Fort du France to St Pierre

15/2/2012

                                        

One of the reasons for going into Fort du France, was to increase our “anti boarding” arsenal. Over the last year or so, there has been an increase in yacht boardings and boat theft in anchorages. Historically “safe” places such as Bequia, Tobago Cays, Salt Whistle and Saline Bay, Carriacou, and Tobago have all suffered attacks. Some cases might be vendetta based, and some might be opportunistic, where cruisers are simply too casual about their security measures.

We have special stainless steel security grids for all our openings, and always lock ourselves in at night. Is that enough? We do not want a gun on board, quite apart from the serious hassle about declaring and recovering it every time you check in or out. If you have to hand it in, what use is it anyway?

We have elected to buy serious gel spray anti personal repellants.... big enough to incapacitate three or four potential thieves. In addition, we bought a 1000k Tazer baton.  A two to three second zap is more than enough to incapacitate someone, and give us time to restrain them or kick them overboard.  

We found what we wanted in Fort du France. Together with our existing “surprises”, we believe we are now sufficiently prepared to suggest that other targets might be easier!

The only bummer about our shopping in Fort du France, was that Standard Bank, yet again, ”for my own protection”, saw fit to stop my card, for about the 20^th time in 3 years of cruising.  Their reason this time??? I was now apparently shopping in France,  Europe, when I had told them only the previous week, that I would remain in Martinique for the next 3 weeks!! On that occasion, they had done the same thing, merely because I had sailed 26 miles from St Lucia, (EC$), to Martinique, and spent Euros!

But let me not digress…Standard Bank have now progressed to a whole new level computer initiated incompetence … Any hint of common sense, experience, geographic knowledge or service options have been  deleted as inapplicable!! They now deserve, and will get an entire blog, dedicated  to some shining examples of their  inability to service a customer of 45 years standing, who has simply decided to go sailing!! My first bit of advice to any South African wishing to go blue water cruising, and who has the misfortune of being a Standard Bank customer… is to CHANGE banks!!  You will live longer, and enjoy life more!!

There!!! I feel better already!

We left Fort du France and explored Trois Islets, the little town in which Napoleon’s Josephine first lived. It proved to be a squally, miserable day, compounded by our running aground on a sandbank in a channel  marked 9.7mts deep on the charts! We lost a little of our new antifoul, and decided, after a couple nights, to head up to St Pierre, on the northern tip of Martinique.

Another pleasant downwind sail did much to restore our “wa”! St Pierre was known as “the little Paris of the Caribbean”, and was a very important trading  and cultural centre from the early 1700’s until 1905. It boasted a beautiful and elaborate 600 seat theatre, a tram system, and was home to 30,000 people (the entire poplation of Martinique at the time was 180000). The eruption of Mt Pele on 8^th May 1905 reduced this population to just 2 people in 11 minutes!

The ruins, and Museum, housing relics, factual accounts and photographic records really brings the scale of this tragedy home. Today, St Pierre has been rebuilt and the population is around 5000 people. Mt Pele  is continuously monitored , but is effectively dormant now. The saddest fact, is that the volcano gave plenty of early warnings…. Mini eruptions, the sea in the bay got so hot that the fish left… ominous rumblings and smoke emissions!  So why was the town not evacuated? Because the elections for the Mayor, were due to be held on the 8^th, and he wanted them to be held as scheduled!!

So once again, political expediency cost thousands of innocent people their lives.

Ironically, one of the two survivors was not so innocent. He was a convicted murderer, and was found in his cell 3 days later, suffering from terrible burns. He was nursed back to health by some monks, and then paraded around the USA by Barnhams Circus as “The volcano survivor’!

 After our month long taste of French culture, we set off on the 60 mile sail to Portsmouth, Dominica

Poubelles, Long Drop Cities, and poulette fume!

                                  25/01/2012

All serious yachties know that “check in”  procedures, garbage disposal and ATMs, together with the prices of beer and wine, are amongst the most important issues facing a cruiser

Our  beat over from Rodney bay, St Lucia, to Cul de Sac du Marin, Martinique, was only 25 miles, but it represents a serious step up in terms of  all of the above criteria, and especially in terms of ones culinary choices!

Gone ….is the pedantic bureaucratic nonsense about the exact minute of your arrival, and whether you arrive before or after overtime hours, the ridiculous cruising permits, expensive mooring buoys, and carefully hidden rubbish bins and the harassment of  opportunistic boat boys!  The quick and easy computerised self service procedures are a joy…… even if it takes a while to find Afrique du Sud in the alphabetical list of counties! (Its just below Yugoslavia!) Everything is of course in French, and on their own French (non querty) keyboard, but once learned, it’s a breeze!!

