival to Martinique (yes the picture with the undersigned sleeping between spirit bottles) was spent at St. Anne. From there we moved into Le Marin proper, but stayed at anchor. The harbour was full, not many venturing outside the bay we presume because of the wind and sea state. We soon discovered Soldini’s trimaran stationed here ( it probably took him 4 or 5 days to get here from the Canaries).

Our friend Frederic left back to France a couple of days later, it seems odd how fast the whole crossing has gone by . Dear Sergey also took a few days off the boat, mostly underwater scuba diving, he’s going to grow a fishtail soon. I know he immediately climed back on his own boat and is delaying the return to Lugano as much as possible.

During our first breakfast in family crew, almost as by the books, we witnessed a catamaran speeding on engine out of the harbour, sadly also out of the buoyed channel and straight into a reef barely 100m from us – as we were having our morning coffee. They somehow managed to get out and continued, this time within the buoyed channel…and maybe with a waterway.

After a period of wandering around without a target, checking the local shipchandlers and the diving clubs, we rented a car and spent 2 days visiting:
– up the route de la Trace which gets you to mont Pelee (which wiped the entire population of St. Pierre in 1902, some 30,000 people) and then down to St. Pierre. This will be definetly a stopover on our way North. Drive with care as we witnessed a young lady crashing out of a turn just ahead of us.
– Schoelcher, were we spent a few hours just staring at the sea under the shadow of some palmiers, and enjoying watching the pelicans take dives for fishing.
– Fort the France, which was unfortunately deserted as it was 25-1. We stood by the fort, but we will need to come back when it get a bit more lively.
– Vauclin on the windward coast, where the kids enjoyed the beach and I tested my windurfing skills on a smaller board, with poor results
– Then the inevitable HyperU supermarket, traffic jam included.

We also had our small disadventures, with the outboard engine failing at night, when I was going to pick up the family with our monthly food provisioning. I managed to hang onto a buoy and Isa convinced a Fin sailor to tow us (the true story is she boatstopped alone, and once convinced, our friend was introduced to 3 kids, a husband and 20kg of load).

But that was also the chance to get acquainted with Laurent Barthelemy, a Metropolitan (as French from the mainland are called in Martinique), who lives on his boat at Le Marin. He smartly picked our VHF call in the morning asking for an outboard mechanic and joined us onboard for some carburator cleaning. Anyone having mechanical trouble inboard or outboard, do not hesitate laurent.b@rthelemy.fr or VHF 9 or 72. BTW, same as the go-kart, so next time I know.

We then moved 2 miles from Le Marin back to St. Anne…. enjoyed the beach there (not more than 2 hours, as the sun is strong), the small village and beach side resto and then windurfing. We finally made our minds to set sail again, and headed down to Rodney Bay, 22 miles of broad reaching with 25-30kn of wind. We got there in barely 2h, but witnessed the sailboats on their way up North on a hard beating. Ok, we will worry about that in over a month from now. At Rodney Bay, we were surprised by the limited number of boats at anchor, maybe they are mostly down at the Grenadines. Anyway, that is where we spent new years eve, with a thai dinner and then back on board….we fell asleep but somehow manage to wake up to watch the fireworks on the beach.

Arriving in Rodney was also interesting because of the different clearing procedure. Whereas in Martinique there are PCs available in many places, including restaurants, to do a self clearing, in St. Lucia the crew stayed onboard as I spent close to 2h getting on land with the dinghy, then filling 3 forms, each with the full passport details of the entire crew (I think I know all the passport numbers by now). Nevermind, the customs agent was so kind to remind us of the big party taking place at Gros Ilet that night :).

St. Lucia has kept all the French names, but few French sailors seem to stopover. Maybe some historical resentment, or just our timing. Anyway, St. Lucia became part of France in 1651 but changed hands 14 times with the British in the following 150 years, and in 1814 the Treaty of Paris brought it under British control as a Crown Colony ( I do remember all this from my highschool time, really…) and English the official language. It became independent in 1979. As a piece of this history, we spent half day visiting Pigeon Island (which is no longer an Island, as it has been artificially united to the main island), which was the hideout tt for French pirate Francois Leclerc (and his treasure is said to be still there) and subsequently for British garrisons. As recently as WWII it was used by the US army as a signalling outpost.

In all this, we have had some contact with the locals. Whilst in Martinique this was made easier thanks to Frederic’s local friends, here in St. Lucia we have so far met the boat boys (who will spot you while at sea and approach you dangerously close with their speedboat to propose a mooring or else), the floating fruit vendor and John the fishermen…the kids have better socializing skills and immediately enjoyed jumping into the sea hanging from a coconut tree with the locals. They are now constantly speaking French (in Martinique) and English (except when we order food, when for some reason they turn to us to translate the order…).

I guess you are in a quandary between being cautious as you wander with 3 kids – in some areas there are tales of burglary an violence on sailors, and not falling into excess. Actually, what seems to happen is that the anglosaxon sailors are very accurate in reporting any security issue. As useful as that can be in selecting your anchorages and taking precautions, it also somehow inflates the sense of risk. I am sure that there are at least as many events in the Balearics or Corsica, they just go unreported. So, take your punch and relax a bit captain.

We are trying to fill the voyage with more than just beautiful images above and below water. That said, visiting is not always that simple as it implies finding a safe anchorage where to leave the boat unattended, finding a safe place where to leave the dinghy unattended (here the word is lock it or loose it….and prepare for a long swim), finding a car rental or understanding the local public transportation system, and then trying to get out of the most touristic paths.

Tomorrow we will set sail towards Anse des Cochons or Soufriere, depending on where we find space to take a buoy (can’t anchor here, it is a national marine park and rightly so anchoring is prohibited) and we will visit the famous Pitons, the surrounding tracks and waterfalls and take a scuba dive. I will skip the mud bath.