Good Friday we woke up to a sunny day – hurrah – so beach time is on. Did some boat jobs in the morning, primarily making water, and then went ashore at lunchtime. We were joined by Dan and Ruth from Evensong – and we didn’t get much further than the rather nice beach bar hanging over the sea in the hotel resort just across from the anchorage. Richard and Dan stayed dry but Ruth and I couldn’t resist the temptation to go bobbing in the sea. Lovely….. We had a really great time catching up…..
Friday night Sundowners were on board the other Island Packet in the Anse Martin anchorage – Windswept Dreams. Ann and Ed were nice hosts and we met some more of their friends who are also out cruising…. Enjoyable evening…but not too late….. we were back on board Morphie by 9.30 pm although we had slightly over-indulged by then!
Saturday morning was the last chance to get groceries as all shops were closing for the long Easter break – so up at a reasonable time and into town. Managed to get some fresh ham and cheese – but forgot the bread and by the time I realised the boulangerie was closed. Damn…… We are stocking up little and often at the minute as we have a refrigeration problem and don’t want to risk losing huge amounts of food…. Chores done so in the afternoon we went on board Evensong and did some “bobbing with style” in our blow up chairs…. Richard and Dan were particularly impressive when it came to starfish shapes whilst Ruth and I played on the trampolines at the front of their catamaran….. What a great way to spend the afternoon. Lazy and fun all at the same time….
Saturday night we went ashore with Dan, Ruth, Ann and Ed for a Chinese… Yes I know we are in Martinique – a French island – but all of us have overdosed on rich French food recently so Chinese was the popular decision!!!! The meal was fine – although ordering Chinese in French had some challenges – and we have now all had our fix for a while. And over dinner we found out all about the Easter Bunny in the US…rather like Father Christmas they leave treats and he leaves presents of eggs…. Hmmmm….all a bit much for me!!! Anyway….back on board completely stuffed….. and off to bed.
Sunday we had planned a day of rest and although we were awake early we were just lazing in bed reading when we heard a knocking on the hull. Getting up to investigate we found Dan and Ruth in their dinghy who had come to say goodbye…. Ruth’s father is really ill and they need to get home as soon as possible. Oh dear…not the way we wanted this to end as we had plans to explore Martinique together and cruise in company down to St Lucia. Well they took off to try and find an official who was working to check out of Martinique and we waited to hear the result… they managed to find someone over in Fort de France and headed off into pretty rough weather. Not a great day for a crossing especially in the circumstances. After this shocking news we just hang around the boat feeling really deflated and I was hit with a huge range of emotions. Selfish ones like “damn….I was looking forward to….” alongside huge amounts of concern for Ruth trying to get home in a hurry….. Our thoughts and prayers go with them.
We decided to stay on board all day Sunday – nothing in town is open anyway – and just lazed around. I have been a bit in the wars with a swollen eye and a deep spider bite on my shoulder which has been giving me grief…. but the lazing around and loads of applications of a variety of antibiotic drugs seemed to have worked as I was feeling better by late afternoon. We ended up having a quiet movie night on board…
Monday morning we woke up bright and early and although the weather forecast is for some tough weather conditions – wind, rain and large seas – we decided to move down the coast by 10 miles…. We had a great downwind sail under reefed genoa alone….with a few gusts of 35 knots of wind, so for once the forecast was right! Whilst underway we really enjoyed the formations created by the flying fish but still haven’t managed to catch a photo of them. Sorry…. We also – worryingly – saw a very large Portuguese Man of War jelly fish. But this was more than offset by some small turtles popping up their heads to say “hi” when we arrived at Anse D’Arlet and picked up a brand new – and free of charge – mooring ball. Nice……
Got dink down from the davits and went ashore to this picturesque little town and had a local lunch and wandered the beach…. pretty busy with everyone enjoying the holiday…. Now on board listening to some tunes having a sundowner while we watch the rain squalls move around us….
The forecast is rough tomorrow too…so will probably stay here for a couple of days before we move on again.
Bye for now…..
Jan