Hello! To the whole new range of French wines, cheeses, sausages and other delights, Free cruising permits:  the worlds best built dinghy docks, and the best and easiest ….and FREE garbage (poubelle) disposal facilities in the whole Caribbean! Of course, eating out in the restaurants is beyond most RSA cruising budgets, but the choices available make on board cooking a pleasure, once one looks beyond the baguettes, pain, and other French treats.

We enjoyed the quaint charm of the villages, churches, shops and restaurants, the bright colours, the Madras cottons, as well as the clearly buoyed channels and boat free swimming areas.

Religion, as in most of the Caribbean is an important part of life. The pretty, old churches, roofed with  old, red, “fish scale “ tiles, and filled with flowers, chiming their bells to summon the faithful, sure beats the heck out of the distorted, over amplified, hell and damnation sermons belted out across the anchorages via tired  loudspeakers elsewhere.

 The music too, is more sophisticated. We listened one evening to a truly gifted musician, probably from a French Moroccan background, play his music using an assortment of 20 to 30 different homemade wind, string, and percussion instruments.   One can even find good music on the local radio stations, instead of the noisy, brain numbing, SOCA music, so favoured on the other islands.

As we have found on so many islands, the cemeteries seem to occupy the very best view sights and real estate, overlooking the bays and anchorages. In Martinique however, (perhaps due to the rocky ground), the cemeteries comprise flower covered family owned crypts, where numerous family members are laid to rest. The little buildings are of all shapes and sizes, and painted white, facing either the church, or the access road. The backs of all these little buildings face the sea. As we were motoring into Marin, I pointed out to Mary this strange collection of little white buildings, saying it looked like “Long Drop City”! Only when we went ashore, and saw them from the other side, did the penny drop, and I could not help but think that it was not such a bad mistake after all!!

Linked to the St Annes Church (circa 1780), were the 14 Stations of the Cross, zig zagging their way up the hill to a little chapel on the top. The view over the bay from these stations was lovely, and many locals used the climb as a form of exercise, even while others went through their chants and prayers on their knees.

Two weeks later, we restocked the pantry at Leader Price in Marin, and for once, enjoyed a DOWNWIND sail to Petite Anse D’Arlet, a very pretty little town and anchorage (might become one of our absolute favourites).En route we passed the very conspicuous Diamond Rock, which was once captured by the British Navy, and commissioned as HMS Diamond.

 After that we went to yet another lovely little anchorage called Anse a L’Ane,  where we had been told one could buy the worlds best smoked chicken from a street vendor. Mary had set her heart on one such “poulette fume”. It was indeed excellent, but at 10 Euro, it  blooming well should have been!! So with us both poulette fume’d, we sailed off to Fort du France, where we anchored alongside the old fort. We were beginning to really love Martinique!

We are also beginning to understand why so many of the French people seem so smug and almost arrogant….I think if I were from Martinique, I too, would become even more smug and intolerably arrogant than I am already!

  

Farewell to Rodney Bay

                                                    20/01/2012

One can only put up with jetskies roaring about in an anchorage for a limited period…. Even in a large, pretty and well protected bay! 3 weeks was our limit!

Before we left, we managed to meet up with a whole host of new cruising friends, as well as others who had sailed up from Grenada and Carriacou.

One of the fun get togethers was a dinghy “raft up”, where about 30 cruisers met at one point along the beachfront, to form one huge raft. Each boat brought something to share, and the “raft” changed shape, amoeba like, as dinghies disconnected and moved around the raft to meet other people. With so much movement, it was inevitable that the one or two dinghy anchors holding the raft in position, would drag…. And so the raft slowly drifted out to sea! By the time the sun set we only had two yachts between ourselves and the horizon!

We also took a walk up to the top of Fort Rodney, from where we could look over to Martinique, some 25miles away. It was from this Fort that the look outs could watch any attempts by the French Navy to attack the British fleet anchored behind Pigeon Island. Ownership of this strategic position changed many, many times. We just wanted to see what point of sail would be required to make St Anne when we left…35 - 40degrees! All the old canons carry the Royal coat of Arms, but I did question the sensibility of the gun carriages having square axles in their wheels!

We were not the only boats on the move, and watched as the World ARC departed for their one year circumnavigation, which ends next year in the same bay. There were about 20 entrants, and it appeared that showing off flags was a very important qualifying condition!

On our last evening before we left, the Club Med cruise ship presented an interesting backdrop, to yet another gorgeous sunset!