Can You Find Iles de la Petite-Terre on a map?

(Because we have used the iPad for uploading this blog, many of the pics are very large. Click on the photo to see the entire photo depending on what device you're using to view this blog)

We are sitting off St. Louis, Marie Galante, waiting to run in to a nice French lunch with the crew of Charlotte D and their company, at a restaurant called Chez Henri.  We hope to use their wifi to share our adventures.

We attended the Sunday night barbecue with the PAYS crowd, and sat with new friends from the Victoria Falls expedition and a rental boat named "Life of Riley" we had originally met them in a Martinique restaurant.  It was the usual fun, followed by the usual recovery day.  We shopped primarily for the great Demerera rum on Tuesday, then had a wild but fun sail to Les Saintes on Wednesday.  With south winds forecasted for Friday, we stayed only long enough to clear customs, do a hike and have a poulet colombo pizza, then left for Marie Galante on those favourable winds.

A view from the top of Les Saintes

We have had one nice lunch, albeit with 4 euro beer, and a "Bokit" sandwich with 2.5 euro beer.  Sadly, the Bokits were like gristle sandwiches - so terrible in comparison to the similar lunch in Martinique.

Another spectacular sunset. This time from Marie Galante looking toward Les Saintes!

We went on a hike, just the two of us, called the "sentier de Vieux Forte".  Easy paths through low trees and along country roads, with a little mutt dog that insisted on accompanying us.  Upon our return, we added up the journey and realized we had traveled 19 kilometres.  

After a day of rest, and with a forecast of settled weather, we took a chance on a 16 km sail to a little place called Petite-Terre, to the northeast.  Doyle's Guide suggests that great snorkelling and a beautiful anchorage awaits IF! there are no breakers running across the entrance.  Sadly, the breakers were there; and it took only one to pick up my stern even before the water went truly shallow, and interfere with our ability to steer to make us turn around and head back to open water.  The sail back was nice, but uncomfortable with our tails between our legs (writers should avoid cliches like the plague 😜).

Nope...not going to try getting in here!  Breakers were constant and huge!

We were half way back when we got the idea to put a fishing line out.  Within a half hour, the wild zing of the reel being emptied of line brought us to attention.  We put the boat into the wind until we were on a stable but slow tack, and I fought a monster for about a half hour.  We do not know how we got to keep both our fishing equipment and the mahi mahi!  It was a big 54" bull, and as it became stressed, it changed colour from iridescent blue to iridescent green.  We realized it was being followed closely by its mate, that stayed blue.  We had so many mixed feelings while fighting the fish and landing him, but to get him off, we could only gaff him and get him aboard on the dangerous swells.

54 inch Mahi Mahi!!  The ONE to catch!

I filleted him while we were traveling in the calm lee of Marie Galante, then cleaned up the fillets after reanchoring.  We have approximately 34 servings!  The boat looked like a crime scene, and it was another hour before our anchor beer.

Yesterday, we took it easy, then had the four people aboard Charlotte D for supper, dealing with much of the fish that could not fit in the freezer.  A large portion is awaiting Bill and Lynn coming to visit at the end of the month!

We plan to stay here until next Tuesday at least, and indeed have reserved a car for Monday.

A sweet little flower along our hike. Dawn believes it to be in the orchid family. 

Northward to Dominica

We arrived in Portsmouth, Dominica, yesterday; after stops in Schoelcher and St. Pierre, Martinique; jumping to Roseau, and then coming north up the coast of Dominica.  The trip was not bad, but little fun; as we had to motor the 17 miles directly into the wind and swells, both coming from the north.  It is great to be here though, talking to the marine services boys and awaiting a big barbecue beach party for Sunday night.  Last year, with brother Ken's help, I had made some placards in English and French for Bounty (who says we are his adoptive parents), explaining what services he could offer to visiting yachts.  He reports it has resulted in a significant increase in business.

Lorna and Brian left Anse Chaudiere,in Martinique on the 4th of January, the day after our last weblog.  They returned to Rodney Bay St Lucia for an insurance survey and to enjoy some time with many of the cruisers who return there after each Christmas.  We enjoyed one last lazy day in that beautiful calm anchorage, then started to travel north.

