Back to the Saintes

They are just 18 nm from Portsmouth, an easy Friday sail. Winds are18 k with gusts to 22 k. Seas are 3' and 9 seconds apart. We are moving NNW in clear, sunny skies at over 7 kph. Nice sail to say the least, and little to no weather helm now that I found and fixed the lose, slightly misplaced reef line. There is a ketch, an Amel with three sails set, just ahead of us and to windward...she's whipping us and will get to the Saintes an hour ahead of us. We are just too heavy - too much stuff/junk aboard - to act like a true cat: FAST. Oh, well, comfort over speed.

We pulled into Ilet a Cabrit, the island where Ft. Josephine is (she's at the top of the picture), about 40 minutes after the Amel. Not too bad! We grabbed a buoy, there were actually two!?!, of the French persuasion with no painter, just the large ring: you gotta be quick to catch it and tie on the mooring lines before we fall away or it slides under the boat. Plus you have to tie it up tight so you don't bump into it all night.

Now that's tight!

The cost for a night, and they don't care if you're checked in ( they just want the Euros), is 13 Euro. Not too bad given they must maintain the moorings. Here they are in 51' of water and just 50' off the beach. Saves us from having to put out all our chain and damage the bottom which in this case is sand, mud, and some grass.

Next stop is Pointe a Pitre on bottom of the right wing of the butterfly; actually right where the a-hole would be.

 

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Stephen Clark

We left Marin and overnighted at Sainte-Anne. The generator was cutting out so we decided to see why. It seemed to be a fuel problem which I thought we'd solved with the new Fram filter in Dominica two weeks ago. Closer examination showed it was the start switch, a rocker switch with three positions: off, on, and start. Stephen suggested taking the switch out which eventually necessitated taking out the whole control panel. In the process we took apart the start switch dropping the various internal pieces on the deck as it came apart. CRAP!! I was sure we'd have to order a new switch and probably the whole damn panel. In steps Stephen: "Lets take the whole panel up to the cockpit where we can get a good look at it, especially the 6-connector wiring on the back side of the opened switch." We found what we thought were the fallen parts: 2 different length, minuscule springs and a smaller piece that could have been a fuse (it was); 2 2-inch long, 1/4 inch wide lengths of metal with brass contacts at one end: and a "H" shaped, plastic post with spring rollers on two of the feet and a post opposite. What a lot of junk I thought, but to Stephen a puzzle to be noodled. And noodle he did! He reassembled the switch with all the parts in the right place and sequences. I got to snap it together and attach the repaired nine slip-on wire connectors - woo, woo. And low and behold, the bugger worked!!! After testing with a meter to make sure the right switches opened and closed (I.e., "on" turned on the lights and the fuel pump), I also, woo-woo, got to tighten a pair of bolts and coat them with di-electric grease. Once we hooked it back up, the generator started like it was new and has run without a hiccup ever since.

This is not the first, second, third, etc. time Stephen has put his head into some Kuhela problem and noodled it to a successful conclusion. He did the same thing - twice, even - with the Mercury outboard getting it going from a busted state (impeller broken and the fuel system going south, both twice!) to working. But, the icing on the cake (so far) was the autopilot. After leaving Sainte-Anne and passing by the Diamond, we turned NW towards Grande Anse where we were going to spend the night. Suddenly the autopilot decides to turn to port (left) and won't recover. I manually steer her back on course several times only to find she's determined to go left when turned back on. It was as if a terrible current was attacking us or we had run over something like a pot and were dragging it along... Once again, CRAP! We hand steered to a lovely anchorage at Grande Anse, dropped the hook in 12' of water and snuggled in for the night.

 

Next morning we started looking for a reason for out problem: rudders out of alignment? No. Hydraulic pump won't reverse like at Curacao? No. Hydraulic oil low? No. Electronics buggered? Yipes, Yes! Look at he burned and melted contacts that were hidden by the relay module I found:

Thankfully I had replacements for both and Stephen wired them in again. Looks like they'll work saving hand steering all the way back to Antigua (where they speak English 'cause the French don't and won't understand the problem). It did work beautifully...

If Stephen wasn't actually doing the work he was giving me the confidence to keep trying to fix or noodle the situation that I "knew" was hopeless to a successful conclusion. THANK YOU, STEPHEN!!!!! And thank you for letting me do most of the actual work under your direction. Man, you gotta see the new deck!

 

 

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Martinique

Fort de France

 

 

The harbor at Fort de France is 3.5 nm wide and 2 nm deep with the fort and town just about in the middle. The Foreign Legion still occupies the fort, so no tours. We checked in at a marine chandlery, hit the market for a few things, and took a rest from our trip down from Anse Belleville. In the morning we went a short to get a few more things and were successful in getting a new switch for the anchor windlass. We have been using a foot pad which was very difficult to activate. The new button one is much easier to squeeze/press into action. We were not able to get another Fram filter as our French wasn't up to local standards. One must say "gasoil" for diesel, for instance. Anyway we came back to the boat and moved on to another anchorage croon the bay: Trois Ilets. Not remembering it was Friday we relaxed for the rest of the day and went in the next morning when everything was closed. This is where Josephine's mother is buried in a lost grave. No one knows today which one it is.

