January 6, 2016

GUADELOUPE

We sailed from St-Pierre, Martinique to the Island of Marie Galante off the mainland of Guadeloupe, taking us exactly 12 hours.  If it wasn’t for the several squalls, we would have had a fantastic sail.  The squalls screwed up the wind strength and direction.  Along with the current, we had a hard time making it to Grand Bourg Harbor thus we had to use our motor. 

We visited this island mostly by car.  It’s a small island so in a day, we drove all around the island and visited some sites along the way.  Our first stop was the Domaine de Bellevue Rum distillery.  It was kind of early in the morning but yet we couldn’t help but stop by the tasting counter and purchase some Rum agricole. 


NOTICE THE 59% ALCOHOL CONTENT


Anse Canot has a beautiful, mostly private anchorage with a nice beach.  It was one of the beaches without sargassum seaweed.  This seaweed was particularly thick around Marie Galante unfortunately.  It stinks but mostly it’s a nuisance for fishermen and tourists on beaches. 

My favorite site on Marie Galante is a natural round sinkhole with a 200 foot high rim and an arch at the bottom open to the sea.  It is named ‘Gueule Grand Gouffre’.

Gueule Grand Gouffre


We stopped by the town of Capesterre.  It was run down and had much sargassum seaweed so walking along the seashore wasn’t pleasant due to the smell.  Hopefully, the seaweed will subside soon.  The town of Saint-Louis was also run down.  Marie Galante used to produce much agriculture and sold their produce on the mainline.  Nowadays, it’s a sleepy island in which tourists come by ferry from the mainland to visit for a day. 

SARGASSUM WEED


We had a fun sail from Marie Galante to St-Francois.  We landed a Mahi Mahi and made a fish chowder.  We shared our meal with friends Vince and Ralph as they shared their Wahoo with us a few days prior.  Their Wahoo measure 59 inches.  They were so kind as to give us some of their fish for later.  Thanks Vince & Ralph !

The tiny airport in St-Francois is extremely close to the shore.  All day long, you can see skydivers, gyrocopters and many small handmade planes.  Around the marina are some very nice shops and several restaurant/bars where you can people watch.

At Iles de Gosier we anchored between the island and the mainland.  The island is quite small but very quaint with a working lighthouse and snack bar.  We snorkeled and saw a large octopus which we watched for quite some time.  It slowly swam over rocks and coral and every time it moved, we saw its camouflage change with its environment.  Of course, I did not have my camera with me.

ILES A GOSIER



From Iles de Gosier we dignied 3 miles into Point a Pitre, the major city in Guadeloupe.  The dinghy dock was right across from the fishermen’s market and La Darse fruit and vegetable market. 





We visited the Victor Schoelcher museum.  From 1829 to 1830, he visited slave plantations in the south of the United States and during a stopover in Cuba, he discovered the cruel reality of slavery.  When we returned home, he began his career as an abolitionist writer.  He adhered also to the young French Society for the Abolition of the Slavery.  For almost 20 years, Schoelcher devoted his life and fortune to the abolition of slavery in the French colonies.  He campaigned relentlessly, which contributed to the French decree abolishing slavery on the 27th of April, 1848.

“A two storey limestone building was built for the museum and was inaugurated on July 21st, 1887.  It was one of the first museums to open its doors from France overseas"

We anchored at Iles a Cabrit which is part of Iles Des Saintes.  It is an uninhabited island with over 100 sheeps and goats.  Having sundowners on the beach was difficult as the chickens would peck all around us hoping to get some of our appetizers.  

There are a couple of wonderful hiking trails on the island with views from each side of the island.  Napoleon had built a fort on this island for his wife called Fort Josephine.





ILES DES SAINTES



We anchored in Deshaies only to provision and clear out of the country since we’ve been here before.  See previous blog on Guadeloupe from April 2015.  We did however dinghy over to Pigeon Island to snorkel at one of Jacques Cousteau’s underwater park.

