The cruise continues – March 7, 2008 , updated March 22

February 25: Once again up at 7:00, breakfast on board, then we go in to pick up our tiny rental car for an island tour. We take Helge’s bags with us and begin by going to the airport where he checks in for his evening flight. We experience Fort de France’s vaunted rush hour traffic – it is impressive – then start up into the mountains. Roads in Martinique are surprisingly good, presumably one of the benefits of being a part of France Outremer. We visit the Sacre Coeur church, an approximate copy of the Sacre Coeur de Montmartre in Paris, of which Martiniquans appear to be very proud. Good views of the Baie du Fort de France. We then drive the “Route de la Trace”, which follows the trail through the mountains used by Jesuit priests in search of herbs and bark for their incense. When we come back down it is to the Atlantic Ocean on the island’s eastern side. We stop for lunch at the Pointe du Vue Restaurant, and there truly is a beautiful view point. We then drive out on the Caravalle Peninsula as far as we can, and walk for an hour or so among the mangroves. It is very hot today, so we stop at a seaside café for a quick beverage, then continue our drive back to the airport. After Helge leaves for his flight, Elisabeth and Larry stop at the first large grocery store we see and buy about all we can carry. Just as we get back to the marina a rain squall comes through. We wait for it to pass, then out to Singoalla for a light dinner of bread and cheese. We decide that we will not drink any wine until our next guests arrive on Saturday. We run the engine for a couple of hours to charge the battery, then lights out around 10:00.

February 26: This is a work day. We don’t have more guests until Saturday, and plan to do some much needed maintenance chores during the week. We go ashore and buy varnish, thinner, brushes and sandpaper at “le Ship”, the chandlery at the marina. We search in vain for the needed screwdrivers. Back on the boa we are visited by a very pleasant Frenchman from the boat directly downwind from us. He says he understands our need to charge the batteries, but he and his wife had to breathe 2 hours of our diesel fumes last night. He points out a vacant mooring nearby that he says is owned by a friend of his, and asks if we would consider moving to it. We are happy to oblige and do so immediately. We are surprised at how near the designated mooring is to the boat behind it. We shorten the bow lines as much as possible and resolve to be very alert to any movement of the boat. We spend the afternoon sanding the cabin sole in preparation for varnishing, then dusting and cleaning with a tack rag. We finish after dark and decide to wait until the morning whe we can apply the varnish in better light. After a light dinner of butternut squash soup, French bread and brie, we read until the internal lights go out.

February 27: We are up early and have a quick breakfast. We plan to try to get 2 coats of varnish today, thinking that the drying time may be shortened in the warm weather. We want the first coat down as early as possible. Afterward we go ashore for laundry and more shopping as soon as the varnish is on the sole. We take the laundry into the “Pressing” where they agree to wash and fold it by noon tomorrow. We then walk to the Carenage, a nearby more commercial harbor, in search of a pump and some screwdrivers. We are partially successful, then go to the Champion grocery store where we find a coffee pot to replace our broken one. We have lunch at Paul, a very nice little bakery that makes wonderful sandwiches as well as good bread and various other sweet delicacies. We return to the boat to see if the varnish is dry – no it is not. We spend the afternoon on deck or in the forward cabin, periodically checking the state of the varnish. At about 5:00 we conclude that we can begin sanding for the next coat. That means that we will only be able to put on two coats this week, but we think that will be a real improvement anyway. We go into Mango Bay Restaurant for dinner, as we thought we would not have access to the galley this evening and have not shopped for supplies. We meet a charming Norwegian who is sailing his Beneteau 42 in the Caribbean for a couple of years. His wife has gone home to Norway for a while, leaving him to maintain the boat in her absence. Is there a pattern developing here?

February 28: Up at 7:00 as usual. Breakfast in the cockpit, then we apply another coat of varnish to the cabin sole. We can’t do much on the boat, so we take the computer to Mango Bay where we work on the blog and other more mundane tasks that require communication. Elisabeth makes a fourth try at getting her hair cut and this time succeeds, a really raffish cut that becomes her very well. We have pizza for lunch at Mango Bay. We continue to try to upload pictures to our blog, with limited success. We take the mainsail cover to the local sail maker to have the zipper replaced. We decide to let the varnish dry all night before attempting to walk on it, so dinner is a baguette and cheese in the cockpit. We get around in the boat by walking on berths and on the stringers where the floor boards have been removed. We sleep comfortably in the forward vee berth.