Our first intended stop was Schoelcher, just across the large bay of Fort de France.  The trip was like open ocean, with sharp waves and wind gusts to 27 knots.  We found good holding in close, up behind some local moored boats and made tracks to find an advertised craft beer brewery.  The brewery was in a big restaurant which was in a massive theatre that had many showings - possibly a dozen.  It must be movie central for the whole island.  However, we noticed they were all blonde beers, no scenery, and at a premium price; so we lost interest, and determined that we'd buy two cold 1/2 litre Lorraine beers when we pick up the groceries, and drink them on the dock, looking at the ocean.  We did just that, and then headed back to our boat just after 1500h so we wouldn't be late for the Cat Tales Happy Hour. 

However, Happy Hour was not to be.  As soon as we left the dock, we noticed that Cat Tales was ass-to-the-wind.  Getting closer allowed us to see a half dozen pirogues with fishermen, one of which had tied a rope to our swimmer's handle and was using his 40-50 hp to pull her back along the anchor chain against the 20+ knot wind.  We quickly got on and tried to put some sense to the scene, but the fishermen were yelling in patois, and my bit of French was of little value.  It seems, or we guess that they had set a large net behind Cat Tales, and the current was carrying it into our boat before they could either set it correctly or harvest the fish or something.  We untied their line, turned the boat around, picked up the anchor, and made a very large arc away from the activity and back to sea.  I was quite happy to check that the little handle was not pulled out or loosened, and a little angry that the men had not considered tying to the giant cleat just a few feet away (assuming all that had gone on was necessary).  As we have learned, this kind of (possibly callous) treatment by the fishermen is common in most of the islands.  Indeed, we have learned that most island people do not understand the economic benefit of anything unless the money goes directly and immediately into their hand, and often act against their best interest because of this poor understanding.  This is a statement not made in anger, but in sadness.

We put our boat into high gear, and, after finding no near anchorages that suited us and the weather conditions, finally put a hook down in St. Pierre, just before dark.

A view of St. Pierre, Martinique from our hike up the hill.  This is a typical cemetery found in the French islands.

Mount Pele, just outside of St. Pierre.  It's rare to see it without clouds covering the top!

Laurie walking the beach south of St. Pierre

We were surprised to find okra growing along the roadside.  It grows on top of a long a tall skinny stick like bush.  Okra is the thickening agent used in gumbo because of its sticky consistency.

 St. Pierre was very pleasant.  We combined our trip to clear customs with a hike up and out of the town and then a truly excellent French lunch.  While we waited for a weather window, we also got in a great snorkel and swim and a walk on the beach.  Sadly, on a wreck in shallow water, we counted six lionfish - an invasive species that looks beautiful, but has long, poisonous barbs that look like long feathers.  This species is very docile, but just sits and vacuums up the young reef-dwellers we love to visit.  Which reminds me, I had bought a rubber band-loaded trident in Marin, and had killed my first lionfish in Anse Chaudiere.  These ones, however, were too deep for me.

Denis of Tiger Lily II, our weatherman, told us Tuesday was a great time to get to Dominica, and it was a fun sail - for me.  Dawn found it just a little bit scary.  We stopped at Roseau and rented a mooring ball for 3 nights.  We spent one full day hiking in and around Roseau, and the next with a hired guide who took us to the east side of Dominica and up the White River to Victoria Falls.  The tour was with 3 other couples and we were all picked up at our boats at 9:00 am and delivered back in the dark around 6:00 pm.  The drive to get there and back was outrageous, especially with the damage done in Hurricane Erica a season ago.  I'll let the pictures tell you that story.

Roseau as seen from our hike up Morne Bruce.

Dawn hiking up "Jack's Walk" to Morne Bruce Fort from the Botanical Gardens in Roseau, Dominica

More outdoor furniture ideas for the resourceful!

Moses, a rasta who lives at the base of our hike, fed us "Ital" lunch.  He made us a vegetarian stew made of roots and vegetables from his land. 

