For whatever reason here we are with another huge gaps between posting.

 

Bit of a brain dump then.  As part of the Odyssey rally we were entitled to 10 FREE days in the marina, I am so grateful for this Marina Le Marin has been very generous indeed.  I think we stayed 7 days in the end, marinas get a bit tiring quite quickly, we hate not being able to swim off the boat and being crowded in like a motorcamp.  Anyway we were there long enough to attend the leaving party and see quite a few more arrivals in.

Justin and Trish arrive on Selkie which was home built back in Ireland.

 

All in all we had a very good crossing compared to some, our primary problem was lack of wind.  Jenny, my cousin, despite having zero sailing experience when we left, made for an excellent crew member - responsible, capable and aware - we enjoyed many hours of additional sleep safe in her trusted hands, thanks Jen.  Unfortunately Jenny and Brian had to leave Moxie the day we arrived so didn’t get to experience any of the fun side of cruising.  The kids had a blast on land again playing with Emily, Cian and Ellen in the marina, they loved finding coconuts and breaking into them leaving huge amounts of mess on the pontoons.  We zoomed out to a Club Med resort in the tender one day for a much needed swim, I immediately stepped on a sea urchin though but thankfully there was no following infection.  The girls found a wee hermit crab and Asia adopted him.

Hermit crabs are no good at blogging either.

 

Sudoetse gave us an excellent xmas tree, thanks!

 

Having caught up with a month of laundry, and with Sudoeste and Drina already gone it was time to leave the marina.  One great thing we did before we left was find the Leader Price supermarket, probably our easiest shop ever because in Le Marin there is a dinghy dock right outside.  We stocked up large on heavy items to replenish our stores.  Surprisingly for the most part we found prices to be similar to Europe, apparently the is is not the case elsewhere  in the Caribbean (and particularly for beer and wine) so before leaving Martinique we will top up more.

Cruisers dream supermarket, of course a squall came in just as we began unloading the trolley so things got a tad damp.  We eve found a few Xmas goodies, stollen cake, xmas ham and bucks fizz!

 

We met up with Sudoeste in St Anne anchorage and spent a few days there before moving on.  Our first snorkel in Martinique was simply below the boat, 4m, boulder strewn sand but we managed to see some huge sea stars (30 cm) and a couple of Lion Fish.  You can read all about these little buggers here http://www.coral.org/node/4620 in short they don’t belong here (native to Fiji), they are ravenous, breed quickly and have no natural predators.  Not being allowed to spearfish proper in the Caribbean I think we might start lion hunting, the girls will enjoy that.

 

St Anne dinghy dock

 

It’s rainy season here and we have had rain everyday without fail since arrival, the squalls roll in with the perfect regularity to prevent clothes from ever drying out, it’s hot 28 – 30 degrees but continual running around closing hatches is no fun.

 

We made a plan to meet with Selkie and Sudoeste for Xmas lunch on Moxie Island.

 

Atlantic Odyssey, a great adventure and way to meet new friends, recommended!  Our friends on Felina are in Lanzarotte now after 4? months in Malta being repaired for lightning damage, they will be on the next rally leaving Jan 12 and heading to Grenada.