29^th-31^st January

We took a 15nm sail up the western coast of Martinique past the distinctive "diamond rock" that had been on our horizon these last few days. Later we read about the rock in the local pilot guide. *Apparantly* (although it says you won't read about this in any English history book) during the Anglo-French wars at the beginning of the 19th century, the English wanted to command the sea approaches to Martinique and in 1804 installed 20 sailors and 4 cannons on Diamond Rock "transforming it into an impregnable fortress". For 17 months it resisted all assaults and battered all French Vessels heading to the capital Fort de France and as a result the British raised its status to that of Naval ship; 'HMS Diamond Rock'. "According to legend the French only managed to get the better of the English by causing several boats filled with casks of rum to be wrecked on the islet. Dead drunk, the enemy gave up without a fight"!!!!!!

We dropped anchor off Petite Anse D'arlets, a much quieter anchorage than either of our previous spots in Martinique.

Over the next few days we rowed our dinghy ashore to land on the pier located in front of the beautiful and distinctive church. During the paddle ashore we would get a spectacular view of the huge pelicans that inhabit this shoreline as they dove into the waters with an impressive splash and soared over our heads with their gullets full of fish.

We found a little bar on the beach to enjoy a few cold cans and watch the sun set and at the little store where we bought fresh bread for dinner we had our first taste of the local speciality "Accras" which are a type of fried dumpling and very delicious!

On the Saturday night as we walked back to our dinghy the doors to the church were wide open and it seemed the whole town had turned out for mass with the sounds of worship drifting all the way along the seafront. It was really quite magical.

Sunday we spent most of the day on-board and ventured ashore at about 4 o'clock for our sunset beers. The anchorage had been bustling all day with boats out of Fort de France just along the coast and when we got ashore the atmosphere was jumping with the beach bars playing music and everyone dancing and enjoying the beach and the sunshine. When we rowed back to Hamble Warrior later that evening we passed a very expensive yacht that had blue underwater lights turned on and the crew were all swimming in the illuminated area off their bathing platform. I commented on this to Jamie and when we got back to our boat I went to stow our bags below but Jamie called me up on deck and to my surprise he had rigged our powerful torch over the side of the boat and we had our very own underwater illumination! We jumped in and enjoyed a late night swim in the warm water surrounded by tiny fish drawn to the underwater lights. Of course Meep wanted to get involved and ended up balancing himself right on the wind pilot to get the best possible view of his humans and the fish!!! He takes his lifeguard duties very seriously!!!

On Monday morning we got up early and went ashore leaving the dinghy at the pier once again. We walked for about half an hour to the village in the next bay along "Grand Anse" where we snorkelled on the reef near the pier there. It was a beautiful spot; thousands of tiny brightly-coloured fish, some shoals of larger fish and a couple of small tuna. There was also a lobster hiding amongst the sea grass and absolutely dozens of brightly coloured starfish which were my favourite; and because (unlike the fish) they stayed still long enough to take a decent photo of I now have an album-full of starfish pictures!!

As we set off back towards Petit Anse the heavens opened and the rain absolutely belted down for about 10 minutes. As we were fresh out of the sea we didn't bother to take cover (although Jamie did put his t-shirt in the wet bag) we enjoyed a fresh-water shower-off while everyone else cowered under trees and awnings looking at us like we were mad! As we walked back we could see why the gulleys at the sides of the road here are so deep to drain away the huge amount of water that falls; we splashed our way along surprised at how warm the puddles were on our feet. This really is rain but not as us Brits know it!!!!

The rain eased before we got back to Petit Anse and we stopped to pick up some fresh bread before un-tying our dinghy from the pier. We had just set off back to Hamble Warrior when we got another downpour. Jamie battled on against the rain and accompanying wind and I held a beach towel protectively over our baguette to try and stop it getting too soggy!

Back onboard we dried off and had a hot drink and some lunch. At half 4 we lifted the anchor and set sail again; the skies were still grey and overcast but there was no more rain for today.