Dec 28th Position 13:51.46N 61:03.73W

Symatchmaker
Mon 29 Dec 2008 00:12
Boxing Day was spent cruising to Sainte Anne - reputedly the most beautiful beach on Martinique - ( and it was! ) - white sand and turquoise water.
 
The evening was spent at anchor in Le Marin and in the morning we checked out from customs in the little overcrowded office. We then set off for a trip across the Saint Lucie Channel - it was a very fast and envigorating sail - good speeds of 10 knots plus and big rolling seas.
 
We arrived in the late afternoon at Marigot Bay - a truely splendid Pirates of the Caribbean location with Doctor Doolittles hotel hidden in the coconut palms - In the evening we went ashore and had far too many happy hour cocktails - "Pina colada" and "Sex on the Boat" were our favourites. The evening meal was locally cooked and crap - but the atmosphere was very tropical and made up for it. We left our $80 Dollar mooring having spent an "extra" $35  (plus a tin of Heineken) on 10 bananas and $20 for a bagette! ...( We are not good at negotiating with the Boat Boys! ).
 
It was a short sail round the corner to the Deux Pitons absolutely awesome scenery - coconut trees at the shoreline and two 750 metre pitons lauching vertically straight out of the ocean - dripping with tropical vegetation - parrots and frigate birds.
 
Tom left at 2pm - WSe dropped him off at the Jaloise Hotel. Sad to see him go - but he had a great time on Matchmaker.
 
We then moved on to Soufriere - where we anchored within 20 meters from the shore and tied our stern to a coconut tree! The heavens opened and it poured with warm tropical rain! Peter spent the evening worried about the proximity of the beach! Jon cooked meat Balls and spagetti - yum yum.

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