The adventure continues – February 28, 2008 , updated March 19, 2008

February 18: We remain at Anse mitan. After breakfast we remove the genoa and the mainsail cover. Both are in need of repair, and we understand that there is a sail maker here. We take the sail cover ashore to look for the sail maker and to see if the hairdresser has an opening. Elisabeth is afraid she will find out what color her hair really is. Well, this is France. Both businesses area closed on Monday – it wouldn’t do to be available for the tourists too often. Finding the sail maker is an adventure – nobody seems to know where it is, including clerks in three stores within 50 meters of the actual location. We ask the local real estate agent – je suis desole, monsieur. When we finally find it, it is back to back with the real estate office, in the same building. We enjoy café au lait and a croissant at the Delifrance, and return to the boat. Close examination of the genoa shows that the tear is only in the spreader patch. We pull out the repair tape supplied by SSteve Thurston and make the necessary repair ourselves. We then clean up the boat in preparation for Helge Alten’s arrival. We visit Windscape 2, a nearby American-flagged Sabre 38 from Boston, and meet the Knapps, who have been cruising for over a year. They are on their way back north. They give us the code for the wifi network at the marina, so we go in to update our blog. Text is straightforward and quick, but it takes hours literally) to upload a few pictures. The computer battery dies before the job is complete. We decise to go for pizza at a local place recommended by the Knapps. After a good pizza we return to the marina to await Helge’s arrival. He arrives about 8:30, tired and hungry. The restaurant le PonTon is fully booked for the evening, so we go aout to Singoalla for good French bread, cheese and wine, then a good night’s sleep.

February 19: After breakfast we leave the mooring and go into the fuel dock to refill diesel and water. Then we head back over to Fort de France for reprovisioning. When we dropped the genoa for repairs, we found that the halyard had a number of broken strands just by the shackle. It had somehow been stressed during the 2,000 miles or so the sail had been up. We decide to buy a swaging device at the local chandlery, Sea Dervices, a generous offer from Helge. It turns out that Sea Services will provide swaging services, but does not sell the equipment. Larry goes back out to the boat to remove the halyard while Elisabeth and Helge go shopping for food and wine. Larry has a problem when the eye connecting the messenger to the halyard proves to be weakened by the sun and parts. He brings the halyard into the chandlery to be repaired, but there is no messenger line in the mast for easy reinstallation. We return to Singoalla and set sail under main alone for Grand Anse d’Arlet. We make 7 knots in relatively flat seas, so the genoa isn’t really missed and we are happy. We have trouble locating an island that shows up on our way on the chartplotter. When we check the paper chart, we find that the island does not exist. That’s a little scary, and reminds us to always check navigation data from more than one source. When we arrive at Grand Anse d’Arlet we anchor in the northwest corner where we expect to find a quiet lee. To our surprise, we roll around quiet a lot in swells that come into the bay from the southwest. We note that there are more boats in the southeast corner of the harbor, and decide to move there. We find a place quite close to sore in 15 feet of water that is quiet and comfortable. We enjoy Helge’s champagne before dinner, and consume 2 bottles of red wine with our grilled steak dinner. As you might imagine, we sleep very well.

Elisabeth at the mast top re-installing the repaired halyard

February 20: We elect to stay in this pretty harbor for the day. In late morning we go ashore, looking for a bakery and Wi-Fi Internet access. For some reason, we ignore le Pti Bateau, a small restaurant right at the end of the dock and walk along the beach to the extreme north end (after some helpful advice obtained by Helge from some locals) to Ti-Sable, reputed to be the best restaurant in the area. We spend a couple of hours updating the blog and using Skype to contact Elisabeth’s mother and sundry other acquaintances. We consider staying for lunch, but find the restaurant’s prices to be commensurate with its reputation. We walk back to the center of ‘town”, and find a tiny store where we can buy bread and some reasonable French wine. After lunch on board, we hoist Elisabeth to the mast head to drop a new messenger line down the inside of the mast so we cn install the halyard. She is very nervous, but survives the trip and does a very good job. We bend on the repaired genoa and roll it up on the head stay. Helge discovers that we have managed to cross the genoa halyards, so we repeat the process and do it right this time. We read, relax and swim for most of the rest of the afternoon. We grill a steak for dinner and make a serious dent in our wine supply.

Helge relaxes in Grand Anse d'Arlet

February 21: We plan to sail to St. Lucia, but first we have to clear out. We decide to return to Bakoua where we can use the internet to clear out, and we leave early, before the daily weather forecast. We set out with 2 reefs in the main and a small amount of jib. We discover that it is blowing about 30 knots as we start to head into Baie de Fort de France. We decide that this is not fun, and retreat to Grand Anse d’Arlet where we anchor within a few feet of where we spent the previous 2 nights. To make the best of it, we go back ashore and, of course, find the Internet. You will probably have guessed that le Pti Bateau has a very fine Wi-Fi arrangement. We sit under a tree on the beach and Elisabeth calls her mother o Skype. A heavy rain squall drives us under the roof, so we decide to have lunch there. Not spectacular, but tolerable. We need fuel for the dinghy, but find that there is no gas station anywhere nearby. We decide to rent a car to tour the island, but the town’s only car rental agency won’t have a car available for a week. Oh, well, reading and relaxing on the boat aren’t so bad. Elisabeth makes a great pytt I panna for dinner, and we go early to bed.

