Martinique and Dominica
Halsway Grace
Robin and Sue carter
Sun 15 Jan 2012 20:41
In the last 2-3 weeks we have sailed further north to Martinique and then
on to Dominica where we are currently at anchor in Prince Rupert Bay in the
north west of the island.
After leaving St Lucia we had a cracking sail to south west Martinique
meeting up with ‘Longbow’, another ARC participant, in Grand Anse d’Arlet which
was a quiet fishing village with good snorkelling. The under water scenes here
make me feel as if we are in the tropical fish tank my parents had when I was
young. After a few days there we dragged ourselves away to stock up in Fort de
France, the capital of Martinique, anchoring beneath the fort, still in use as a
military establishment. We were there on a Sunday and apart from the out of town
hypermarkets everywhere was shut but the RC cathedral was bursting at the seams
with its doors open allow the cooling breeze to blow through. All pews were
taken by families dressed in their Sabbath finery and there were crowds standing
at the back straining to hear the epiphany service. Even the children were
attentive. A little different from what we are used to!We then sailed north to
St Pierre and the scenery became more mountainous with capricious winds blowing
down the valleys and no wind between them. St Pierre was the capital of
Martinique until 1902. On Ascension Day that year Mount Pelee the volcano
towering behind the town erupted with such force that the poisonous gas and lava
wiped out the whole town of 30,000 people apart from one convicted murderer who
was imprisoned in a cell which protected him from the devastation. (he went on
to tour with Barnham’s circus sporting his burn scars.) Fort de France then
became the capital and St Pierre now has a population of only 5,000 and there
are a few partial remains of the town before 1902. Even the cathedral bell
(probably about 10 cwt) was squashed flat. Mount Pelee has since behaved
itself.
We had a really good sail north to Dominica doing about 7 knots for all of
the 25 miles between the islands but then came to a halt when we were in the lee
of this very high island and motored along the west coast past the capital
Rousso and on another 20 miles to anchor here in Prince Rupert’s Bay. Dominica
was formed from volcanic activity but now has no active volcanoes. Because of
it’s history all it’s beaches have black sand and it’s mountains create lots of
rain (warm, short lived!) and so it is not sought after by the sun loving
tourist. It’s mountains and scenery however attract the more energetic traveller
who hike through the island, enjoy the wildlife and scuba diving. It belonged to
the British until the 1970’s and is now part of the Commonwealth and so english
is its official language. As a sailing area it used to be thought rather unsafe.
There are only 2 safe anchorages and theft from yachts was common. The local
guides who row tourists up the through the rainforest on the Indian River
realised their livelihood was at risk unless they could attract yachties here
and so formed PAYS, a local organisation of boat owners who have 6m open wooden
boats with powerful outboards and patrol the area 24 hrs a day, greet new
arrivals and generally help with anything we require. They are great guys with a
nice dry sense of humour. Because of their efforts many more boats come here and
business in the town has also benefitted. We took a tour of the island with one
of them yesterday, travelling down the rugged Atlantic west cast, through
rainforets and treked to a waterfall where some of the more intrepid swam
in a pool. We visited a Carib reservation where a few thousand of the original
South American settlers from a 1,000 years ago now live, they certainly look as
if they come from there rather than Africa. Most of the Caribs were slaughtered
by the invading Europeans and some islands have very few left. They specialise
in high quality basket work and carving.
On the social side we usually enjoy a sundowner at about 6pm and watch
exactly that. Because most bays face west it is great to sit and watch the
sunset with a rum punch in one’s hand. Usually it is a time to be invited to
fellow yachts and meet new people and old friends from the ARC. As the sun goes
down there is apparently often a green flash momentarily that one is encouraged
to look for the sighting of which seems to directly correlate to the strength of
the rum punch!
We are heading north to french Guadeloupe tomorrow calling at the little
island called ‘the Saints’ on the way.
I attach a couple of photos, the one of the roadside verge shows lemongrass
growing abundantly – Simon eat your heart out! The other is the west coast on
Dominca.
All the best
Sue and Robin |