Martinique

Waterfall hike, Martinique.

We had a fantastic sail over to Martinique. It took about 12 hours, and was a little bumpy with the swell, but not too bad. We started off with a brown bird who kept circling our boat, diving occasionally for the flying fish. Eventually we had a few more join him and then as we sailed into the anchorage near Point Catherine, we had about 10 of these birds. They were quite comical, as they'd dive over and over again, attempting to catch a fish. They'd get lucky about every 50 dives or so. What a challenging way to catch a meal.

Point Catherine anchorage was lovely and calm. We enjoyed a nice paddle around. It has a long stretch of beach, perfect for stretching the legs after sailing. The following morning, we navigated all the fishing buoys (they are just about everywhere, including the channels, so be on the lookout) and entered the Cul-de-sac-Marin. It is extremely crowded in here! We anchored off of Queen's island, away from the hordes of boats, and dinghied over to Le Marin Marina to toss the garbage and check into the country. Checking in at the marina office was fast. Just go into the computer room on the right (don't bother to wait in the line), fill out the one page form, submit, and wait for your name to be called. You'll be asked to sign the paper and pay 5 euro. That's it. They don't ask to see any boat docs or ask any questions. Super quick and easy!

How boat kids take out the garbage.

After checking in, we dinghied over to the Leader Price grocery store dock. This dock was donated generously by the property owner for cruisers to use. We had a walk around the town, scored a Digicel data card (Google Fi towers were down), hit up the bakery, and stocked up on some provisions. The Leader Price store has better prices, but make sure to go in the morning or everything is picked over by the afternoon. The Carrefour market is nearby but small and prices are double that of Leader Price. There is a larger Carrefour on the island, but you'll need a rental car.

We met up with some other sailing families who invited us for drinks and hangout at a place called People's Beach. So, we hauled anchor during a squall and dropped the hook in St. Anne's Bay. This is a huge bay and has plenty of space for many boats. We still felt a bit crowded though.

Hiking trail near St. Anne anchorage.

5pm found us tying up to the floating dinghy dock in front of Pirate's Beach Restaurant. To the left is a jungle path that leads to People's Beach Resort. At one time, this must have been a nice resort. It is still maintained, but not very busy (maybe it is still the low season). There are a couple of above ground pools, games for the kids, and nice drinks for the adults. They were not serving food yet.
The kids had a blast playing laser tag with the other boat kids, swimming, and hitting up the foosball table. We had a good chat with a few other families and didn't get back to the boat until late. It was a fun evening, as we always enjoy meeting new sailing families.
We hung around this spot for a couple of days, met up with some friends we met in the Med for drinks back at People's Beach (kids really enjoy the pools there), and then decided it was time to move on. The clock is ticking, as we need to get to Panama in April.

Anse D'Arlet town. This building reminded me of Greece.

We moved around the corner to Anse D'Arlet, and had a great time there. We spent the day snorkeling and saw more fish, sea turtles, and colorful coral than anywhere else! The bay is super calm and we loved it here. Early the next morning, we grabbed some bakery treats, and then set sail for Anse Noir. We had read there was great snorkeling here and the interesting thing about this spot is it has black sand, where as the bay next door, Anse Dufour has white sand. We dropped anchor at the back of the bay (being shallow draft cat, we can get away with that), and put out a stern anchor to keep us from swinging into the other boats ahead of us. It became quite crowded in there after a while and by sunset, we were packed in. We were very glad we had the stern anchor to keep us away, as the wind was light and fluky inside that bay.

St. Pierre ruins

We learned all about St. Pierre's tragic past as well as how the Caribbean islands were formed. Did you know there are two different aged groups of islands?

The next morning we checked out Fort de France and then sailed up to St. Pierre, where we enjoyed the next few days exploring the town, volcanic and science museums, and snorkeling the underwater statues. Sundowners with friends topped off the experience.

Next island: Dominica

Sailing to Dominica.