Looking for the green flash

February 22: We give up the plan to go to St. Lucia. There is not enough time to get there, see anything and get Helge back for his flight on Monday. But we are really tired of Grand Anse d’Arlet, pretty though it is. We determine to go to Ste. Anne on the south coast of Martinique whatever, the weather wee may encounter. We have a terrific sail: very fluky winds down the west side of the island varying from moment to moment from 5 to 25 knots. When we round Pte. Du Diamant we find steady winds at about 27 knots. We set the sails to accommodate the conditions and have a great time sailing past the other boats we see. We conclude that catamarans have an big Achilles heel when it comes to going up wind. We tack inside an interesting historic island, HMS Diamond Rock. This island was actually commissioned as a ship of the British Royal Navy, and they harassed the French from here for many years in the 18th century. The French tried repeatedly to take the island, and finally succeeded by allowing rafts full of rum to float downwind to the island. The resulting condition of the British sailors made the conquest rather easy. Ste. Anne is a beautiful anchorage. We anchor next to a boat flying the Swedish flag, a 30 foot Albin Ballad named Balder from Gothenburg that reminds Elisabeth of the sister ship owned by the Wickelbergs for many years. We talk to the couple on Balder. They have been sailing that little boat throughout the Caribbean since 1996! We go for a short walk ashore, find the local 8-a-huit, and provision for a couple of days. We also (wonder of wonders) find an open filling station so we are able to get fuel for the dinghy. Dinner is Elisabeth’s first real disaster, although it is no fault of hers. We had bought mahi-mahi on skewers to be grilled. They were so salty as to be almost inedible. We also poured out most of the bottle of Muscadet that we tried first. Nevertheless, spirits remained good and we disposed of our customary quantity of good wine.

Grand Anse d'Arlet is very pretty

Helge steers an exhilarating beat towards Ste. Anne

Larry takes a turn at the wheel

Evening below on Singoalla

February 23: Today Helge becomes Elisabeth’s hero, twice! First, after breakfast as Elisabeth is coming up on deck we hear “javlar”, a not too polite Swedish expletive. Her favorite hat has blown overboard. (This is the third time that this has occurred.) Helge is wearing swim trunks and immediately plunges in and retrieves the hat. A short time later we hear “javlar” again. Elisabeth has decided that the grill needs to be cleaned. In her enthusiasm she picks up and begins to brush what she thinks is a single part of the grill. It turns out to be two, and a soot-blackened 4 inch stainless steel disk falls into the water and immediately fails the float test. We are fortunately anchored in only about 17 feet of water. Helge and Larry put on snorkels and masks and look around for it. Larry soon concludes that his vision is not good enough to make out any details on the bottom. Helge, an experienced diver, takes a different approach. He swims down close to the bottom where he can see better. We give up after ½ hour or so and decide to wait until the sun is higher for better vision. Elisabeth serves a nice chef’s salad for lunch, and Helge makes another try for the grill part. After repeated dives Elsabeth tells him to give up – we will order another from the States. “OK, just one more dive,” says Helge, and returns with the disk. Amazing when you consider the amount of swinging the boat does on 75feet of anchor rode, and the unknown angle at which the disk-shaped part would sink. We raise the anchor and motor into the protected harbor at le Marin. We are startled to see at least 3 sailboats resting on reefs – looking as if they have only recently gotten there. We anchor just south of Banc Grande Basse and take the dinghy into the marina to look around. We have decided to rent a car Monday, so we make arrangements then take a short walk through town. The local church has more statues than you might expect. It seems that a ships captain donated the bulk of his cargo to the church in response to a promise to God when his ship was saved from a major storm. We return to the boat for chicken and pasta dinner, then read ourselves to sleep.

Le Marin on Martinique is a major yachting center

February 24: We arise at 7:00 after a very restful night in the protected harbor. We feel we have not been getting enough exercise, so we plan a long walk ashore. The best place to start according to the guide book seems to be Ste. Anne, so while Elisabeth prepares a lunch to take with us, Helge and Larry move the boat back to Ste. Anne. Raising the anchor is somewhat unpleasant as the bottom here is very sticky mud which Helge has the pleasure of washing off. We anchor at Ste. Anne near where we were before, and go ashore at about 10:00. We walk along a beautiful coast trail past beaches and cliffs to Plage des Salines. We arrive thirsty and hungry about noon. We quickly down 3 coca colas, find the lone vacant picnic table (in the sun – that’s why it is vacant) and enjoy Elisabeth’s marvelous chicken sandwiches. We walk back along the road through a very pastoral landscape unlike anything we have seen in these volcanic islands – herds of cattle in lush meadows, and lots of small white herons who seem to have a symbiotic relationship with the cattle. Back at the boat at about 2:00, we go for a swim to cool off, then move the boat back to le Marin. We “dress for dinner” – that is, we put on long pants for the first time in a very long time, and go ashore for a farewell dinner at Indigo – shrimp fritters, lamb filet or shrimp Creole, and ice cream for dessert, all accompanied by copious amounts of good wine.

Beautiful beach on Martinique