SPRING IN ST. ANNE, SOUTH MARTINIQUE

The sky is soft blue, painted with white clouds, the picture changing every minute in the light spring wind. In the town pavements are already heating up, the shady sides of the streets are crowded with walkers.

It is not to hot on the anchorage, once it becomes, we jump in the water and cool off. This is the best time for sailors. The daylight is long, the wind steady from the east. Ripe mangos are making their way to the breakfast table in the cockpit.

'NADA' crew

St. Anne Bay

St. Anne church

A modest shrine

One of the streets

The town coast line

New fruit: abrigot (apricot),  the taste is between a mango and an apricot

St. Anne in bloom

FROM ST. LUCIA TO MARTINIQUE

The short distance of 20 NM from Rodney Bay to Le Marin on the south end of Martinique has always been a small challenge. Sailing there early in the season in the ENE wind we ended up at the Diamond Rock, 8 NM west of Le Marin entrance and had to tack to our destination. This time leisurely E wind took us straight to Le Marin. The channel is well marked by buoys and by the boat, stuck on the sand banc, a reminder to sailors, that like to take shortcuts through shallow waters. As we were approaching the first set of buoys, to the right of us, a spray came out of the water surface and then the whole massive body of a whale came straight out in the air, splashing back into the water. Wonderful, but too close. Too close! Our sailboat can not compete with the king of all seas. I stirred away. The whale curved his body through the surface, puffed ones, twice and he was gone.

Diamond Rock

   

THE JOKE WAS ON MY FISHING

I was sitting on the back step by the ladder, soaking my feet. Ouch! Something bit my big toe. I looked down and saw a fish snacking on me. It was a sheepshead, about fifteen inches long. When later I dived under the boat, I noticed, that two of them made the bottom of our boat their home. They live on barnacles, they have three rows of teeth on the top and two on the bottom jaw. They should have brought all their friends to our boat and stick to the barnacles for their food.

BACK ON ST. LUCIA

Rodney Bay became another home for us. Sailing into the anchorage, we try to spot familiar boats, sailors we became friends with the past six years of our Caribbean sailing.
The greetings begin, sunset drinks, Mexican train dominoes, exaggerated sailing and fishing stories. We came here to spend a week and we stayed two.
The bay is thinning out, though, spring is here. North is warming up and sailors are getting their boats ready for a rest on dry land. There are some, that are full time sailors, most of them retired people, that sold their houses and reduced their comfort into a small floating space. The healthy life on the water agrees with them. When the hurricane season starts, they leave the East Caribbean islands and sail south to Grenada, Tobago, Trinidad, or to the West Caribbean.