February 29: Leap year, although we fail to note it at the time. We rise early as usual and spend about 2 hours putting the boat back together. Then we have a general maintenance day: Change the oil in the engine, tighten the fan belt, replace a switch in a corroded overhead lamp, diagnose the same problem in another overhead lamp, try to find out why the refrigeration water pump is not working – we think it is the impeller. After lunch we go into Mango Bay for coffee and ice cream and to try to upload more pictures. After 2 hours wee have not succeeded in getting a single picture up. We pick up the mainsail cover and return to Singoalla to install it. We then go by dinghy over to le Carenage where we get dinghy fuel and shop for groceries at Champion. We return to the boat just at dark. After dinner, we read for a short while, then to bed.

WiFi is very popular!

March 1: Today the Helgius arrive. We spend the morning making the boat sparkle. Larry picks up the rental car at noon, but leaves it at the rental agency as we will not need it until we go to pick up our guests at the airport. When he returns to the boat, Elisabeth announces that the refrigerator is not working, and that everything in the freezer has thawed out. Larry confirms that the compressor is turning apparently as it should, and guesses that the refrigerant has leaked out. Elisabeth takes the dinghy in and buys a huge block of ice which we put into the freezer compartment. Since this is Saturday, we understand that no repairs are possible until Monday, so we will have to find regular supplies of ice until we can get new refrigerant. About 3:00 we pick up the car and drive to the giant Carrefour shopping center near the airport. We load up on groceries then go to the airport to meet Bengt, Lotta and Emelie. They arrive on time, and we are able to return to le Marin during daylight so they can see some of the island. We need two trips with the dinghy to get all the people and gear on board. Our new varnish job, and the refit in general, receive gratifying rave reviews from Bengt & Lotta. We celebrate their arrival with wonderful French cheeses and wine, then unpack and stow gear. It is very late Swedish time, so we retire before 9:00.

Waiting for our guests

March 2: Today is Sunday, and nothing is open. Rather than stay at le Marin all day, we decide to go to Ste. Anne and take the Helgius on a part of the beautiful path along the shore. We want to be in le Marin Monday so we can have someone look at the refrigeration. Larry and Bengt go ashore to return the car keys and pick up croissants for breakfast. For some inexplicable reason Bengt doesn’t understand Larry’s French, and thinks they are going to buy underwear (kalsonger in Swedish) instead of breakfast. We motor over to Ste. Anne and anchor near where we have been before. Lunch is followed by a very nice walk, then we return to the same mooring in le Marin at the end of the day. We have pork carre for dinner, and the pleasure of listening to a long political rally over loudspeakers from the shore.

Ste. Anne from the stages of the cross

March 3: Larry and Bengt go ashore at 8:00 to find the refrigeration specialist. Well, he is closed on Monday. We decide that it is not worth waiting another day, and we will use ice until we can get the refrigeration repaired. After breakfast we leave the mooring and sail around the southwest corner of Martinique past HMS Diamond Rock and up to Pte. Du Bout – a run, mostly wing and wing, to Pte. Du Diamant, where we cross close behind a catamaran on the other jibe. They begin shouting and waving their arms, then rapidly pull in the fishing lines they are towing astern. We attempt to apologize in sign language. An easy reach up to Islet des Ramiers is followed by a beat in a fresh breeze to Pte. Du Bout. A very pleasant introduction to Caribbean sailing for the family Helgius. We pick up the same mooring wee had two weeks ago. We go ashore and walk around the Pte. Du Bout area to see if we can find someone who works on refrigeration, without success. We pick up a few supplies at the perfectly awful 8@Huit, then return to le Ponton for beers before returning to Singoalla. Elisabeth and Lotta prepare an excellent salmon dinner. The night is peaceful except for a couple of small rain showers.