HINTS FOR CRUISERS:
Grand Bourg, Marie Galante:
Anchorage:  There is only room for about 4-5 boats near the docks.  Chris Doyle says you can tie up to the docks for free but there isn’t any room as many local boats are already there along with fishing boats with their fishing lines on the dock.  Don’t count on getting a spot there.  Also, you may need to put a stern line out as it’s a tight anchorage. DO NOT anchor near the ferries.  It is very protected in a northern swell.
Buses:  From Grand Bourg, buses go to Capesterre and St-Louis every 20 minutes in the morning but good luck waiting for one in the afternoon to get back to Grand Bourg.  They have no schedule.  They basically leave St-Louis and Capesterre towards Grand Bourg to make the last ferry.
Customs:  Pass the tourist office until the road curves to the right.  The customs office is the pink building with white doors in the left hand corner before the road curves to the right.  There are no signs at all.  Use the door on the right side of the building.  Ph # is:  0590 97 54 49.  Cel phone # 0690 83 33 10.
Car Rental:  There are several car rentals along the ferry docks.  ~ 35Euros per day.  You can tour the whole island in one day.
Provisioning:  Le Carrefour is one street up from the docks on the right.  They sell ice for 3.50 Euros.
Ice:  Le Carrefour and the gas station.
St-Francois:
Anchorage:  Good and large
Iles de Gosiers:
Laundry:  From the dinghy dock, walk past the park and when you hit the first major street, turn left.  Walk about 3 minutes and the laverie is on the right side.  It has 4, 8kg washers (5 euros) and one 14kg washer (8.50 euros).  The 2 very large dryers are 1 Euro for 10 minutes.
Pointe a Pitre:

Grocery:  It has a Super U and Economax along with several smaller grocery stores.  You may also choose to buy fresh produce and fish at the markets (they close at 14hrs).

January 2, 2016

MARTINIQUE

We spent the holidays in Martinique.  We arrived in St-Anne a few days before Christmas to meet up with our friends Gigi and Bob on s/v Pinnacle and Vince and Ralph on s/v Flight Plan.  They are great friends of ours and we did everything we could to get to Martinique to be with them for the holidays.  It wasn’t easy as the Christmas winds were strong and we had just a very short window to get to Martinique, but we made it !

 
Reunited after several months:  Bob, Gigi, Tim, Susan, Vince

BOB & TIM ENJOYING LORRAINE BEER

SUSAN & GIGI CELEBRATING OUR REUNION









































We visited the Belfort Banana plantation.  We toured on a small open train as they educated us on bananas and had live demonstrations.  Once the bananas produce fruit, they die.  Each plant has a shoot so the main plant is cut down to allow the shoots to grow.  The main pod is the male flower and each banana has a female flower on the end which is removed before shipping. The banana trees, once dead are cut at about 5 feet because there is still sap in the trunks which help with the shoots that are growing.  It takes 6-9 months for the fruit to mature.  Blue or green bags are put over the fruit to fend off birds nesting, bugs and sun burn.  Their enemies are weevils.  Plastic bins are put every so many acres with a special pill to attract the weevils that eventually kills them.  This particular plantation exports to France only.  It takes 12 days by boat to reach France and then they gas the bananas so that they ripen all at the same time.  I can’t remember the type of gas.  After they cut the banana stocks they clean them in chlorinated water.  After the tour, we tasted fresh bananas, banana chips and banana wine which surprisingly, it was very good.  

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GIGI MADE ME A GIFT

THE BUS WAS A TAD SMALL

BUTTERFLY ON A MANDARIN TREE

CUTTING BANANAS OFF THE STALK
PROTECTS THE BANANAS

WASHING THE BANANAS

BANANA WINE TASTING




 We hiked about 10 miles from St-Anne to Point Saline and took the road back to St-Anne.  This hike is mostly next to the seashore and pretty well marked.  The town painted red marks on Manchineel trees since they are poisonous.  It’s particularly a bad idea to sit under a Manchineel tree while it’s raining.  There are several pretty deserted beaches, some nude beaches then a large local beach with eateries along the way. 

Right after the large beach is an observatory deck.  Locals were fishing crab to make crab soup and stuffed crab when they found larger ones.

We kept hiking to an area called the petrified forest.  We’re not sure why they call it a petrified forest because it’s quite barren with cactus and no sight of petrified trees. This is a very beautiful with crashing waves on the steep cliffs. 



CRAB HOLDING A LEAF


POINTE SALINE BEACH


AT THE PETRIFIED FOREST

WINDWARD

CAVE AT WINDWARD SIDE

I DIDN'T KNOW THAT HERMIT CRABS CAN CLIMB TREES

HAVING LUNCH ON THE WINDWARD SIDE

A FARM THAT COVERED THE SOIL WITH WHITE AND BLACK PLASTIC SHEETS


LOCALS CAUGHT CRAB FOR MAKING SOUP

We also hiked Creve Coeur from St-Anne.  It has beautiful views of Le Marin, St-Anne and the Windward coast.  

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Tim, Gigi, Bob, Therese, Susan, Vince, Denis (s/v Dames Des Mers)





A BEAUTIFUL CRAB WE SAW WHILE SNORKELING
Only in Martinique and Guadeloupe do they produce Rum Agricole which is made from cane sugar, not molasses.  There are several rum distilleries so we chose to visit La Mauny.   The popular drink in Martinique made only of Rum Agricole is called Ti-Punch (small punch).  The recipe is:  1 oz of Rum Agricole, 3 ice cubes, juice of ¼  lime and a bit of sugar cane juice.  



