Rodney Bay to Martinique

5th February, 2014

Position:   14:28.107N    60:52.08W

Well, it was pretty special for us too.

We checked OUT with the various government bodies and cast off our lines. Whilst we had been here we chatted to a quite a few of our neighbours and so we had plenty of help - (hmm..maybe it was just self preservation for their boats!) There was quite a wind blowing. It was pretty clear from the get go that the boat was handling much better - and we were still in the marina.

The bow thruster was more responsive and the rudder more effective after the hull clean the day before.

What a great sail!

It was just a short sail to Cul-du-Sac Marin, Martinique. 

Maybe 25 miles. We sailed the whole way. The sun was shinning, the wind was Easterly at around 20 knots. We sailed on a close haul to close reach and the boat was just superb! Generally sailing at around 7.5 knots without any sail trim involved.

The idea was to anchor in the bay for a few days, check in with the authorities and take stock before heading to other exotic locations.

As to happens, Marin read really well in the guide book and so we decided to berth here for maybe a week and rent a car to tour the island.

Bad mistake.

Marin is right in the southern part of the island - fairly isolated.

It turned out that Marin was a pretty tired town specifically set up as a place to cheaply keep your boat for long periods, for the marine engineering industry and for the charter yacht operators.

The marina was pretty tired and provided only the minimum of security with only basic facilities - no wifi for example.

It is just huge car/boat park.

The marina office were fine but the dockhands i'm sure wished they were sailing on one of the many thousands of boats in the bay.

Their attitude was so laissez-faire and had so little interest in their jobs that berthing would have been better without them!

I have nice scratch on my bow now thanks to them.

Berthing here is very old fashioned. It is Mediterranean Mooring (i.e., Stern or Bows-to) but you needed to have your own lines to attach to buoys as well. It's all simple to do but the end result is all the boats have horrible looking lines full of all the delights that nature wants to offer from the seawater.

Greece is the only other place we have come across with a worse arrangement.

We were pleased to only stay 2 night here in the end.

Hey!  We caught our first Barracuda on the way through the bay!  Ok, he might be on the small side but he did have BIG teeth!

Many cute little cafes and bars around here though..

Gosh!

You can buy ANYTHING boaty here! 

Even down to rows of marine engines laid out in rows like a supermarket.

The challenge is to remember what it is you need for the boat before you leave!

Great meal at the Ti Touques restaurant. 

Memories of great french cuisine come flooding back.

I don't think French chefs could make a bad meal even if they tried really hard!