We continued our way north against the prevailing wind. The plan was to checkout of St Lucia at Rodney Bay and then make a short 21nm passage to Martinique. We noticed our friends yacht Kerpa (Paul and Kirsten) on AIS at Rodney Bay so we anchored on their stern and had a brief catch up on the latest news of their adventures. The next morning we checked out and took Aura into the marina so we could refuel (duty free). The sail to Martinique was in near perfect conditions, initially motoring to pass the choppy waves near the point and set an angle towards St Anne. We were not alone, several other yachts had the same plan and we “raced” with an Oyster yacht the entire distance (we won :-).

The Martinique customs arrival formalities are unique and dispense with any bureaucracy. The check in is a self-service computer terminal that’s located at a lunch snack shop, the guy behind the counter checked that our passport numbers matched the print out of the online check in. With the formalities complete we spent time catching up on news with Gilbert and Isabelle (Vent d’ailleurs), who we hadn’t seen them since Cartagena. Thanks to Gilbert for the water taxi service, town tour and acting as an interpreter with the snack shop/customs authority.

St Anne

The French have kept some special holiday type destinations around the world and Martinique is certainly one of them. We found the St Anne anchorage very comfortable, a short dingy ride to the beach or the town dingy dock. St Anne is a small village with the essentials such as two bakery/patisseries, two supermarkets, plus fruit, vegetable and fish markets. A two nautical mile dingy trip took us to the town of Le Marin, where I found several large supermarkets and multiple ship chandleries. The latter being ideal for Aura’s maintenance bits and jobs.

After we’d settled in it was time for a short sail to Grand Anse where we celebrated Dee’s birthday (La Mischief). Several months ago, we had planned to be at this anchorage the very same week to celebrate Gilbert’s 60th birthday. The timing was right as was the sun and the beach strip of bars and restaurants at Grand Anse. Dee birthday also brought together a few of our friends that we hadn’t seen since Barbados, Geoff & Linda (Janika Lycka) and Martin & Rita (Maisie). The unplanned next day after party was also lots of fun. Kim ended on the back of La Mischief after not wanting to swim over the sea snakes. Kim and Dee started with a few glasses of bubbles that then turned into lunch on Aura with Isabelle and Gilbert also joining the frivolities. Over the next few days we also caught up with Sameera (Roland, Astrid and kids) plus Laridae (Eric, Angela and kids).

We had plenty of “Li-low Time”, floating at the back of Aura with a drink in hand. Our “Li-Low’s” have become a popular feature, not only do we enjoy them but also our friends.

Gilbert’s birthday plans changed and he moved the event back to St Anne so they could provision for the event. Their rental car plan was dashed as no vehicles were available. Gilbert and Isabelle hosted a fun evening and prepared a number of local dishes that were enjoyed with the local rum cocktails of lime and sugar syrup.

The Australia Day celebration was the next calendar event. It required a few honorary extra’s as our local Australian count was us plus Steve from La Mischief. That morning we hoisted the Australian flag bunting, the Boxing Kangaroo and “rafted up” Aura and La Mischief then cracked a beer. Stralya Day was underway; we’d planned a gourmet lunch of snags with dead horse n fried onions served on a slice of white bread. The esky was full of beer, box wine and ice and the fun began. The sun was shining the water was cool, everybody had fun. Plus there was plenty of Li-low and paddle board action. Herman (Thetis) made a delectable salad and steaks. Dee cooked up a feast and Steve managed the Barbie. A big day was had by all. The honorary Aussies for the day also included Laridae, B n G, Modjadji, Kerpa, Vent d’ailleurs and Teiva. After dusk, Rob even decided to have a late night swim back to his yacht…..quote “I only swim between 10am and 3pm”.

The next morning bacon & egg sandwiches were a necessity, we were still rafted up so Champagne was also in order, after all we are in France and Kim and Dee never says no. Later that morning, La Mischief headed back to the marina at Le Marin for a few minor scheduled repairs. We haven’t seen them since……maybe we are a bad influence?

A day can disappear in an instant for example; task is to check the generator oil level. Sounds easy enough with an expected task time of 5 minutes, simple! Oh that’s right up until the level indicator stick breaks off resulting in a full day working in a cramped position dismantling parts so to fish out the broken bit. A big thank you to Rob for your support with this “incident”.

It was great spending time with friends, morning coffee withB n G, a walk on the beach and swim with Vent d’ailleurs, lunch on-board followed by dinner in a local creole street food café with Kerpa. Our three weeks at this beach side corner of France flew by.

Sadly it was time to leave; we had started to grow roots (and a reef with nasty barnacles). The passage to St Pierre was brilliant; we glided out of St Anne with the main already up as I had made an adjustment to the leech cord. The sun was shining with a gentle 18knts of breeze. We settled back at an easy 6knts of downwind sail towards the south west tip of the island. We tacked up the leeward side of the island, the majority of the time we had the wind at our 60 degree sweet spot with 25 to 30knts of breeze. We arrived at St Pierre where it was grey and drizzling. This town is shadowed by a cloud covered volcano that had destroyed a town of 30,000 in 1902 with all but two perishing. This was the capital and the financial centre of Martinique, today it has a comfortable yet broken and near ghostly feel about it. Its ruins are beautiful yet sad. Putting this history aside, we explored the village visiting the museum and the ruins of the theatre and prison. Lunch was an ocean view and a set menu at a French Creole restaurant. Ceviche flying fish for starters with Kim having the lamb curry and I had the octopus dish as a main. A rum cocktail was the complementary aperitif. We devoured the banana flambé and coconut cream deserts in an instant. A sleep was definitely in order and yes it was time for us to checkout, hoist the dingy on the deck and look at making passage to Dominica.