Dreamtime goes to Martinique

5/30/06 - 6/7/06  and  4/13/07 - 4/22/07

‘Scott  Free’ decides to head out to Dominica where they will rent a car and do a tour of the island.  We are going to save Dominica for this coming winter season, and so we  plan on jumping down to Martinique instead, about 65 miles.  Tried to leave in the AM but found the winds too strong and, not surprisingly, on the nose.  ‘Diesel Duck’ and ‘Dreamtime’ decide to make it an overnighter, which usually means calmer conditions and reduced sea states.  Sure enough, the run is very nice, and we make the lee of Martinique around breakfast time.  I cooked up a celebratory breakfast of bacon, eggs, fried rice and guava turnovers, accompanied by a nice black & tan, and after 10 years or more, we opened the bottle of Usquabach scotch that my folks gave us and had a wee dram - we had been saving it for a very special day.  A large pod of porpoise showed up and sported around the boat… it’s a tough life but someone’s got to live it. Headed into Trois Islet to anchor as conditions off Fort de France, the capital city, were deemed too rolly.  Made a very quiet and early evening of it. Moved back over to Fort de France to anchor for the day as the plans call for renting a car and having a driving tour of the island with Marlene and Benno.  Wonderful sights to see, Martinique is a fabulous island with big sprawling banana plantations and sugar cane fields.  We make the trek over to the Caravelle peninsula, on the windward side, then up to Mt. Pelee, which had huge Australian tree ferns and other rain forest flora.

Long stretches of banana trees

The roadways had wonderful traveller palms and palm trees

Looking out at the Caravelle Peninsula, on the east coast

The view up towards Mt. Pelee via the rain forest

Huge australian tree ferns on Mt. Pelee's slopes

View from Mt. Pelee

After a nice shop in the Hyper-U at the Galleria, we head back to the Anse Mitan to anchor for the evening in the hopes of seeing some of our old cruising flotilla buddies we hadn’t seen since Georgetown, ‘Casa del Mar’, ‘Lioness’ and Nereiah’.  Had a sundowner planning session at the marina bar. The next morning we head around Cape Solomon to stage for a quick run around to Cul de Sac Marin, and dropped the anchor in Petite Anse de Arlett.  While enjoying the morning in town in search of a baguette we suddenly realized that all the towns people were lining the shoreline and cheering.  Low and behold, a gommier boat race was in progress, and what a site to see.  Square-rigged, with bamboo mast and booms, the main keel is made from a single gommier tree.  Very colorful and exciting to see.

Gommier Sail-Canoe Boat Race

Headed out around 5:30AM for a quick run around Diamond Pt. Rock and made for the beach off St. Anne’s rather than entering the lagoon at Cul de Sac Marin.  Spent several days re-provisioning, relaxing and visiting with Marlene and Benno on 'Diesel Duck'. With another tropical wave headed our way, we opt to head out very early for St. Lucia.

St. Anne's Beach

Heading past St. Lucia's Pitons

Spring Reprisal -  4/13/2007 through 4/22/2007 During  our short visit to Dominica it became evident that the wind gods were going to be in our favor for a trip down the windward side of Martinique.  During our last visit we had driven to the Caravelle Peninsular and were taken with the beauty of the various bays.   With a weather front about to come through the winds would be out of the NW for some hours just ahead ot it.  This was our time to get going and make the passage.  We made an overnight trip of it and the weather cooperated beautifully, we were able to sail almost the entire way. Judging from the charts it was a bit intimidating for me to see all the evidence of reefs in these bays, but in fact it wasn't that tough to get around.  We cleared customs in Havre de la Trinite, the town at the cruz of the northern side of the Caravelle Peninsular.  Since we were finished early we decided to go ahead and head around to the choicer cruising grounds south of the peninsular.  Some of the places we went were the Baie de Galion, the Havre de Robert, Ilet Oscar, San Suici and Petite Grenade.  All short distances from each other so that if you plan the transit during the best visibility it's a piece of cake.

Coming around the southern end of the Caravelle Peninsular

Leaving the southern end of Dominica

Tucked-up (right) in Havre de Robert, (left) looking out to sea from the anchorage

Ilet Oscar, a popular offshore island for daytrippers, it has a good local restaurant

The anchorage behind Petite Grenade, looking eastwards.  To the west are banana plantations and other agricultural homesteads.

After a great time we headed south then westward around to the anchorage at St. Anne's for a visit with 'Diesel Duck' and a much needed shopping trip in Cul de Sac Marin