We just landed in Sainte Anne, Martinique on Sunday, and by end of day Monday, we had:
Visited with Terry and Evelyn (Aquarrelle);
Visited again with Aquarelle along with Denis and Arlene, who are vacationing on land, and with Susie and Lance (Queen Emma) at a coffee meeting at Palle Coco;
Did the “Chicken Walk”, circling the town and returning with a barbecued chicken and fresh produce;
Enjoyed a Boubou Bokit with Swiss friends (s/v Opus);
Had happy hour with Denis and Arlene, Terry and Evelyn, Debbi and Rick (Clarity), and Fran and Chris (Changes).
We returned to the boat, and walked the next day to Saline Bay for a beach lunch. Seems it doesn’t take too long to conquer a place anymore.
We had said our sad goodbyes to Steve and Maria over a couple of Ti Punches in Pte-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, and had a very nice 4-hour sail into the Saintes, finding a mooring ball immediately. I should say two other things happened, however: Our ground tackle, filled with the organic of the Pte-a-Pitre harbour, began to stink immediately, making our enjoyment aboard rather difficult. Because we are required to take a mooring ball in Les Saintes, we were stuck with our smelly chain and anchor. We opened the anchor locker and aired it out for days, before the odour disappeared. I also had to clean a lot of barnacles off the boat, and truly scrub our bronze propeller assemblies.
As soon as we were tied up, we announced our arrival to good friends from Cape Breton: Catherine and Peter (Charlotte D) besides a couple of good meals and a great happy hour, we also shared a couple of hikes and their personalized tour of the downtown - they have been spending the majority of the last two seasons right here. Something we did together that was novel, was take a ferry ride to Terre d’en Bas, the Saintes island to the west of the basin. We didn’t hike too far, as it was raining, the trails were muddy and a bit dog-toothed after Hurricane Maria, and I (Laurie) had a footwear failure. Still, we enjoyed a good lunch and enjoyed some novel views.
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| Taking the ferry from the main island of Les Saintes to a less inhabited, smaller island, just for the fun of it! |
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| Dawn hidden away in a giant conch shell on Terre e’en Bas in Les Saintes |
Before we left the Saintes, Dawn and I had a good leg-stretcher as we hiked to Fort Caroline, overlooking Baie do Pompierre. We got adopted immediately by a little dog, who I think hiked the same trail 4 years earlier with us and Lorna and Brian. He was amazing, he peed on almost every bush, and then backed up to one bush and hung a dog-poo on the crotch of another bush. Very entertaining indeed.
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| This is the dog who adopted us for this walk. Lorna and Brian may remember him. He was not disturbed by the goat head mounted on a fence post! |
We almost had an accident along the top of a cliff when Dawn became aware that she was standing beside a goat’s head, mounted on a fence post. The scream almost had me jump to my death.
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| Dawn was standing next to this and when she turned to look towards it, the goat head was shocking! Quite a scream came from her! |
Travelling to Portsmouth, Dominica, on January 26th., was another sweet 4-hour sail for us, one of those days when we sailed fast, but without a salty splash on the boat. As it was Sunday, we were able to take in the PAYS Sunday Barbecue, where the boat service people raise money to carry out yacht security. We amazingly had no close friends in the Bay, so quickly made new ones. Of course, we know most of the PAYS guys well, so it wasn’t an issue anyway. While left on our own, we investigated new and old restaurants, and the numerous changes that were noticeable after a two-year absence. At the far end of our wanderings we found a place that served falafel, salad and hummus in a pita, and then did that hike twice!
