Martinique (via Dominica)

We left Les Saintes on Friday 4th January and sailed to Prince Rupert Bay in the north of Dominica. We had been advised to pass by Dominica by several people, as it has a very bad reputation for hassle from boat-boys and theft. It is however a handy stopping off point to save a night sail to Martinique. We were approached by a little boat when we were 3 miles off Prince Rupert Bay. Edison introduced himself as one of the official guides to the indian river tours, and said he would come and see us when we got in. This he did as soon as we had anchored. We told him we were only there for the night and said we would look him up if we wanted to do a tour on our way back north. He seemed happy with that and went off to see if he could do better elsewhere. We anchored off Coconut beach hotel in the south of the bay and had a very peaceful night, although, we were awoken early the following morning by howling dogs on the beach.We left Prince Rupert Bay at 0700 and met up with Hecla who had left three hours earlier from Les Saintes. We sailed in company to Saint Pierre on Martinique. On the way, Hecla was surrounded by a school of pilot whales.

There was hardly any wind all down the coast of Dominica, but we were able to sail as soon as we rounded Scotts head. As we approached Martinique we were hit by a squall with 28 knots of wind and rain (Just as well we were too lazy to shake out the reef!). This obliterated Mount Pele completely! Thankfully, the wind abated as we approached Saint Pierre. We anchored as close to the beach as we dared on the narrow shelf in 5 meters of water (The shelf drops rapidly down to 60 meters). Within half an hour, we were unhappy with how we were lying and re-anchored in a better spot. We went ashore to a restaurant run by ex-yachties, where we had an excellent meal. In the restaurant, we bumped into Irvine Watson of 'Spirit of Clyde', a 38 ft moody from Inverkip Marina, that had taken part in the ARC. We had met them before in Lexios in northern Portugal. When we compared notes of our crossing, they told a tale of a dramatic rescue of a Frenchman,who was also eating with them. His boat had hit an unidentified object which damaged it's rudder. This had left a large hole which led to the rapid sinking of his boat.

The following morning, we went ashore to get fresh bread for breakfast and then got underway to Fort de France. It rained all morning. , and yet again Fort de France greeted us with 25 knot squalls.We thought of Margaret Broomfield who had just started her Caribbean cruise on 'Royal Clipper', and hoped for sun. We thought we could see 'Royal Clipper' at the other side of the bay, but got no response from our attempts to contact them on VHF. Marina Pointe du Bout, on the other side of the bay from Fort de France is surounded by shops, retaurants and hotels, and there is a frequent ferry service to Fort de France.

We spent a day in Fort de France, but found that all the shops have moved out to large out of town malls, leaving the centre of the town looking very delapidated. We left the boat in the marina for a few days and hired a car with Bill and Jane to tour the island. Our first stop was a replica of the Sacre Coeur, built in 1923 to give thanks for God's protection during World War I. From there we continued up the windy road heading north to Mount Pele. On the way, we visited Le Jardin de Balata, a fabulous display of tropical trees and flowers. It is incredible that this garden was only created in 1981. They also have a number of feeding stations for humminbirds, so we have the rare opportunity to see them close-up. Here is a treat for you flower lovers - just a few of the lovely flowers we saw.

We continued north, past Mount Carbet. We stopped for a brief walk in the rainforest. The 100 foot canopy covers every possible space on the mountain slopes. Every tree is covered in moss and giant creepers. Giant ferns compete with other large shrubs for light and other plants grow on top of dead branches and other rotting material on the forest floor.We drove as far as the road would take us to the foot of Mount Pele. The summit was veiled in cloud.

We next went to La Falaise Gorge at Ajoupa Bouillon, for what we thought would be a quick swim in the river before lunch. We got a bit suspicious when we were told to leave all our clothes, wallets, cameras etc behind and climb down the gorge with only our swim suits. We were however asked to take the guide's luch down to him. We climbed down steep steps for about 400 feet through the rainforest to the river, and waded thought it to the hut where we were to meet our guide. Again the faded sign, claiming no responsibility for those who entered the gorge without a guide, gave us another indication of what was to come. We waited for 35 minutes for the guide to appear, thinking that this was possibly a good ruse so the locals could rifle through unattended cars. He eventually made an appearance with a group of very weary people looking like drowned rats. One exhausted woman said 'Bon Chance' as she passed. What had we let ourselves in for?

