Taking roots?

Oriole
Sun 4 Mar 2007 14:50
Le Marin, Martinique  14:27.64N 60:52.09W

Sitting here in the shelter of the vast natural harbour of Le Marin it is difficult to imagine that out there on the unsheltered east coast, where we would prefer to be, it is blowing 20-30 knots with 3 meter seas-  anyway that is what we are being told.  However it did blow 30 knots through here yesterday briefly so maybe we ought to believe it. 
 
 
Le Marin in the rain.  Hundreds of yachts at anchor and probably one of the largest charter fleets anywhere - great for supplies but not much more.
 
So we will wait for a few more days to see what transpires before we give up the idea for this year and head south and hit the dive sites in the Grenadines.  Meanwhile there is a ready supply of good French food from a plethora of supermarchés and we did join with six other yachties for a hilarious restaurant lunch on Wednesday.  Thursday was pay back day and we walked off the lunch with a 12 mile trek across to the other side of the island and then around the coast back to St Anne. It does not sound far, but the temperature was around 35C and after our picnic lunch we were ready for a cooling swim. (water temp 28C)  The Ocean Cruising Club is well represented with AlShaheen, Coral Moon, Ariel and Moonrise (also RCC)  and through the resuscitated OCC radio net we have been in touch with several others between the Virgin Islands and the Grenadines.  Even Wheatley has been in touch but he is up in Bermuda on his way home - hmmm!
 
 
Yes! they did work afterwards and there were no bits left over.
 
We should not be taking root yet as we did move anchorage from St Anne on Friday for a change of scene.  Yes! in general we have been pretty laid back, but there has been some maintenance going on and this week the winches were stripped, cleaned and greased and not before time, and John has been writing an article for the Caribbean Compass newspaper - not published yet - rather irreverent so don't hold your breath.