After crossing the swift river a few times and swimming a short section, all that was left was to clamber up the last section to get to the pool.  This was a very challenging hike that Octavious (from Sea Cat tours) took us on, indeed!  You can see Laurie getting up one of the last sections to the left.

 

Hearty Ital stew full of starchy roots, carrots, green beans and okra to thicken.  The rastas don't eat salt, but it could have used a smidge...

Technical:

Not much good news here.  I have to research some anomalies in our Raymarine electronics to see what is up.  Hopefully some calibration might straighten most of it, but we are also getting error messages about the AIS antenna.

We had the bad luck of burning up an alternator belt on the way in to Roseau.  Repair was quickly accomplished, but I have spent at least an hour cleaning up the black soot that totally coats the port engine compartment.  As well, the search for the source of a nuisance leak in the port hull continues.

Good news is that I was able to source an Italian tap for the bathroom while in Canada, and replaced the existing one that was deteriorating earlier this month.  Of course, like anything on Cat Tales, it is easily done if you know how to stand on your head!

Hiking Martinique

I(Dawn) will head into the little town of Petit Anse  d'Arlet to get an Internet fix and will post this little blog. 

After a few days in Anse Mitan to see the fireworks, we headed back down to the south part of the coast of Martinique with Peace and Plenty. The water is very clear here although there aren't many fish to see. 

Here is a great example of how not to anchor!

...and another!

Snorkelling in Anse Chaudiere just off of Petit Anse d'Arlet. 

Here is a beautiful tree growing out of the roof of a restaurant in Anse Mitan. 

In between hiking we take time for socializing. Here's Laurie demonstrating an ocean wine gimble. 

We decided to do a hike starting from the next bay over, Petit Anse, and determined that we would need to take the bus from here in order to have enough steam to do the entire hike. Well, as usual, the bus schedule was obtained too late and we had missed the first bus. Because it said that the ride would be only 4 minutes, we decided to hike to the beginning of the trail head. We knew that it would be steep up and down to get to the next bay, however, we had no idea a that we would have to go all the way up and down four times to get to the other side. So...2 hours later, we obort our hike and settle instead for a short hike to see Source Chaude. This is a sulfur pool where many used to go to clean up at the end of the day!

We saw many beautiful flowers along our way on the paved road. This, I believe is a form of hibiscus. Isn't it a beauty?

Lorna and Brian still smiling after all the up and down to get to the next bay!  What good sports!

Petit Anse, Martinique 

Post card beautiful!

Lorna and Laurie hiking to the Source Chaud (hot springs, but not so hot)

Our return trip actually included a bus ride. So many times we have waited in one of these bus stops, only to be disappointed and forced to make the trip on tired legs.  The buses here are huge and air conditioned. It would seem, that whatever France has, these French islands have. It's a shame they didn't scale the size down a bit as the switchbacks and outrageous steepness of the roads doesn't make manoeuvring them that easy. At every turn, they blow their horns to warn walkers and drivers of their BIG BUS presence!

Yesterday also involved a wonderful lunch in the little town. We are always amazed at how cold they keep their beer!  The French cuisine is a treat, for sure. 

Lorna and Brian have decided to leave us here and head back to St Lucia for a few weeks. They have many sailor friends who arrive there after Christmas and they'd like to spend a little time with them. Laurie and I will stay in Martinique for a few more days and then will head north to Dominica and then on to Les Saintes. 

Happy New Year to all!  

Ha, I can hear a bus rumbling down the hills blasting the horn as I type!

Technical

Here's our newest solar panel. This one is in addition to the two panels over the davits. Lots of power for Cat Tales!

A little over a week ago, Laurie spent the better part of a day working on our 2006 Tohatsu dinghy engine in the hot sun in the lee of a small dock.  It had been unable to accelerate in gear for some time.  Although plugs were cleaned and regapped, needle valves were exercised, tank filter was cleaned and fuel filter was replaced; he attributes success to a debunking spray that was liberally sprayed throughout the carburetor assembly to remove the decade of mixed gas varnish.  Tiny bolts, slipping gaskets, and blue air.