14:27.67N 60:52.14W

Thursday 10^th, Friday 11^th and Saturday 12^th February

Mixed emotions on Thursday as we continued to wait for the dinghy and outboard to emerge from customs. I was summoned to the local customs office for 3.30 pm and around 4.00 pm was allowed to see the items, all boxed up still and on the back of a lorry. I signed the customs forms and then watched as our dinghy, along with two others stacked up with it, drove off to be assembled and prepared. Something of another false dawn really as we did not actually get the goods until Friday!

On the brighter side of life we met Bob and Sue who are the owners of Mawari which is the former Serafina, our old Najad 400 and they very kindly invited us round in the evening for drinks and a good look round. This was a great evening and a little nostalgic as we remembered  long forgotten features of this lovely boat. Actually the day was something of a red letter day for Najad because in addition to Serafina and the former Serafina, there was a Najad 490 in the marina and, during the afternoon, a beautiful Najad 570 came in which belongs to the company’s principle shareholder complete with large Najad flag flying.

On Friday morning at long last we got our new dinghy and what a beauty it is too. The supplier still managed a couple of little cock ups just to round off a miserable experience though: when he proudly unveiled the name he had put on the bow for us (helps to avoid random thefts) not only had they used the wrong colour but had managed to spell Doris wrong (Dorris). Ah well she is at least unique now!

Spent a good part of the day making a mounting on the rear rail of Serafina to accommodate the outboard and then working out how to get this bigger, rigid bottomed dinghy onto the foredeck without damaging the deck for when we are sailing. We also spent some time saying our goodbyes to any number of the lovely people we have met here and hope to catch up with them either elsewhere or even back here again someday. We also cleared customs and did all the paperwork for leaving the island the next morning. In the evening we had Bob and Sue from Mawari  for drinks and after they had had a good look round Sue did ask us to let her know if we ever wanted to sell her!!

So on Saturday around 8.00am we slipped our lines and made our way out of Rodney Bay and headed north to Martinique. The weather forecast was for 20 knots of easterly wind with 3 to 4 metre waves which is a little high even for round here, but the trip was only 25 miles and so we felt comfortable going. The trick appears to be to motor-sail round the northern tip of St Lucia, through some quite lumpy overfalls, which allows you then to lay a course under sail the rest of the way to the French West Indies. However we were very lucky today as the wind was truly from the east and we were able to sail the entire way at a good pace. Certainly initially we were only able to manage around 5 knots as the seas were very big off the northern tip of St Lucia and they kept taking our way off as we plunged through them and we were in all fairness quite heavily reefed as well. But as we cleared the island things became a bit easier and with a bit more headsail out we were off at 6 and even 7 knots still close hauled.

We then were treated to one of the most spectacular sights of our sailing careers as we watched two huge pods of dolphins, at least as many as 50 in each group, powering their way into the big seas heading directly towards us from the west. As it happens only a few of them chose to actually swim alongside us and we guess they were hunting the shoals of tiny flying fish fleeing everywhere, but the sight of this mass of aquatic wildlife was truly awesome. It was not until we studied our photographs later that we discovered that the bigger darker ones at the front were actually Melon Headed Whales and the bulk of the pack were Fraser’s dolphins. We have got a few half decent photos which I will be putting on www.rhbell.com just as soon as we can get to an internet cafe.

There was added drama as a ‘Pan Pan’ alarm went out on the VHF radio when an American reported seeing a ketch lose its main mast just south of Martinique. We listened as the drama played out, not more than 12 miles from us, but it seems that the lone sailor on board was managing OK and in the event we were slightly surprised that no rescue service was activated.

As we approached Martinique our radio burst into life again with a call from good old Scott-Free who were just about to leave Le Marin, which was where we were headed. We had rather expected them to have moved on by now but they had had a few electrical problems to overcome first. We made our way tentatively up the ‘Cul de Sac Marin’ which is an apt name for the narrow, winding,  shallow and rather loosely buoyed approach to the town of Le Marin and its extensive and rather random anchorages. Reminding ourselves that the reds and greens over on this side of the Atlantic are the ‘wrong’ way round we headed up with numerous yachts heading past us on their way out. We encountered some swimmers, snorkelling in the channel, near one of the red buoys and were a bit taken aback when they shouted at us to keep away. In the heat of the moment I could not summon up enough colourful French to explain that they were probably in the wrong place and the moment had passed as we swept on towards the town!

We passed two modern yachts wrecked, lying on their sides on the shallow reefs either side of the channel, which served to keep our minds on the job! Finally we made our way into the packed anchorage where S-F was lying and dropped our anchor in about the only available space which was just behind them. Steve mindful of the time, knew that the customs and immigration office was still open for about another 15 mins and so he jumped into his dinghy, came over and whisked me into town and I was able to complete the formalities in time. I should say at this point that Martinique is part of France still. It is actually a department of France and so the currency is the euro etc. etc. So what was refreshing was the ease of checking into the country. Not because we are from the UK, but all boats simply have to type their details into a computer consol in the office and everything is done.

Steve and Chris then came on board Serafina for a coffee which led to a beer or two and their plans to sail to St Anne’s Bay were shelved. In the evening we all went ashore and after walking past two very good looking restaurants we settled on a third establishment that seemed more relaxed. It was to be an inspired choice and we had an outstanding dinner which combined all the things the French do well without the surly waiter with attitude! In fact the reports that Steve and Chris gave us indicate that this really is a part of France with all the bits we don’t seem to like about the French filtered out!