Not a real race I hasten to add! But no sooner had the Howes family disembarked and a mound of laundry been deposited into Charlie Tango’s pirogue, to be picked up next time through, than Oboe was pointed at Martinique. Disappointingly Martinique lay head to wind, so being on a mission and with the mainsail feathered for stability, the Volvo Penta 105hp turbo diesel was engaged for a fast, bumpy, squally, overnight, wet and dare I say it, cold passage north!  Needs must and we were in desperate need of replacement house batteries.  Being European specification these could only be sourced on a French Island – thus Martinique.

Night pilotage into an easy but shoal bay a mile from the treacherous entrance to cul de sac de Marin, saw us drop anchor and zombie-like, scoff Top Ramen instant noodles at 0200hours nearly 12 hours after departing St Vincent.  Oh what a difference a day makes!  Lobster and fries on Mustique one day, pot noodles the next – oh the joys of sailing!

Dawn saw us nudge our way between the reefs into the shallows of Port de Plaisance de Marin and amazingly, with heart in mouth and only 40cms beneath the keel onto a working berth deep in the commercial zone of the harbour.  But with half a ton of batteries to disconnect, haul off the boat and replace with a further half a ton of fresh energy, being close to the shop holding our purchases on deposit was vital.  Ryan did the heavy work, ably and sometimes not quite so ably assisted by the skipper, whinging about his bad back, shoulder, knee, thumbs and indeed most parts of his aging body! The skipper’s electrical engineering past made up somewhat for the lack of manual labour and saw the new battery bank swing into life first time much to our great relief.  Flaking out on the deck with a can or two of coca cola for a while worked wonders and after spinning Oboe around on the dock to allow access for a diesel fill, we slithered through the muddy shallows, out into the main channel and into a tricky stern-to mooring in the marina proper.

A stroll to Mango Bar for a “normaliser” as Ryan likes to put it, saw us do a double take.  Could this be the Caribbean?  More like Antibes or Juan le Pin me thinks but more friendly!  Moules Frite, Croque Monsieur, Cote de Boeuf (deux personnes), cold Beaujolais by the glass, - heaven after the last 24 hours and a bit like slipping magically into a parallel universe.

I forgot to mention that while on the working berth we bumped into some young British friends first met in Mustique – Miles and Jennifer, fresh from the ARC and an engaged (and engaging) couple taking a bit of a sabbatical.  They were as surprised as we were to see one another in this rather oily, rusty, decaying ship yard.  Invitations for drinks on board were exchanged and early evening saw us drink both vessels dry of beer over some increasingly animated and interesting discussions.  It turned out the Miles, although a generation younger than me had worked at Arthur Andersen in Surrey Street and the Old Bailey and so we had a lot of reminiscing to do, probably driving both Ryan and Miles’ fiancée Jen to distraction!

We said our goodbyes and apart from a sighting of Miles the following morning looking very French with a couple of baguettes under his arm, we wished them well as the set off towards Cuba and we for St Lucia.

St Lucia is where you find us now, in an unattractive and obscure corner of Rodney Bay Marina next to the main road and heavy traffic.  Can’t wait to leave and head down to Grenada to meet best mate Peter Loveday and his girlfriend Linda, who fly out shortly to join us for 10 days relaxed cruising.  Ummm... groundhog day.

Good night

Nigel