On Christmas Eve we celebrated on s/v Flight Plan and ohhhhh, did we have fun until 2:30 am.  We all brought lots of good food and French champagne along with kazoos and the few decorations we had.   



On Christmas day,  Lise of s/v Vomo organized a beach party and pot luck for 70 Quebecers…and Tim.   There were several people who spoke English and they chatted Tim up.  The best part were the games we all participated in; throwing water balloons, picking up peas with straws, 3 legged race, tug of war and more.  This was an all day affair and by the time we got back to our boat, we had eaten so well that we just crashed for the night



  
Grand Anse D’arlet was our next stop for New Year’s.  It’s a beautiful anchorage with clear water and a nice beach.  There are several huge turtles that swim the waters around your boat.  We took the dinghy to Anse D’arlet to snorkel and it was great !  I saw a huge crab and collected some nice shells. What was interesting was that I found a large conch shell with an octopus in it.  I wonder if she chased the conch out of its shell ?

  
BEACH AT ANSE D'ARLET

FISHERMAN ADDING BAIT TO HIS LINE.  LOOK HOW MANY HOOKS HE HAS !

New Year’s Eve was spent on Alpenglow with friends Bob, Gigi, Veronique & Philipe, Theresa & Denis, Vince & Ralph.  Yup, we had 10 people on board for a pot luck and lots of laughs.  Around 11pm we went to shore to dance until 2:30am.  Happy New Year !!!!


NEW YEAR'S EVE ON ALPENGLOW

We visited the Shell museum at Le Diamant.  It boasts 4,000 exhibits.


BERNARD THE HUGE HERMIT

We walked thru the town of Le Diamant and also stopped to visit the Caffard memorial.  Le Diamant is a rock in the ocean seen from the south shores of Martinique.  Years ago, the British army installed canons on the top to stop the French from going to Fort De France.  


LE DIAMANT


CAFFARD MEMORIAL


St-Pierre lies at the foot of the Mt.Pelee volcano.  On May 8th, 1902, the volcano erupted, killing all the estimated 29,933 residents except for two.  Leon Leandre, a cobbler and the famous Cyparis, imprisoned for murder was in a stone cell.   The volcano released  superheated gas releasing more energy than an atomic bomb.  Twelve ships in the bay were destroyed at anchor.  One managed to escape with a few survivors. Many ruins still remain and many post disaster buildings have been built onto old structures.  Many new buildings share at least one wall with the past.  

WE HIKED MT.PELEE 
RUIN IN ST-PIERRE

PRISON CELL OF THE ONLY SURVIVOR






Things to know:
-  People say bonsoir (not bonne après midi) either after 12:00 noon.
-  They don't say right or left, instead they move their arm towards the left of right.
- You must learn to speak some Creole.  Ma doudou means My dear.
- Poulet Boucaner:  smoked chicken or fish but smoked with sugar cane stocks.

HINTS FOR CRUISERS:

- Belfort Banana plantation (tel: 0696 24 25 89).  Tour is in French and English.
- Point Saline Hike:  Hike from St-Anne hugging the shore.  It’s a very well marked trail.  You will eventually get to a busy beach with eateries.  This is your only opportunity to get food and water, however at 11am, they were not open yet.  You will see the observatory on your left right after the beach.  Continue on to the petrified forest.  After the forest, you'll get to a parking lot at Baie Des Anglais.  You may be able to take the road here to get back to St-Anne.  Or, continue thru the parking lot and the trail continues onto Anse Trabaud.  You'll eventually come to a huge agriculture farm that you'll hike right next to.  The trail comes to a road.  To take the road back to St-Anne:  At the road, turn Left.  at the T, turn left again.  At the next T, turn right.  When you get to the highway, turn left.  This hike took us 7 hours but we did stop often.  Bring lots of water. 
- Muse du Coquillage (Shell Museum),  Hotel Lecrin Bleu Le Diamant 0596 76 41 92 daily 9-18h, 5 Euros. 
- Botanical Garden Balata.  
www.jardeinbalata.fr  0596 64 48 73 (we did not go)
- Farm Business / Exploitation agricole 0696 26 64 54 (we did not go)
- St-Pierre, men’s haircut:  Alex Martine Coiffure, Rue Bouille 06 96 31 46 00
- Gorge du Falaisse, St-Pierre (near Morne Rouge).  Only open if it doesn’t rain too much.  7 Euros to go in.  Guided.  To find out if it’s open, you can call the restaurant owner next to the Gorge at 0596 53 3561.

- Cypress Train tour in St-Pierre is only in French.  It looks a little touristy but I heard that the guide is extremely informative.