Volcano's, Rum, River Cruise, and ?????

Martinique

Le Marin

On December 8^th, we revisited Le Marin, Martinique, anchored in the same area as before and dinghied over to the nearby marina to check in to customs and immigration.  Since we had already explored the area with a rental car on our last visit, we decided to travel under cloudy, and rainy skies the next day and grab a mooring in Grand Anse d’Arlet. Unfortunately, the area was very rolly, and uncomfortable, so the next morning, we moved on to St. Pierre.

Mt. Pelee, St. Pierre, Martinique

On the trip down to Trinidad, we anchored in St. Pierre but did not go ashore as both the crew of Slow Dancing and Navigator thought to spend time in the Martinique’s capitol, Fort de France.  We noted in the cruising guide that before 1902, St Pierre was considered a thriving port town known as the Paris of the Caribbean until the tragic loss of 28,000 residents during the volcanic eruption of 400,000 year old  Mt. Pelee.  

The book went on to say that even though the city had numerous advanced warnings of the volcanic activity, the mayor chose not to evacuate the city bending to the dictates of the surrounding merchants who were heavily invested in the city.   

So, armed with this information, I wasn’t so sure that I wanted to visit there, thinking (mistakenly) that it may be quite run down and superstitiously, Mt. Pelee could erupt again.  I didn’t express my concern to Cliff though especially after he told me that he planned to visit two rum distilleries on the island.  

We dinghied into town, found the town to be charming and also found a great little restaurant called La Tamaya, owned by a retired from sailing French couple., It was very small, cute  and decorated with sailing paraphernalia.  .  During lunch, the owner’s wife asked if we were on the Sailing Vessel Navigator. Stunned, we asked how she guessed and she responded that our friends on Slow Down had lunch there yesterday and told her to expect us.  

Cliff rented a car so that we could tour this side of Martinique as well as the two rum distilleries.  We traversed up and down and around the mountainous roads, complete with lots of overlooks, gorgeous scenery, and numerous switchbacks. Our first stop was Habitation Depaz, a rum distillery and plantation that was surprisingly beautiful. Mt Pelee rose high behind the plantations mansion which in turn overlooked an incredible view of the Caribbean Sea.  

Habitation Depaz Mansion with Mt. Pelee in back ground

From there, we drove on to find the second distillery , Rhum J.M, a smaller one but this one too was had a lovely setting near a mountain stream. 

Mountain Stream by Rhum J.M.

 

 

 

 

This area of Martinique had so much to visit and explore.  We were so glad that we took the time to go there before moving on to Dominica.

 

Dominica

 Portsmouth

Sunset in Dominica

We moved on to Portsmouth, Dominica on Dec. 15^th.    Other boaters described the area as one not to be missed.  It was our understanding that the island had been hit hard from a hurricane while we were in Trinidad and in fact, most of the boaters from Grenada and Trinidad, donated clothing and food to aid in the disaster. 

Dominica is unique in that the locals boast it to be the only island that Christopher Columbus would recognize today as it is still pretty undeveloped.  As in some of the other islands, boat boys are prevalent but Dominica actually has a boaters union (if you will) that insures a safe environment for the many cruisers who visit.  Our boat boy’s name was Jeffery (the boat boys appointed leader) and he helped us with the mooring as well as directed us to customs, and arranged a row boat tour of the Indian River, the next morning.   

Bridge and Road Destruction from Hurricane, Dominica

We were delighted to board and share the oar powered skiff with the hard muscled tour guide, and a young non-English speaking French couple.  After meandering down the river, viewing a few more sets from the Pirates of the Caribbean film, we tied up at a dock where the guide led us on a walk through a trail along the river. Our guide pointed out numerous plants with leaves used for medicinal purposes.  We stopped at a small hut where the owner was selling cold, fresh juice made from fruits and coconut grown on his farm. 

After a demonstration on the proper way to open a coconut with a machete, we again boarded the skiff and headed back to town.  

