HIdden Gem amongst the Islands

We have fallen in love with Dominica. What a Gem in amongst the other Caribbean Island and I don't know how we could have overseen such natural, authentic beauty Island with its friendly and helpful people.

Ideas of how to secure your dinghy for the night

 How to secure your dinghy for the night? Hmm, some people have got different concepts and as we were driving around the anchorage very early this morning I was able to catch some interesting ideas on camera, one of the boat owners would get the first price of originality! Can you guess which one?

We are still in Martinique and most off our days are rather eventless  and merely representing a routine on living on board of a Catamaran; cleaning, teaching, cooking, lots of reading, relaxing, planning whre to go next and waiting for the day to leave this anchorage.  However today we spiced up our day by getting up early, before the sunrise, to do our washing in the laundry facilities in the Marina. We just arrived at the beginning of dawn at the laundry with two big washing baskets, trying to fight the crowds on land. Yeah, we were successful as no one else was as crazy like us to get up before sunrise to do their washing. We had plenty of time to figure out the French signs how to operate the machines and to goof around. While we had to wait for our washing to be cleaned beyond shining, we went to spoil ourselves with a hot chocolate, cappuccino and hot croissant, a delicious way to start the day.

 

 Back in New Zealand there was a time when I used to hang my washing up the fence, because I did not have a washing line. I suppose decorating the Catamaran like a Christmas tree with washing is probably along the same line. Sometimes it looks like nothing has changed, and still so much has changed.

These pictures are for you Mums and Dads.

Stuck in Martinique without internet....

Live on board to Cool Change is not always fun and filled with sunshine. Once in a while we get tested in our patience and how we can keep our equilibrium. Martinique is certainly one off those places. Why? Hmm, some might laugh about this but we cannot swim from our boat because the water is so dirty here in the harbor, which is really annoying. We are waiting for a part that we have ordered last week; which was promised to us last Friday, however Caribbean time means: take it easy man, slow down and relax... and this is what we are trying to do. However since the water is so dirty, we cannot make water and therefore we have to save water, with dishwashing, washing our clothes, going to the toilet and having showers. Yesterday we were close to have a Mutiny on Cool Change when the weather was turning to be overcast, rainy and humid. However we managed to find our equilibrium by going to the supermarket, first to cool us down, secondly to divert our mind to change of scenery an thirdly to spoil our senses of taste with nice great food.  Later on that night we indulged the sense of hearing with a music session with friends from SV/ Penny Lane and SV/ Neptune 2.... two guitars and a saxophone brought a big joy to our ears.

Martinique - half around the island in a day

This morning we got up early and Bjoern from SV/ Tauranga has invited us for a tour around the island. He had borrow a car the day before to pick up friends from the airport and because they did not come in before late in the evening we had the pleasure to breathe in Martinique atmosphere.

We started in Le marin were we are anchored at the moment and made our way up the coast to Fort-de-France.  As soon as we hit the motorway we knew that we must be in European territories. Nice tar seal two lane roads….wow…the  33 km to the capital was done in no time. Unfortunately it was Sunday so most of the shops were closed, however a big cruise ship was docked in Fort-de-France and so there was a bit of tourism and life going in the center. We visited the Schoelcher Library, the St. Louis Cathedral where a church ceremony was just held, with a beautiful choir that sounded like the angels singing on earth.  We walked around the city and I have to say the city itself was not pretty. I am not sure because everything was closed and gave us the impression that the whole city was deserted, or because of the state of some of the buildings. We also came across the town hall which is used as a museum as well the town’s theater and other culture events. The building is very pretty, impressive and stylish and a big contrast to the rest of the towns infrastructure. We also pass the statue of Joesephine, Napoleon Bonapartes wife who was apparently born in Martinique and lived there later on as the French empress. Victor Schoelcher was pushing to abolish slavery in the French colonies, and on the 27. April 1848 he succeeded with his vision.

From here we climb back into our limousine and drive further up the coast. The coast is pretty, but I noticed that the coastal vegetation is very dry and nothing like any of the other islands we have been to further down south. We pass the little township Schoelcher, Bellefontaine and Carbet, before we settle for lunch in Saint Pierre. Saint Pierre used to be the capital of Martinique, and was known as the little Paris of the West Indies. On the 8^th of May 1902 the volcano Mt. Pele erupted and destroyed the whole township and apart of the one person in prison, all other 30.000 people died under its ash and rocks. We found a great restaurant directly on the sea shores, were we had a delicious four course meal.

Once we had gulped down a second set of roasted flamed bananas, we rolled back to our car and drove across the island to Mourne Rouge, here we took the wrong turn and instead of driving down the west coast we made it through the middle of the island back to Fort-de-France, this is what happens if you have got two of the greatest navigator in charge. We were all very impressed by the lush and green vegetation in the mountain. The temperature dropped down significantly as we were racing over the mountains and through the inland of Martinique. Lots of fruit trees, banana trees and tropical flowers were lining the roads…stunning and very interesting flora and fauna, total different to the coast. We all loved it and saw several waterfalls along the way were people were cooling off and enjoying their Sunday afternoon.

We just made it back to Le Marin before it got dark, thank you so much Bjoern for such a fun ride and interesting Sunday.  Our next big adventure will be a walk or hike up Mt. Pele, the still active volcano, really looking forward to this. 

Pirates of the Caribbean

We made an overnight stop in St.Vincent. We snorkeled the shores in the bay of Wallilabou, we had lion fish for lunch, met up with our friends Sylvia and Wolfgang from SV/Silence for a walk and played Pirate for a day. Its been over 10 years that they filmed the movie "Pirates of the Caribbean" in St.Vincent, and despite the destruction of the Hurrican "Omar" in 2008, you can still see footprints of the movie scenery. It was a great day with lots of laughter and happy faces.