Hurricane Omar had hit the coastline of Martinique hard. Many of the waterfront restaurants, bars, shops and docks were damaged. Add to that the stark utilitarian style of architecture prevalent throughout most of the French Caribbean islands, and the romantic idea of a quaint tropical paradise melts away.
........Notice broken Dock in BackgroundIan had rented a car for provisioning, so we turned the grocery trip into a tour of the island while we were at it. As we drove away from the coast to the interior, the natural beauty of the volcanic island came to light. Phil, of course, was searching for street side fruit trees, piping up each time he spotted one. The trip up the volcano was a stop and go affair. But, we managed to load up on avocados, oranges and grapefruit. Phillip’s favorite four letter “F-word” was being used frequently through out the day: “FREE”. Even Ian got into collecting fruit.
The city park was perhaps not the best idea, but non-the-less, he caught the fruit gathering fever.
We all noticed that the roads were incredibly well maintained. They were wide, newly painted with excellent signage, a real surprise for us after Trinidad and the Grenadines. The French have invested heavily in the transportation infrastructure on the islands.
As we headed up Mnt. Pelee, the temperature began to drop. It was the first time since June that we were actually comfortable walking around during the day. Sue was in heaven, Tracy was cold.
We reached the end of the road about 2 miles from the crater’s edge. At this point we were right at the cloud-line. A trail leads visitors the rest of the way to the summit. Unfortunately, we did not plan well. It was a 4-hour round trip hike. Not an option for us at 4:30pm. We followed the trail to the first resting point, enjoying the cool temperatures and the novelty of hiking in the clouds.
After a photo-op, it was back to the car and further exploration. After shopping at the “Hyper-U”, a gargantuan grocery store, it was off to the boats to prep for the crossing to Dominica.On snafu on the Adamo was the tear in the headsail. The wind had been blowing hard for days, so we never had the chance to change it out. We decided to tuck in behind the more protected coast north of Forte De France in the morning.
The following day, we motor sailed north until we found a protected bay. The conditions were okay for changing the sail, but certainly not ideal. We unfurled the torn sail, released the halyard and pulled it down about one foot before it got stuck. Great! The tracks had come out of alignment. It was going to require a trip up the forestay to correct the situation. Sue and Phil hoisted me up in the bosom’s chair, while the sail flogged us all. Three times up and down the mast with a hammer in my teeth, hanging upside down like a monkey, pounding the tracks with my Neanderthal tool and the replacement sail was in place. What a nightmare. I hope this sail makes it all the way home. The thought of doing that again makes me cringe. It almost brought out the “Angry German”.
By now it was 1:00 pm, cutting it close to arriving in Dominica during daylight. The wind was blowing at 25knts with the the Adamo booking it at over 8knts. When we rounded the north tip of Martinique, the waves kicked up to 7 feet with an additional 5 knots of wind.
Not a bad crossing, but certainly not comfortable either. As we reached the south end of Dominica, the sun had just set. We knew we would now be anchoring in the dark and decided to press on to the North end and our ultimate destination in Portsmouth.
Not a bad crossing, but certainly not comfortable either. As we reached the south end of Dominica, the sun had just set. We knew we would now be anchoring in the dark and decided to press on to the North end and our ultimate destination in Portsmouth.
