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Chilling out in Dominica took rather longer than
anticipated and we finally
left on Monday at crack of 0500 and got rather
caught up in a procession of
rain squalls as we cleared the leeward side of
the island. Gill and Peter
were introduced to the big seas and strong
winds that characterise the
inter-island passages as we sped across the 30
mile gap to Martinique. Here
we anchored off St Pierre, scene of the volcanic
devastation of 1902. Of
the population of 30,000 only two survived when
a giant fireball roared down
from Mt. Pelée and engulfed the town.
Mt Pelée in quiescent mood.
Carnival was in full swing but
caused
considerably less disturbance to sleep than the normal Friday night
in
Dominica. Fort de France, the capital of Martinique, was our next
port of
call. We became spectators of the Mardi Gras carnival procession,
which
as far as we could make out is a celebration of the death of the devil
and
an excuse for the young to roar around in old bangers.
Less quiescent in Fort de France.
We are now in
Malgretout, St Lucia where our stern is tied to a
coconut tree with our bow
to a mooring provided by the local coral
conservation authority. The boat
is rocking gently and the water
crystal clear and the invitation to swim
frequently accepted. We are
also
fighting off the boat boys who are constantly trying to sell
us
things which we do not want and trying to find out when we are leaving
so
that they can be paid for casting off our lines. Ashore for supper
last
night we eat wonderfully fresh
Mahi-mahi (Dorado) at a beach
restaurant which we have frequented
several times before. Benny and
Marcelene the owners, very much locals,
provide a tremendous service to
yachtsmen, from helping with moorings,
providing fast motor launch trips to
clear customs, or visit the market and
even a security guard on the boat when
you are ashore eating in their
restaurant (all in with the price of the
meal). The sadest aspect of St
Lucia is that this service is
required.
Model
for the Eden Project?
This morning we walked up to the
tropical
gardens in Souffrière, complete with
natural waterfall. This is
the Eden Project without the biome and made
us feel quite at home.
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