14:44.41N 61:10.65W

Another day, another waterfall.  This time it was inside the boat.  As we tacked up towards Rodney Bay (St. Lucia), the sink-tidy decided it was going to push the sink tap on.  As the plug was in, the sink filled up and then spilled over into the fridge.  I only realised the full extent of the problem.  Seventy litres of precious fresh water were now hiding around the galley, much of it in the fridge.  As I opened the door I was hit by a wall of water and anything in the fridge which would float.  That took a couple of days to clear up and replace with our very slow water maker!

We had a very pleasant New Year’s Eve dinner & drinks in the marina complex at Rodney Bay, meeting up with the crews of Moose and Sturdee (ARC+), Fisk and Sofa So Good (ARC Portugal). 

While we were anchored in the bay for four days, we visited Pigeon Island, a pleasant national park with centuries-old fortifications, lovely views and walks.

Next stop, Martinique.  A pleasant sail up to Sainte Anne to meet up with Patrick & Susannah (Nusquama) before they set off on the World ARC.  We all piled into a rental car and did a bit of a tour of the island, including a botanical garden, some rural plantations, check-in at Saint Pierre and a massive shop in a Carrefour (apparently very exciting after the limited range available elsewhere in the Caribbean!).  Two nights there was enough for me.  It’s a very large anchorage.  We sailed up to Anse d’Arlet for a night, which we both thought was delightful for its snorkelling (turtles & eels), its views and some space.  Back south to Le Marin marina after that for three days to clean the boat and to replace the starter battery, which had already failed us on two mornings.  We don’t get much exercise on the boat, but hand-carrying batteries half way around the bay seemed to make up for it!  Marina life doesn’t have much to recommend it in my opinion, but at least we were able to have a fun dinner with the crews of Sturdee, Moose, Adastrina and Galatea.

With larder, fridge, wine cellar, fuel, water and gas all now topped up, we sailed north again to Anse Mitan and met up with Andrew & Murielle again.  This took us past Diamond Rock, which had been commissioned by the British, as HMS Diamond Rock and used to bombard the French until, rumour has it, the French floated some casks of rum down to the rock and overwhelmed the drunken Brits a few hours later.

Anse Mitan is a nice enough spot for a bit of swimming & paddle-boarding but there’s not much to write home about shoreside.  We thought we might like to anchor around the corner at Les Trois Islets, which claimed to be a quiet anchorage with local tourist attractions including Josephine Bonapart’s birthplace and a slavery museum.  After trying to get there twice, on foot and in a taxi, we discovered that everything is a two-mile walk from anywhere else and all the restaurants were shut.  Stumbling upon a wine shop, Murielle discovered some wines there had been made by a friend of hers with some of the grapes from her family vineyard.  Apparently he designed this label to take a pop at the local AOC, which refused to grant this wine appellation status! 

An hour later we were in the shop-owner’s car driving back the way we had come, to have lunch at a lovely restaurant close to where we were anchored. 

Giles