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| This is the brand new resort Kempenski, located on the Douglas Bay side of Dominica. We saw no paying guests as yet, but there were rumours of a few. It was absolutely stunning! |
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| This is the Moroccan Cabrits resort on the Prince Rupert side of the bay. They have been working on this resort for years now, and they claim that “this is the year”!! They had extensive damage during Hurricane Maria, and had to back track a bit on the construction. |
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| Here in this photo, is the Moroccan Cabrits resort on the lower right, while this brand new development going up the hill is a housing development for locals who lost homes during the last hurricane, along with Citizens for Investment group. A couple of our boat boy friends are already enjoying living there. So, if you wish to have a passport for Dominica, you can! |
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| These lights have been installed all over the island of Dominica. The windmill and solar makes them “off the grid” for the next hurricane. Hopefully, they can stand up to the winds! |
By Friday, we were joined by Anina and Charlie (Prism) and Kim and Dean (Dreamcatcher), and, after a quick tour of the Cabrits Historical Site with other yachties, we were planning a big hike. Tuesday, February 4th., had us hiking the Waitukubuli Trail with them as well as Penny and George (Star Shot). Interestingly, I found out that George’s middle name is Laurence, while my middle name is George (first name Laurence). It was fun and picturesque, though the hurricane damage was always visible, and some landslides were treacherous. One ledge crossing will haunt us for quite a while.
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| The group fresh off the local bus ready to begin Section 13. |
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| Anina and Charlie from s/v Prism hiking section 13 of the Waitukubuli Trail |
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| The end of the trail cool down! |
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| The bus driver gave us coconuts to drink. I’m thinking that it might be nice cold with rum... |
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| Even the cooling relaxing dip was a piece of working getting down to it and back up from it. |
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| The hiking group, or at least the ones who made it over the ledge! |
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| This gentleman showed us one of his dasheen that he harvested. His hiking stick was an old crutch. He was delighted to see us along this lonely, long, steep trail where he farms. |
After dropping off some new brochures for Bonty, our adopted boat-boy, we left Prince Rupert Bay in the company of Dream Catcher, on Thursday, February 5th, and had another nice enough sail over to St. Pierre. After checking in, Dawn and I gave Kim and Dean a reasonable tour of the west coast of Martinique, stopping and hiking in Anse Mitan, and in Grande Anse d’Arlet. In the last spot, we actually did two hikes Dawn and I had not done before. We bussed to a village called Taupiniere, and hiked through the south coast through Grande Pointe, Pointe du Marigot, and Grande Anse du Diamant. Although long, it was a fun, reasonably flat, and shady hike along the shore, with almost no other hikers. The other hike was a previously ignored path over Cap Salomon that looped back to its starting point. Interesting, short, but a little steep and treacherous; with Kim finally “blessing the hill” with her own older Anglo-Saxon phrases.
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| A fishing village just at the beginning of the lovely flat hike. |
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| Hiking in the shade on flat ground for 3 hours...a breeze! |
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| Just before lunch and a beer, we cozied up with some tourists for a picturesque view and photo op! |
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| The next day, the hike was significantly shorter, however, it was mighty steep up and down! |
We split up with Dream Catcher on Sunday, with them heading to Rodney Bay and picking up company, and us coming around Rocher du Diamant and into Sainte Anne. That trip was 4 hours, and a battle into large breaking waves. We found a few leaky windows, 2 which we knew about and 2 we didn’t know about - still a good sailboat, but with some failings as a submarine. One is already fixed as it was just a loose handle on the closure.
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| Laurie doing a little barnacle cleaning... |
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| While I (Dawn) take my underwater camera for a little snorkel. |
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| Here’s a snippet of the article Laurie had published in the Caribbean Compass last month. If you want to read it, go here to download the free magazine.: https://caribbeancompass.com/ and select January’s issue. |
TECHNICAL
Sadly, our biggest problems are our starboard engine and sail drive. First we noticed that our sail drive lube oil was milky, meaning we have failed seals. I ran the sail drive to stir up the oil, and changed the top half - all I can get from the top. I’ll likely do it again before haul out. Then, when checking the engine in Dominica, I found that, once again, the engine had spit out its dipstick and threw out most of its oil in the engine room. I was cleaning that up for days. Now we are babying that engine, using it only for anchoring only, and discussing what can be done. I think another cleansing is in order, and I have purchased a bottle of H5 Heavy Duty Motor Flush.
Otherwise, things are pretty good. I’ve changed one rope in the lazy jacks, and got one of the leaks fixed, and am planning on tackling the rest before the next crossing.
