Bonjour Martinique

After spending a month in St Vincent and the Grenadines, we left Bequia and headed north for our longest Caribbean sail yet: 100nm up the west coast of St Vincent, past St Lucia and on to Martinique. It was a mixed sail. Between the islands, the winds were generally Force 5 (17 – 21 knots), gusting Force 6 (22 – 27 knots) and, as is usual for this area, they were from the East or North East. This meant we were either on a reach or close hauled at speeds of 7 – 8 knots. In contrast to this, while in the lee of the islands, we had no wind and had to motor.

However, one great thing about our visit to Martinique was the access to ‘enormous’ supermarkets (well they seem enormous compared to the ones we had been using in other places). These supermarkets will provide you with almost anything you want…baguettes, a vast selection of cheeses, meats of all kinds and, of course, wine. It all comes at a price though: we were definitely back in Europe.

Le Marin turned out to be a great place not only to restock, but also some do boat jobs, with several large (ish) chandleries and plenty of more specialised boat businesses. Needing some stainless work doing, (a light/dive flag pole for the dinghy and some brackets for the boarding steps), we knew that we would be on the island for several weeks. So, not being able to swim where we were anchored due to too many very fast jet skis, after a week at Sainte Anne, we were keen to move location to somewhere quieter.

We headed west to Les Anses d’Arlet, a small seaside village with LOTS of holiday makers. We anchored in the south of the bay at Anse Chaudiere. It was still busy with other boats, but much quieter than nearer the village. Anchoring here took some care as the changing wind and movement of the water, meant that the anchored boats swung in different directions to each other. We had to make sure we chose our spot carefully to give other boats plenty of room and then watch any newcomers to check that they gave us room too!

From our anchorage, we were able to watch the local fishermen. This was fascinating as they seem to spend most of the day motoring around throwing small pieces of twig into the water. Then, every now and again, they would zoom off in a big circle, throwing in a net as they went. Next, they pulled in the net, regularly stopping to beat the water with large sticks.  We were not sure if this was to ward of the circling pelicans or stop the fish escaping over the top of the net. Whatever the reason, it was a very labour intensive process which did not seem to result in many fish.

One afternoon, we wandered the streets of the small village, admiring the quaint old buildings, strolling along the beach and visiting the ornate church. I have never seen one with chandeliers before! This was all between dodging the downpours – Martinique is the wettest island we have visited so far.

Venturing further afield, we walked around the headland to Grand Anse. This is a pretty beach with clear water lined with numerous restaurants. The area is a marine park and the sea bed is covered with sea grass. A great home for turtles, so no anchoring here.