Safe Arrival in St. Lucia

Laurie and I had a marvelous sail from Martinique down to St. Lucia yesterday! It was smooth sailing, as they say with very little salt water on the boat and NONE in the cockpit!!

After arriving, we had our anchor down beer with my Lorna and Brian (Peace and Plenty) and then on to Jam de Bois for dinner where we met up with many other old friends.

I have an appointment this Friday with a dentist in Rodney Bay. I lost a crown a couple weeks ago up in Dominica. I still have it, but unfortunately it's in 2 pieces! It's a tooth that had a root canal done to it, so it's not a big deal...just chewing on my left side. Seems that I'm able to get as many calories into me, so nothing has changed.

Laurie is giving the engines a good long look-over this morning and then we're off to the mall this afternoon and maybe the food court for lunch!

Goodbye Martinique

We're leaving Martinique in an hour or so. The trip to Rodney Bay St. Lucia is about 26 nautical miles, and may take 4-5 hours. The wind has dropped below 20 knots, but the seas are expected to still be up. Bumpy but safe!

We are looking forward to rendezvousing with our friends from Tiger Lilly II, Silk Pajamas, Peace and Plenty, Stopp Knot, Wandering Star, and the rest of the gang who favour Rodney Bay.

Mt. Pele, St. Pierre in Martinique

Last Thursday, the 24th, while in St. Pierre, Dawn and I hiked through the town to the north side of the river to visit an attraction called:  Centre de Decouverte des Sciences et de la Terre, or known to we anglophones as the Earth Sciences Centre, where we hoped to get more technical information  on Mount Pele and her penchant for mischief.  Mischief is probably not the best word when the earth rumbles and chooses to blow away approximately 30,000 people.  The building and exhibits were constructed in 2002, by the government on the 100 year anniversary of the disaster.

On the way, we passed the ruins of one of the larger former churches, this one having been almost totally obliterated on May 8th, 1902, actually during the church service, by the largest explosion of the volcano.  Estimates are that the pyroclastic flow took three minutes to get down to the hill, and likely very few of the worshipers likely even got to stand up from their pews.  Here is a picture of the ruins:

Church ruins where many people were the day Mt. Pele blew

Earth Science Center overlooking Mt. Pele

View of the center from the road

Mt. Pele taken from the Science Center

This is a view of the mountain from the Earth Sciences Centre, as well as one of the front of the Centre, which faces the mountain:

When we arrived, we found the staff had very little English to assist us, and my efforts at speaking french were not getting us too far.  However, almost immediately, they passed us two hand-held devices that had recordings in English to supplement the experience for English visitors.  We found that there were 19 stations around the complex, and the device had special recordings for each station.  In the end, we were convinced that the english visitors left knowing more than others.  As well, every hour on the half hour, they ran a fantastic movie in the enclosed theatre that covered the disaster as well as the developments in vulcanology that resulted from it.  It turns out, with the St. Pierre disaster being the largest modern volcano disaster, it pushed the great leaps in the science of vulcanology.

An exquisite map of Martinique using Google Earth Technology!

Laurie is trying to find the route we took a couple weeks ago to climb to (almost) the top of Mt. Pele.

Looking down at Fort de France, the capital.

Wandering around inside while we listened to the 19 stations while looking at photos.

A poster in the hallway giving us more insight into the center of the volcano.

Station 4 of 19

Laurie listening to the talk at station 6.

If I could digress for a moment, I wish to add that the science still has far to go, according to Bill Bryson, author of "A Short History of Nearly Everything".  Apparently, volcanology is still a dangerous science, and these scientists are constantly dying as a result of misinterpreting the signs of a pending eruption.   Not many old volcanologists around, I guess.

 

Other stops we have made since St. Pierre include Trois Islet and Fort de France.  This is a picture of the ruins of Josephine's family's sugar and rum refinery, followed by the Schoelcher library. 

Josephine's residence

Schoelcher Library

Schoelcher was a French cabinet minister who pushed very hard for the end of slavery, and therefore became a Caribbean hero.  The building is just about totally made of metal.  It was designed by Eiffel, manufactured in France, and then assembled here.

derelict building in St. Pierre

Cat Tales sitting on the far right

Our front yard that day!

Typical street in St. Pierre

 We'll be staying in Grand Anse d'Arlet for the next few days awaiting the next 'weather window' to safely sail back to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia.  Lorna and Brian have emailed us asking us to bring important French supplies.  The photo tells the tale!

Yup...5 red and 2 white!  Averaging about 9 euros a box or 3 euros a liter.

                          

back in Grand Anse D'Arlet, martinique

Laurie and I finally have internet again and will try to put up a post tomorrow with pics. We were in Fort de France for the last 2 nights and couldn't connect to a thing. The French are sharp that way...rarely do you see a connection that isn't locked down!

We went to the chandlery this morning, one of the places where you can check in and out of Martinique. We won't be heading to Rodney Bay St. Lucia until either Sunday or Monday due to the high winds, so we were able to check out right then and there for Monday next week. That's unheard of in the English islands! The French just seem to want to get the data, rather than officiate. We'll stay here and do a few hikes and a lunch or two on the beach. They serve you lunch at rickety old picnic tables and serve you the coldest beer ever, all with your feet in the sand and your eyes looking at the bay and your boat! We'll do a bit of snorkeling as well. Turtles and starfish are numerous here.

Mom writes and tells us that winter at home is a little coolish and depressing. February starts later in the week, so it can't last forever...that's from someone sitting in her bathing suit enjoying the 28 degrees on the boat!

Every weekend, we get a great long email from Liz at home in Flower's Cove. She tells of all the news at home; all about friends and the happenings, along with some of the world news. Always great to open her emails each week!

All for now. We'll try to get some picture up soon for you!

Anse Mitan

Laurie and I are sitting in Anse Mitan enjoying the touristy things they have here...food, music, water toys, jet skiis (sea fleas) etc. etc. We'll be moving on to Trois Islet tomorrow. More info when we get a good wifi connection!

Cheers, Dawn (& Laurie)

safe arrival in Martinique

After a wild ride from Dominica with a couple of squalls accompanying us, we arrived safe and sound in northern Martinique yesterday at 4:30 pm. We'll enjoy a walk and lunch in town and then will head to Anse Mitan tomorrow.

Leaving Dominica

It is approaching 9 PM and we are getting ready for bed. The sail is uncovered, the dinghy roped and tied, and most things tidied up for a day of sailing.

We'll rise in the dark and wait for some light to allow us to navigate through the anchored boats and out into the Caribbean Sea. Our weather advisor Denis advises that tomorrow is the best day of the week to travel back to Martinique, but the information he provided conflicts with 3 other sources. Regardless, the worst we will see is 22 knots, and 9 foot waves. As long as the waves are not too close together, we'll be able to do the 5 hours between the islands. The whole trip is 3 hours down the side of the island, 5 hours across the open water, and about another hour into a little town called Saint Pierre. We expect no trouble; and indeed, have inspected our fishing gear.

Chances are poor that we will have WIFI there, so there may be a little delay before our next weblog.