The guide's mood improved greatly at the sight of his lunch and we were soon underway, walking through fast running water up to our knees. This all changed when we turned the corner into the gorge, with verticle walls of rock on either side. Our caving experience in Gibralter prepared us for some of what was ahead. For the next 40 minutes, we swam and climbed up the narrow gorge with huge torrents of water pouring over us. It was sometimes difficult to find a foothold, as the strength of current pushed against us. At one point, Gillian lost her grip and fell into a deep pool. We eventually reached La Falaise Cascades, an incredible forty foot waterfall. After a brief stop, we headed back downriver to the guide's hut. The return journey was just as exhilerating, but we knew what to expect. Unfortunately, we don't have any photos of this amazing experience because the digital camera isn't waterproof. We then had to climb back up the steep slope, soaking wet and our shoes squelching. We had a well deserved lunch in the restaurant at the car park. They are obviously used to reviving exhausted tourists and gave us huge portions of chicken colombo with local root vegetables. By the time we finished eating it was 1530, and we were too late to see any of the museums at St James. We drove back to Fort de France and visited the largest of the malls. We tested the suspension of our hire car to the limits as 'Sulmar' and 'Hecla' stocked up for our trip south to the Grenadines (mostly beer and wine!).

We now have a couple of photos of our waterfall experience courtesy of 'Hecla'

The next morning, we were all feeling a little stiff and bruised, so set off for a less physical day of museum visits. We went to the sugar cane plantation museum at Trois-Ilets. It depicts the way sugar cane has dominated the economy and the culture of Martinique, from the plantation system with its slave labour, to sugar factories and present day rum production. It seemed only natural to continue from here to St James Distillery to find out all about rum production. It is very like the whisky production process. They make a white cane spirit and the longer it stays in barrels, the darker it gets and the more mellow it becomes. After a few samples of 50% proof varieties, we decided we should stop for lunch. We had a picnic on the old slave train that now sits in the grounds of the distillery.

We next went to the Musee de la Banane. There are very informative exhibits describing everything you are ever likely to need to know about bananas. We walked through part of the plantation and saw bananas at various stages of ripeness. They have over 20 varieties of banana including one which is completely black. We also saw bananas being harvested, sorted and washed, weighed and finally packed.We were able to sample bananas themselves, but also delicious banana cake, banana chips and banana kepchup.

We drove south along the impressive eastern coast, fringed with reefs to Le Marin. We stopped briefly in Le Vauclin to have a look at the reefs in the bay. Our backs were turned for 5 minutes and we returned to find a local youth with an interesting piece of coathanger trying to break into the car. The car hire company had warned us not to leave anything in the car, and to take down the parcel shelf to show that there was nothing in the boot. We hadn't expected that it would happen with us 20 metres from the car. We stopped to have a look at the facilities in the large marina at Le Marin and the anchorage at Sainte Anne and then drove back to Pointe du Bout.

We checked out of Martinique the following day at customs and immigration in Fort de France. The cruiser ship dock was close-by and we spotted a 'Royal Clipper' launch bringing people ashore. We tried to find out if Margaret was ashore or aboard, and asked if we could get a message to her. The crew were extremely unhelpful and eventually, a fellow passenger agreed to pass a note to her. They also refused to confirm their itinerary for the following week, so we were unable to plan to meet-up elsewhere.

We left Pointe du Bout marina the following day, but by the time we had said goodbye to Bill and Jane and got ready to sail it was too late to make St Lucia in daylight. We opted to sail 20 miles down the coast to Sainte Anne and anchor for the night. This would also give us a better angle on the wind for our inter-island passage. Rainsqualls had been forecast, but we were hit by four separate squalls in four hours, one lasting 30 minutes and completely obliteration the famous Diamond Rock. This rock was capture by the British Navy in 1804, fortified, and used as a battleship, the 'HMS Diamond Rock' (much to the annoyance of Napoleon). For eighteen months, it was held and was a very unpleasant surprise for ships approaching Martinique. We sailed between the rock and the mainland, but saw neither until quite some time later. The photo below shows Diamond Rock from the anchorage off Sainte Anne.