Rhum and Ruins
Water wheel driven sugar cane press in the grounds of St Pierre zoo.
Heading north from Bequia we made an overnight stop in Rodney Bay, St Lucia, but did not check in, leaving the next morning to make the crossing over to Martinique. The sail was sporty at times as we sailed across the passages between the islands. We had to resort to the engine however while in the wind shadow of St Vincent and St Lucia, with their high central mountains. We passed sites of previous memorable hikes; the volcano on St Vincent and Petit Piton on St Lucia.
Arriving in St Anne, Martinique, we were again back in familiar territory. We knew where the grocery stores were - and the all important boulangeries. There were more boats than in previous years, maybe we were still seeing the effects of Covid-19 reduced travel in 2022. The rather sparse cheese shelf in the grocery store told of high demand, which they were obviously having trouble satisfying. Fortunately the wine shelf was still well stocked.
We reunited with old friends and made new friends. We had Nella and Björn from Think Twice over for sundowners. It was fun to start thinking about our planned summer in Sweden and get some tips on places to go. We also organized a dinghy float from Helacious with the crew of BeBe, Pathfinder, Think Twice, Kerpa and Tribute.
After a few days the fridge was once again full of food and we welcomed old pals Lee and Lys onboard. We revisited some of our favorite places in St Anne, including the lovely hike around the peninsula and Anse de Saline beach.
We sailed up to St Pierre and anchored off the town for a few days. We enjoyed visiting the ruins from The 1902 volcanic eruption of Mount Pele and exploring the restaurants in town for lunch.
Re purposed ruin in St Pierre
A most pleasant and unexpected surprise was the zoo. The grounds were beautifully planted, the combination of plantation ruins, history and well displayed animal habitats made it a fun afternoon. I think my new favorite animal is an anteater.
Two toed sloth heading for lunch.
Our final stop was Anse Mitan where we enjoyed some fine dining in the small tourist town and rented a car to visit the Clement Rhum Distillery. We had visited the previous year and really enjoyed the outdoor sculpture park in addition to the tasty product.
A week flew by and Lee and Lys left us. We returned to Le Marin and St Anne as we had an appointment with the Rigger. As we are planning another circuit of the north Atlantic over the next couple of years, it seemed prudent to have the rig checked by a professional. We have sailed 20,000nm and things can and do wear out or stretch. The riggers were in high demand and we were left waiting for a few days. To fill the time Brian started working on a few boat projects. One was to redo the ventillation for the composting head. Occasionally on passage when we get green water over the deck of the boat, some water is forced down the ventillation shaft for the toilet. The water passes through the fan and quickly renders it useless. We could either stock up on fans and consider them disposable, or fix the problem. The solution was to create a catchment vessel with drain, and have the toilet fan installed above so it is no longer in the path of any ingressing water.
Another quick job was to re-bed the hatch above the head. Again it is only on big passages when water is flowing across the deck do we have a leak in the hatch. Once Brian pulled the hatch out, it was clear why…. the sealant was only 95% around the hatch, more sealant and hopefully that is good to go. The riggers came to perform the inspection. It was impressive how thorough they were and simply got down to business as soon as they came onboard. No time for chit chat. All shrouds, lifelines, sheets, mast fittings and winches were closely inspected. Our rig was apparently a little loose, the mast was too vertical (a slight backward bend toward the top is preferred). Tightening the backstays should solve both issues. However our shrouds are very heavy duty and required an expert to tune. We had to wait several more days for the job to be finished. Another issue was the slight wobble in the gooseneck, the point where the boom attaches to the mast. This Brian can deal with at a later date with some new washers.
As soon as we were cleared to go, we sailed up to St Pierre and met up with the crew of BeBe and Pathfinder. The following day we all gathered at the bus station for the #3 bus to Fonds-St-Denis and the start of the Canal Beauregard trail. We had done this wonderful hike last year and wanted to share with our friends. This year it had rained considerably more and the canal was over flowing in numerous places. The soggy sandbags did not fill us with confidence. However we all survived, no-one slipped off.
Toward the end of the hike we came upon a Kapok tree filled with these beautiful yellow birds. Village Weavers, originally from Central Africa, had colonized the tree with their intricately woven nests.
We rewarded ourselves with a delicious meal at L’Alsace A Kay, an authentic restaurant serving food from the Alsace region of France. A bonus was this same restaurant had the customs computer, so we checked out of Martinique and set sail early the next day, Dominica bound.
Farewell Martinique.