Kirsty arrives at Fort de France
Moorglade's Voyage
Ted Wilson
Sat 16 Apr 2011 13:34
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Our Position is 14:32.730N
61:02.400W
Saturday 16 April
Our departure from Bequia was delayed until
Thursday by several days of unhelpful forecasts. The winds from the N. to NE
were not that strong but it would have been a very slow passage under engine to
cover the 100Nm upwind so we were patient and waited for something better. The
rain that had started in Canouan continued and although Admiralty bay is a nice
enough place to be, we spent the time doing jobs and relaxing on board. In the
end we had to go and our decision to wait was justified by a better but not
great 24hour window that gave us a chance of sailing to Martinique.
Early in the passage the wind was in the NE denying
us the opportunity to get to the east of St Vincent so we sailed in the lee of
the island with help from the current but occasional use of the engine was
required to get us past the light and fluky zones. Once past the north of St
Vincent the wind settled to about ENE and we could beat to our waypoint off
Martinique but during the night the current's increasing westerly set and a wind
that backed from time to time pushed us ten miles to leeward. We had time on our
side and when off FdeF we tacked onto port. Sod's Law the wind followed us
round and another starboard tack was needed before we laid the approach to Fort
De France as it was just starting to get light. We motored up the channel and
dropped the hook off Fort St Louis a few minutes after seven
o'clock.
Kirsty's flight was not touching down until 15:00
so there was plenty of time for breakfast, checking in, shopping and tidying up
before Kay set off to the airport on the bus to meet Kirsty.
I shopped for a few items forgotten in the morning
and then tried to post a postcard. Buying a stamp took about an hour and a half.
La Post shown on my map had closed for renovation, searching for a tabac or gift
shop that might have sold stamps proved fruitless, asking went well until I got
the answer in French which clearly I cannot have understood as I still failed to
find a post office. Eventually I asked a police woman who spoke perfect American
and then easily located La Post. However they proved to be less than efficient
and despite the modest length of the queue that I joined it took a further 45
mins before I had the required timbre. By the time I got back to the boat Kirsty
was phoning to say they were waiting at the dingy dock. I think she felt her
23hour journey from Addis Ababa had been quite
long enough without waiting on the dinghy dock for me.
A light meal cooked on board and eaten in the
cockpit preceded an early night.
It took Kirsty a long time to sleep off her journey
so we were not up early on Saturday. Eventually we made it ashore in search of
an internet cafe and some food shopping that had been forgotten the previous
day. The first cafe we visited was closed and also failed to meet the
description in the pilot book of being in "a lovely Art Deco building". It
seemed to be part of a multi storey car park. However the friendly, English
speaking staff in the chandlery next door were soon able to direct us to
another, which was in the same building as the supermarket, so we headed through
town. It rained on us as we hurried along but no one was that bothered and it
soon stopped. A band was entertaining passers by at the entrance to the mall
where we were going, which added a bit of local colour, and Kirsty was soon hard
at work at the internet cafe. Ted and I were able to do the shopping and watch
some of Nadal versus Murray in a shop window, before retiring to a handy coffee
bar to wait for Kirsty. Who should come in and greet us but the Germans we had
met at Tobago Cays, who had returned their chartered catamaran and were waiting
for flights back to Germany and Bristol. We were able to have quite a long chat
about their experiences - apparently it was the first time their wives had
accompanied them on a sailing holiday - before Kirsty rejoined us. She had been
forced to leave the internet cafe as it closed for the afternoon but fortunately
there turned out to be wifi available in the coffee bar so she finished off
while with us. Then it was back to the boat for lunch and up anchor for the sail
across the bay to Trois Ilets, a destination we had attempted to reach on our
previous stay on Martinique but had been put off by the conditions then. The
conditions could not have been more benign on this occasion, in fact there was
so little wind we had to motor the 3Nm to our destination.
On arrival it was not immediately clear where the
best place to anchor was, and quite a big area had been buoyed off for the
approach to the ferry dock. Inadequate pilotage led to a slight running aground
but that was soon rectified and we went back to the site described by the pilot
book as the easiest, and just off the golf course - the ball loss into the sea
must be tremendous. It was slightly further away from the town but
that just meant we were able to have a pleasant dinghy journey round the bay the
next morning. 
Kirsty's view of Fort de France from the
anchorage Local band playing at the shopping
mall Golf course at Trois Ilets
Moorglade at Trois Ilets Going for a trip round the bay at Trois
Ilets   |