The sail from St. Lucia to St. Anne, Martinique, must have been classically good or uneventful because I have no notes from it. I would have to check Andrew’s log. In any event, we arrived in St. Anne on 2/24 to hundreds of boats in the harbor, some said between here and nearby Le Marin, there were thousands! (All those little white sticks in the picture above are masts!!) We checked in at Bou Bou bar, which couldn’t have been easier, except that the computer program is all in French, and my French is getting better, but still a challenge. At least we got to have drinks while checking in and the bar tender was super helpful and friendly.
We discovered our friends, Edwin & Karen (s/v Frog’s Leap), were in Le Marin and met them for lunch (raw meat cooked on a stone at L’Annex), and afterward helped them bend their mainsail back on the mast. That’s what sailors do for fun!
The next day, we took the dinghy back on a wet 3 mile ride back to Le Marin to find a Digicel store where we could get a SIM card for our Wi-Fi puck (our version of internet access while trying to avoid the expense of Starlink)! Apparently, the French islands no longer support this technology and we are running out of data on our phones every other day. Looks like Starlink may be in our future!!
After stops at the boulangerie (for quiche) and the grocery store, we swung by Frog’s Leap at the dock. Edwin was up the mast trying to get his tricolor working and Karen was on a headset below keeping an eye on him.
The following day, we took the dinghy into St. Anne for a visit to another boulangerie (this time for sausage croissant and a baguette) and a stroll through the outdoor market, where we bought shrimp, spinach & fish fritters from one vendor and some passion fruit jam from another. We also made reservations at La Dunnette for dinner that evening with Lawrence & Cindi (s/v Bermudian Escape). Lawrence is from the well known Trimingham family of Bermuda and has signed up for the Guadeloupe cruise we are organizing in March. We hadn’t met them yet and had a really enjoyable evening hearing about Lawrence’s family history in the islands and other sailing stories.
On Feb 28th, Karen & Edwin rented a car and invited us to join them on a road trip to Jardin de Balata and Habitation Clement. The first stop was the botanical garden, which was really nice (but not the best we’ve seen in the islands). The pictures speak for themselves:
The second stop was a rum distillery, which includes a 16 hectare sculpture garden and the former private residence (now open to the public) of the proprietor, who is best known for having hosted Presidents Bush and Mitterrand on this property in the 1990’s. Some more pics to tell that story:
On 2/29, we left St. Anne for Anse du Ford, a small bay about 15 miles up the western coast of Martinique. We had planned to buddy boat with a solo sailor and Salty Dawg named Jay, on s/v Hurah, but his anchor got stuck and we had to proceed without him. The bay had room for about 4 boats due to all the snorkelers and swimmers coming from the busy beach on shore. We settled in to the only remaining spot and after snorkeling to check the anchor, we rowed the dinghy in for lunch.
That evening, we were one of two boats remaining in the bay and with the recent assault on two sailors, we decided to practice one of our safety measures and locked ourselves in the boat.
The next day, we coordinated our sail to St. Pierre with Jay (s/v Hurah), who had found a diver to unwind his anchor chain and help him raise his anchor. He got an early start and caught up with us just outside our anchorage. We had a nice sail, in sight of each other, and arrived in St. Pierre at roughly the same time. We happened to anchor in front of our friends Dana & Lisa (s/v Pathfinder), who Jay also knew, so that evening we had everyone over for drinks on Billy Ruff’n.
Andrew and I went to town to make reservations for the gang at our favorite restaurant the next day, and found not only was it permanently closed but nothing was open for dinner that evening (a Saturday night)! Since there were cruise ships in the harbor, we figured all the shops and restaurants open up in the daytime and close at night when the ships leave. Instead, Lisa & Dana were our hosts for drinks on Pathfinder that night, where we took this pic:
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