March 4: Larry and Emelie go ashore to buy the morning’s baguettes, then clear out via Internet at the Bakoua marina. We return with ice cubes and a full tank of dinghy fuel. The weather guru has declared that today is a good day for passages between islands in the Eastern Caribbean, so we set sail immediately to see how far we can get. Roseau, Dominica, is about 50 miles away, and we decide to try to reach there. We sail up the west coast of Martinique, mostly at between 7 and 8 knots. We hit a few dead spots behind high headlands and, since we are in a hurry, we turn on the iron genoa and motoer through them, usually in a matter of a few minutes. We have an excellent passage between Martinique and Dominica with about 4-6 foot seas and 20-25 knot winds. Bengt steers most of the way and has so much fun he wishes the passage were longer. We contact Pancho on our approach to Roseau, and his assistant leads us to a mooring about 75 feet from shore. This seems pretty close, but we realize that about 200 feet from shore the water is about 200 feet deep. We tie up for the night, and our guide agrees to pick us up at 9:00 in the morning to go to customs for clearing in.. Pasta with tomato sauce for dinner.Several rain squalls during the night disturb our sleep.

Bengt steers on passage while Emelie goes Hollywood

The family that sails together stays together

March 5: Larry goes to the customs office on the ferry dock with one of Pancho’s assistants, while the other crew members take the dinghy into the Fort Young Hotel for sightseeing and shopping. The guide proves to be worth his cost, as Larry is ushered around the queue of people waiting for the ferry to Martinique for a painless clearance in. Larry finds the others wandering around Roseau. After a short stop at the duty free wine store, we return to Singoalla. The hardest part of the stay proves to be paying Pancho for his mooring. We finally get one of his friends to take the money to Pancho’s house, which is nearby on the beach, and give it to his wife. We sail to Rollo Head at the south end of Prince Rupert Bay (where Portsmouth is) under extremely varying conditions, sometimes at 7 plus knots, sometimes on starboard tack, sometimes on port tack, and sometimes under power for lack of wind. We drop the sails just short of Rollo Head because the wind has died. As we round the point into the bay we are suddenly greeted by 30 knot winds on the nose blasting out of Prince Rupert Bay. We contact Providence on channel 16, and Martin leads us to the same mooring we had three weeks ago. To our delight, Rockhopper has anchored about 50 yards ahead of us about half an hour before we came. Bengt and Lotta’s friend Maria is on board, and we arrange to have dinner together at Big Papa’s. We get Martin to take us on a late afternoon tour up the Indian River. It is astonishing how quiet it is along the river considering the howling wind just outside. We arrange with Martin for a tour of the north part of the island similar to the one Dylan took us on a few weeks ago. At dinner, Bob and Maria decide to join us, so we will have a very congenial group tomorrow. We are pleased that the wind has subsided by the time we are ready to return to Singoalla.

Emelie on the Indian River

March 6: As planned, Martin picks us up at 8:00 and delivers us to the van where Dylan is waiting to take us on our tour. Much of it at our request is a repeat of the tour Elisabeth and Larry took a few weeks ago. A new, fantastic addition is the Bwa Nef (Creole for bois neuf which in turn is French for new wood) Falls. A somewhat difficult 30 minute walk over very uneven terrain through the rain forest brings us to the most amazing falls any of us has ever seen. It is as if we are in a cavern and the falls come down a vertical face we estimate at 50 meters. Photographs can’t do it justice. We also visit the Chaudiere pool, where once again we take advantage of the opportunity to bathe in fresh water. Larry falls and twists his knee on the way down, but the damage does not seem to be too serious. At Anse de Mai we find a fisherman who has caught a several hundred pound marlin as well as a 150 pound yellow fin tuna and several mahi mahi. He is just cutting up the marlin as we arrive. We ask where he caught and are told that it was about 40 miles offshore, beyond Marie Galante. We are amazed, as his boat is an open outboard, about 18 feet long. He had to tow the marlin back, because it was too heavy to lift into the boat. One thinks of Hemingway’s Old Man and the Sea, but this story had a better finish. We had a big late lunch of local foods in Calabishie. We skipped dinner when we returned to the boat. Lotta put ice on Larry’s knee, and after 30 minutes the swelling was reduced considerably.

Bob and Maria on the north coast of Dominica













The Bwa nef waterfall cannot be appreciated from a photograph!













Butchering the marlin















This is how produce is brought in from the fields