 

From here we proceeded to Grand Anse d'Arlets just down the coast on the way to the Roche du Diamant

 

 

The Diamond is an 500' tall rock/island on the south western end of Martinique opposite the most southern point across from St. Lucia. All shipping from Europe came thru this channel hugging the coast to keep out of the westerly current and Trade Winds that would blow them out into the Carribean. A wonderful book by Dudley Pope, Ramage's Diamond, tells the tale of its strategic capture in 1802 by the British in its blockade of Fort de France. The British manned the island for 17 months having hauled up cannons to the top to command the waterway.

From the Diamond we went to St. Anne and them Marin. I have not seen so many boats in one place in a very long time. There must gave been 200 or more anchored off the beach and town. When we moved 2 nm to Marin we were again blown away by large number of moored and anchored sloops, ketches, cats, power boats, etc. outside the three marinas there.

 

 

We rented a car and set out to explore the island.

The Diamond from the shore.

A memorial to the drowned slaves in a wreck near the Roche.

 

The cathedral above Ft. de France

 

 

One of many rhum distilleries still in operation on the island.

 

This is a peninsula on the central, eastern side of Martinique.

 

The partially restored plantation/mansion where they made sugar, rum, cotton, and coffee. Quite an amazing operation in the moddle of nowhere.

 

 

 

On Saturday we left the boat at 7 am and hit the backery and got sweets and ran down to the beach near Salines for breakfast before turning in the VW Polo we'd rented for 62 Euros a day. Damned expensive considering we had had quote for 42, but no cars 'till Tuesday.

 

Yes, that's the Diamond in the background.

 

Even hThe roads here are narrow to US standards. They were built by the mile so they are very windings get lost too often, especially with Stephen who has b and curving: more $ per mile if you go in and out of every nook and crannie. Switchbacks are everywhere as are roundabouts. Signage is ok so you don't get lost too often, especially with Stephen who has been here to many times as navigator from the back seat. Everything is very green and lush...a lovely place! The drivers are courteous except for speed: the faster the better, so they are right up your butt. Still, all in all, very pleasant.

 

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Les Saintes and Dominica

After a rough passage between Guadeloupe and the Sts., just a few nm actually of rough seas and 20-25 nm winds, we pulled in to a lovely, crowded anchorage, found one of the last balls - actually a 3 foot high, conical buoy with a thick wire top to attach one's bridle to - and settled in.

 

Ashore we checked in by computer in an Internet cafe: very simple except that everything was in French and the keyboard was European.

Our one night out dinner was a disappointment: not at all what we expected French cuisine to be. We took a taxi up to Fort Napoleon which is above the town and across from Fort, yes, you guessed it, Josephine. Seems she was from Martinique.

Wednesday morning we motored to Pain de Sucre, a teton hump out of the main waterway, set the main with a single reef, and headed SE for Dominica Judy 21 nm away. Yeegads, what a passage: 6-8' seas, winds gusting to 30 knots, waves crashing over the bows as if we were leaving Columbia or the ABC's again. Steve road the bow in somewhat Titanic style for a few minutes, but gave up soaking wet. We buttoned down the plexiglass expecting heavy squalls at Dominica: they didn't materialize and actually cleared. Dropped the sail behind the headland and motored into 25' deep water off the NE shore across from a partially completed, red roofed resort on the site of a previously bankrupted one of a few years ago. Prince Rupert Bay is nearly three miles wide. Portsmouth, a small, sleepy, 4th world fishing village where we checked in with a minimum of carbonized paperwork (confirmed as the easiest check-in in the Caribbean) has clean, recently paved streets and friendly people. But, very down trodden and poor. We tried to spread a few EC's around at the few green grocery stalls, and even went so far as to buy two child-like "postcard" sketches from a guy named Hamilton. We'll give them to Lorry and Linda for Valentine's Day on the 14th.

 

 

 

 

Off bright and early for Rosseau just down the coast and closer to Martinique. The trip down was leisurely and allowed some repairs to the trampoline and the gib halyard handling system? We were met by Sea Cat, a boat boy that Steve and Lorry had used before. He put us on mooring for $15 US and then got into a verbal fight with two other boat boys, one of whom was on the land. They carried the verbal abuse to the street with unknown consequences over, presumably, our business. We walked into town, past the Office of the President of the Commonwealth of Dominica, a white, two story wooden structure across from the Harbor Hotel. Very narrow street with flying traffic. We found a Fram diesel filter we needed for the generator in a Budget Marine shop. Hard to believe there was one in such a poor country.

Dualing boat boys:

We dropped off the ball just before 0700 hrs. for our 48 nm trip to Fort de France, Martinique. The weather reports were good and totally inaccurate. Winds were gusting to 30 knots, seas were 5-6' and covered in waves after clearing Scott's Head at the southern tip of the island. We were making 4.9 knots at 20,000 RPM and bouncing all over the place. We put out the jib to the second reef using our new cleating system without mishap. Wow, what a difference. Speed jumped to 7+ knots and we started to take on the waves rather than being bulled over by them: less spray and less water over the bow and a smoother ride. Still shades of Columbia to Aruba! I tried to take a picture of the turmoil, but it lost the prospective completely.

North end of Martinique:

 

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