December 23 Original Martinique Post

December 17-18 Marin and CarenAntilles, Martinique
We are now in Martinique and plan to stay here through Christmas. What a fun and new and exciting place to be. Neither of us ever having traveled to Europe, what struck us first is how much this place truly feels like a foreign country. St Martin was frenchy-fied; Martinique is French through and through. The streets are lined with shops, bistros, bars and coffee shops. Everyone speaks French although a few shopkeepers speak good English. It is somewhat easy to immerse in a Spanish country and fake the language, not so here.
Marin and the neighboring CarenAntilles are huge yachting centers. The marina holds several hundred boats and the large anchorages hold a couple hundred more. If one needs parts or boat work done, this is THE place. Fortunately we need neither and so have enjoyed exploring the area and both towns.
We found a McDonald’s. None throughout the entire Caribbean. Some of you may remember the famous scene from Pulp Fiction in which John Travolta and Samuel Jackson discuss not being able to order a quarter-pounder with cheese because they do not know here what a pound is. We are pleased to report that we have personally verified that this is indeed true and that it is called a Royal with Cheese. Also of note is that 90% of the population here is very thin. The only 5 fat people in the entire country were in the McDonald’s. Everyone else was at the market buying roasting chickens, leeks and baguettes. The markets are fun…very well stocked and reasonably priced with lots of fun, new things. The labels are all in French but thankfully there are also pictures. My favorite find today was coconut yogurt.
Bathing suits here are crazy sexy. I tried one on but decided that I did not have the guts to wear it in Texas. Expensive too. The dollar is weak against the euro and with the exchange rate it would have been $207 for a scrap of lycra…a girl has got to draw a line when unemployed so I decided that diesel fuel would be a much more fitting purchase for that amount.
Miscellaneous weird things. Pay toilets. I should have investigated further but we were still trying to find an ATM that accepted American debit cards (many do not). Security grocery carts outside the market. You have to put in money to unlock them but it is refunded when you lock it back. Inside hand carts are free. A French equivalent of Pier One Imports. Christmas trees in every color BUT green. I might could go with blue or red but felt sorry for the brown Charlie Brown tree…still on the shelf a week prior.

On Sunday we moved around the corner to St Anne. A quaint little village with a church on the square whose bells we can hear pealing from the boat. The anchorage is beautiful and not nearly so crowded with excellent snorkeling. We have reconnected with our friends from Bold Endeavor and Alianna and are planning a Christmas dinner on the beach. The town is having a Christmas celebration on the square for Christmas Eve complete with a live Nativity. We are looking forward to it.

We will pull out of here the day after Christmas to go to Fort de France. It is the capital city of MArtinique. We want to check it out and will check out of the country before heading north to Guadaloupe and Antigua. Hopefully they wil have internet in the bay. Writing today from a sidewalk cafe....
Merry Christmas!!!!

December 21 St Anne, Martinique

Well, I had a text all written for these pictures but that will have to wait until another time. These are pictures from Marin and CarenAntilles, Martinique. A wonderful country but very foreign, very French. Some vendors speak English but otherwise it is very hard to get around.
At a cafe hunting and pecking on this kinky French keyboard.
We will stay here through Christmas unless we go crazy first from communication issues...not with each other....with everyone here, the internet and phones! But is is otherwise very strange and very wonderful and we are having a magnifique time.
It is true...no qurterpounders in France.

December 17 Rodney Bay

First things first. Just for grins, we fired up the satellite radio receiver, and whadyaknow, it works!! We have previously been too far south to receive the signal. We learned important news of the world, such as the fact that Jimmy has printed a new record and we were unawares....

I simply can not get enough of St Lucia sunsets. Here are a few shots from my last night here:

The rest of the photos are dedicated to Skip.

That 300 person "cruise ship" came back in yesterday and left in the afternoon. I went up on deck (from all the WORK I was doing) to find this on the horizon. I was wishing for a telephoto lens but made do with what I have so that you could see it "under sail". No doubt the jillion horsepower iron jib is at work as well....

Dig this. Today, this anchored beside us. Neither French or German, so it was a respectable and safe distance from us. Look closely. This is a Morgan 41 Classic. WITH A CUSTOM SUGAR SCOOP STERN!! Not to mention the ultra-sexy paint job. I can say with a reasonable degree of certainty that this is the only time the thought of " look at the butt on that girl" will ever cross my mind, much less deserve utterance....ain't she something????

Baby, I want that real bad. Add that to the 40K and rising post-cruising upgrade list.

Yesterday afternoon, we went over to S/V Aleana for sundowners. We were joined by S/V Opus and S/V Bold Endeavor. We are all traveling in the next day or two to Martinique and plan to spend Christmas together. Today, we were hailed on the VHF radio by S/V Como No, anchored 100 yards to our starboard beam, and then were joined in conversation by S/V Half Moon, anchored 50 yards to our starboard bow. The couples on both these boats are all from the Dallas/Ft Worth area and are traveling to Martinique tomorrow as well. Further, they are both ultimately on their way back to Kemah, Texas as are we. What a very small world. Como No has been out 12 years. We look forward to their stories. We hope to meet them in person in Martinique and may well have traveling companions the whole way home.

Everything is tidy and tucked away. Passage tomorrow. Only 26 miles.

December 14 Rodney Bay, St Lucia

On Saturday, we dinghied over to the other side of the bay and went ashore to visit the fort that overlooks Rodney Bay. The French and British battled over the island for many years. In addition, the fort was used by the US during WWII as a signaling station. We were pleased to run across S/V Aleana and S/V Bold Endeavor who were both anchored there. They are also traveling to Matinique so we hope to spend Christmas with them. Rosie and Sim of Aleana had met Skip down in the Dominican Republic and they joined us on the boat for sundowners later that afternoon to visit with Skip.



Here are some scenes from the fort and of the bay from on top of the fort.

Craig took Skip to shore to meet n 0530 cab ride to the airport. We have certainly enjoyed having him aboard.

It is still rainy and squally here. Offshore reports indicate 35 knot winds and 12 foot seas, a bit much for us even for the relatively short 26 mile run to Martinique. We will hang around here and wait for the seas to lay down, catching up on laundry, refueling and provisioning the boat. It is nothing but work.....

:)

December 11 Rodney Bay, St Lucia

Greetings from Rodney Bay, St Lucia. Today we checked in with customs which was a madhouse due to the ARC. Boats from all over Europe and England are arriving hourly after a 14-16 day passage across the Atlantic Ocean.

My camera is retired while Skip is here.......

A view of Rodney Bay from the top of a hill. Baby sailor students. Pirate ship....

Sunsets to die for from the boat....

Walking the docks where the ARC participants are recovering, airing out boats, bodies and gear, except for this lively Italian guy who got busted by the security guard for walking down the dock smoking a joint. "You can't smoke that on the docks, man".