Unbelievable – We have been in Martinique since January 4^th!!  I guess we should apply for residency. You can see where we are by going to “Links” on this page.  We came here to catch up with Adventure Bound before they moved north to British Virgin Islands, then met up with Rain as they were coming south and then decided we might as well stay here since Paul/Vicki were coming Feb 4^th.  We have had a great time and really enjoying this island/culture – even though we can’t speak French. We will leave once receive part and wind dies down as its REALLY blowing currently.  Below are some thoughts about our time spent there and what we have been doing.

Paul/Vicki came to share our cruising adventure from Feb 4-12^th.  We had a great time and showed them all the good parts of cruising (great hikes, snorkeling, cruisers beach parties, car touring, sailing in squalls, carnival, small projects, southern cross/north star/big dipper viewing, Mexican train dominos game, topless women and bottomless male sun bathers, Mount Pelee, etc.).  It was abit of a scramble the day before they arrived as our eMachine power supply took a spike at internet cafe and so found parts (by walking all over Fort de France) to fix but blew up again. The next day we found another USA cruiser friend coming back down so (as it was carnival and most things shut down) begged to use the Haggen Das cafe for internet to order spare as the plug in is specific to eMachine. Only to find out the next day that cruiser decided to move to different address so had to scramble to Skype (phone) company to get them to ship to new address.  Then had to load drivers from internet (as we thought we had the CD but couldn’t find) and setup MaxSea for our nav charting and electronic charts (initially wouldn’t work). Because it was carnival and no buses/taxis run in Fort de France (main town) where we were anchored, we moved to anchorage over by airport (Le Lamentin) in hopes that it wasn’t a long walk to airport and then catch taxi back.  A taxi costs $20 Euro ($30US) to go 3-4 miles.  The US policies are killing our budget in the French Euro Carib countries.  With my limited French I was able to hitch a ride to airport.  So another successful cruisers day with what we have to do to resolve stuff that land lubbers take for granted.

Martinique (supported by France) is a progressive/wealthy Carib island compared to the rest.  The parks and roads are well maintained and marked to make it easy even in French to get around.  The public transportation is abit expensive and easy to understand.  But cheaper to buddy up with another cruiser and rent a car to tour island for $25E (if rent in advance).  The views are beautiful both hiking and driving.  We buy a baguette, wine, cheese and pate before and then can stop at any view to have lunch.  It appears the French government is starting to farm melons using modern terracing techniques.  It’s lovely to see dairy/animal farms and so appreciate the ability to buy yogurt.  I didn’t realize till just recently that most of the carib islands sell veggies mostly at the open air markets and NOT at the grocery stores and that they can be so different from the British islands (carrots and sweet potatoes are DRY/sour).  We also realized that most marinas won’t charge for water if you buy any amount of fuel but regardless it’s only .01E/liter.  They even recycle most things including used oil here which is very refreshing.  The snorkeling isn’t great as this area is mostly fished out via nets and chicken wire/wood frame traps.  I rescued some fish that were inside an abandoned trap by inverting the entrance channel. 

I like to attend Catholic Church in most islands.  Well I went when there was a festival to bless a new connection road in front of church by having a parade after church.  It was crowded and I got pushed deep into a bench so had to wait till communion to get out.  Felt like old times!  The mass was in French and felt like the old style Latin.

This was our first carnival (4 days before Ash Wednesday/Lent) so was nice to share it with Paul/Vicki.  Plus Tom celebrated his 56^th birthday during this event.  The parades were abet unorganized but what would you expect in the islands.  The French Caribs however move abit faster than the British Caribs and therefore see more Caucasian color.  We celebrated in the main city of Fort de France by anchoring outside the city.  Most stores were shut down the entire time and events would start at 3pm.  Each parade seemed to have the same groups but dressed differently based on the daily event.  Paul/Vicki came with red devil masts, horns and clothing so that allowed us to fit in on that day.   There is lots of partying and men/women cross dressers so made it most interesting.  It seemed that most parade groups had a following as MANY groupies would follow.  They would go around and around the same parade route up until around 10-11pm and then drummers would slowly calm down.  I’m sure the partying continued but we were well in bed by then.  We participated in the black/white devil burning in a smaller town of St. Anne where a lot of cruisers hang out. 

We see a lot of topless ladies on boats (mostly French) and bottomless males at beaches which is NOT the norm at other Carib islands. Some of them should leave there clothes on however!  Another cruiser told us that some call them "knitters" as they are usually doing this on the beach while topless.  Most of them are from mainland France on vacation as you can get a direct flight from Paris to Fort de France.  All ages partake in this clothing activity.

Prior to all these events, Tom/I got stuck in a somewhat nerve racking event in a small narrow anchorage with LOTS of small fishing boats around us. The north swell caught us earlier than expected.  Around 10pm we were awakened by French men yelling at us and moving their fishing boats from one side of anchorage to other – closer to us.  We knew it was too late to move even if we could.  The swell was pushing us closer to shore – there was minimal wind pushing us offshore so we motored back to drop a stern anchor in hopes that it would catch.  It did but our minds wouldn’t shut down as the noise increased from the volume of water rushing on the rocky edges and beach.  We both were trying to sleep but mostly thinking of how we were going to get out of here in the AM once we could see and not wrap a line around our prop or get pushed into shore when pulling anchors.  We were blessed and all worked out but we were exhausted and moved to a quiet anchorage protected from the swell and took a nap. 

It’s so different this year as we keep meeting up with cruiser friends from last year and continue to meet new ones.  So it gives our relationship some diversions which is nice.