Martinique

On Wed 9th we left St Lucia, bound for Anse Mitan, Martinique. We left early as, with 35M ahead of us we were expecting a fairly full days sailing. However, V1494 was feeling frisky and was creaming along at over 7kn much of the time so that it was only 1300 when we dropped anchor.

Skip went ashore to check-in with customs & immigration while the crew stayed on board to prepare food. Within 5 mins of landing I bumped into Mike from "Gypsy Blue" who we had met in the Cape Verdes & received a drinks invite for later. After another 5 mins I bumped into Michelle and Eve from "Cries & Whispers" who we had got to know in Gran Canaria & we arranged to share a hire car the next day to explore the island.

Michelle did all the driving & Susi & I were happy to sit back & enjoy the view (the locals were pretty mad drivers anyway). Some highlights of a long but interesting day were: Getting lost in the rainforrest on a little gravel track; our hero deciding to climb a palm tree for coconuts, then falling down it; asking an old lady (Julienne Mars, 83) for directions & being invited into her house for ice-cream; trying to clean half a rainforrest off a hire car with 3 baby wipes.

The next day we needed a lazy day to recover & to open my coconut but the day after that we moved on again and are now anchored off St Pierre, the old capital which was destroyed in 1902 by the eruption of Mt Pelee.

This machine has no USB port so, sorry, no piccies this time.

Off to Dominica tomorrow, probably.