View of the Indian River from Wooden Skiff

"Pirates of Caribbean" Set, Indian River

 

Guadalupe

 The Saintes                                                                                                                        

Sunset in the Saintes

On December 18^th, the winds were up, so we raised sails, reefed the main, opened the staysail and headed for the Saintes.  We arrived in four hours averaging 7 knots. 

After checking into customs, we walked the town to shop, and to have lunch at a restaurant that we particularly liked the last time we visited but alas, found it missing.  After questioning several locals, we found that they had no recollection of that particular venue resulting in our total confusion.  So, for dinner, we chose a different restaurant with its own dinghy dock, located a little way out of town.  Turned out to be a great choice and it more than made up for the disappointment of not finding what turn out to be our invisible restaurant. 

Checking the weather, we decided to stay put in the area through Christmas as seas and wind were strong for the next 7 days.  

And another Sunset!

Our next stop was Deshais, Guadalupe to check out from Customs and Immigration and surprise, surprise, there situated in the exact setting we described to the Le Saintes locals, was L’Amer, our missing restaurant.  Shaking our heads, Cliff and I consoled our poor memories by reasoning that visiting so many places is bound to muddle our brains. Might add that after all the effort to find the restaurant, we were disappointed in the food this time round.  Oh well!!

 Antiqua  

We left for Antiqua at 7:00 am. the next day and arrived at Falmouth at 2:00 pm.  Cliff dinghed to shore and walked to English Harbour to check in.  The next day, we took off for Jolly Harbor to spend New Year’s Eve. Upon arrival, we were surprised to connect with our friends on Slow Down who were also in the marina.  So, we joined them and another couple traveling on an Island Packet for a festive New Year’s Eve dinner at a Jolly Harbour Restaurant.  We stayed there for a couple of days through Cliff’s birthday where I treated him to Sushi (ugh!) in a well-known Falmouth Harbor restaurant.

 Soon after, we took off for Dickenson Bay, spent the night at anchored and then, the next morning, headed into St John’s Harbour to explore the town. 

Egrets in mangroves, St. John's Anchorage

 There, we found a strange place to anchor near the Cruise ship dock and dinghied in to explore the vibrant little town, thankful that we evaded the ship's crowds that were expected the following day.  We found a charming restaurant whose second floor veranda overlooked the busy street below and provided great people watching entertainment.    

St/ John's, Antigua

We dinghied back to the boat and spent the night at anchor. 


The next morning, we got an early start back to Jolly Harbor to check out and set sail for St. Martins.  This time bypassing by St. Kitts and St. Barts.

 

 

St Martins:

 Cliff and I looked forward to another visit to St. Martins as the island has great shopping, restaurants and a bar that makes the best strawberry mojitos in the world with real berries and mint. 

As we did last time, we anchored in Marigold Bay and dinghied into shore to enjoy lunch at our favorite restaurant, Le Galeon.  After lunch and a bit of shopping, we were headed back to the dinghy when a small car with two college age kids stopped us and gave a spiel about scratching off two tickets and winning a free drink and a special as yet undetermined grand prize.  Of course I won the undetermined prize and since we had nothing better to do at the moment, agreed to go with them to a 5 star hotel on the Dutch side to claim it.  Now, we figured it was a sales pitch for a time share but, this guy and girl were really great salespeople and so, off we went. 

Alas, there was a traffic jam and they were unable to take us there after all so, we agreed to meet them the next morning to try again.   After meeting a 
cabdriver who ended up taking us there at the hotel’s expense as well as giving us a short tour of Phillipsburg, we once again set off to hear the ‘spiel’ and satisfy my curiosity about my prize.  Several hours and one free drink later, a veteran salesmen informed us that I won a week’s stay at an Orlando hotel (but I would have to pay the sizable room taxes) and we were awarded a free dinner at a beach side restaurant.   The hotel summoned another cabbie to take us back to our dinghy.  We then decided to hire the same driver to take us back to Phillipsburg on the Dutch side where we spent a couple of hours exploring its multitude of cruise ship  type shops.  

Later, we headed back to the the boat and prepared to leave for the BVI's the next morning.

Next: BVI’s, USVI, Spanish VI, Puerto Rico, then the Dominican Republic.