Martinique, Dominica and Iles des Saintes
Talulah's Web Diary
Paul & Anette Morris
Fri 13 Apr 2007 22:08
position "15:51.958N
061:35.220W"
Wednesday 11th April
2007
We had a great
sail up and around Martinique to St Pierre, a small town on the edge of the
Caribbean which was devastated in 1902 when the volcano on who's side it rests,
erupted, killing 28,000 people. There was almost no trace of that
devastation when we saw it, except for the lush green vegetation that now grows
on the mineral rich volcanic ash fields. We had a bit of a drama too
whilst there. Another yacht came into the anchorage and let its
anchor down quite close to us. We were then hailed by them, an
English couple, and it turned out they needed a bit of help as the skipper had
just chopped the ends of two of his fingers! Well I got into
the dinghy, and motored over, put him into the dinghy and then went ashore
looking for a hospital. He was soon bandaged up, but in a little bit
of shock, and needed to go to Fort de France for a tetanus jab.
Anyway it all ended OK, and he came back to his boat a little later in the
evening - a little worse for wear, and a few ounces
lighter!
Next day
started well with one of the best sails we've had up to Prince Rupert Bay in
Dominica, doing 10.1 knots on occasion - where we bumped into our Aussie chums
again and of course had a Barbeque! (what else do you do when with
Aussie chums?) Can't remember much of the later events, but I know we had a
great time! I got stung by something in the water when I went
for a swim the next morning, but all it left was a nasty weald on my leg and the
pain soon went.
Iles des
Saintes was the next port of call, and that was stunning. It was
here that the British Navy under Admiral Rodney demolished the French fleet in
1702 and there's still lots of evidence of those days around, with museums and
old forts. The town on Terre d' Haut was very pretty, had lots of
nice restaurants and was very French Creole. We went out, ate fresh
Tuna, Christophine, Dasheen and Plaintain, drank beer and talked till late with
some friends. A perfect day - even better this morning when Anette
brought back some hot
baguettes!!
We sailed up to
Guadeloupe today, and are now anchored at Deshais on the north east
coast. We've been ashore for a walk up a river bed, eaten fresh made
coconut ice-cream made on the side of the road, had a swim with 2 turtles in the
bay, and are now having sundowners. Tomorrow we'll set sail for
Antigua..........maybe.....
Fishermen
sorting their nets on Terre d'
Haut
The 'Mairie' (and Police and Douane) on Terre d' Haut
First dolphins
since
Europe!!
Street scene on Terre d' Haut, Iles des
Saintes
A ship blown
ashore by Hurricane lenny in
Dominica
Making fresh coconut ice-cream to sell on
Guadeloupe