Meetings in Martinique
Lowena
Michael & Amanda Dyer
Wed 19 Mar 2008 19:41
as we cleared Dominica's southern shore, out onto the open Atlantic
Ocean. We had in three reefs and a tiny jib unfurled for the whole 20
miles of open water. Once in the lee of Martinique, everything
quietened down and we had to motor the last few miles to St.Pierre. The
French islands vary quite significantly from the once English islands.
The French Islands do not allow boat boys to sell goods and produce from
their boats. One feels more at peace in the French Islands. However,
the boat boys aren't all bad and some do offer good services. But we
were looking forward to anchoring and enjoying the privacy of St Pierre
after Dominica!
'Wings' and 'Tiger Frightener', were already at anchor and we all spent
a relaxing and enjoyable evening aboard 'Wings', Morgan had made
hamburgers and they were delicious.
We really liked St Pierre and hired a car and hiked up Mount Pelee, a
dormant volcano which in 1902 exploded a pyroclastic blast that killed
the entire population of St Pierre, bar two people. The town at the
time was very prosperous and no-one believed it could be destroyed and
ignored all warnings of an eruption.
Customs clearance in'Escapade' is done via the internet. Valerie speaks
good english and is very helpful.
We moved down the coast to Fort de France, the Capital. We didn't like
it so much. We met up with Derek and Dave on 'Bagheera', who we met
last summer in Pavoa de Varzim, Portugal. They were heading north and
we spent an enjoyable evening together, although unfortunately they were
fined 300 euros by french customs for having an out of date registration
document. They had been waiting for it to arrive for three weeks and it
arrived the very next day. Wealso saw 'Ikinoo', a dutch steel boat that
we had looked at to buy two years ago.
Our friends on 'Tiger Frightener' had guests arriving for two weeks in
Martinique. We said 'Au revoir' and 'Wings' and 'Lowena' set sail on
Sunday 6th March for Rodney Bay, St. Lucia.