Sainte-Anne

We didn't make it round to Le Marin on our arrival into Martinique, we stopped half-way down the island, at Fort de France. The anchorage there is very central, in front of the fort, but also a little busy. Ferries constantly buzz back and forth, starting at 6am, and so do the church bells.

After running a couple of errands this morning, we planned to get down to Le Marin, so we could get someone to look at the engine's odd vibration.

Le Marin is the yachting capital of Martinique, a bay down in the South of the island, surrounded by mangroves, with more little bays off the sides that one can tie down for a hurricane, in. Aside from the many reefs, you can anchor just about anywhere in the bay.

The sail down to Le Marin started easily enough, motoring out into the channel and hauling up sails while waiting for a container ship to drop off its pilot and get out of the way. The motor sounded a lot better today, unless the problem reappears, I don't think we'll have anything for a mechanic to look at. Strong gusts were predicted, so we settled for the 2nd reef again, but used the full genoa, most of the day.

We hadn't seen too many fishing buoys on the north of Martinique, but as we went further South, and closer to the shore, they started to pop up everywhere.

The coast around Cap Salomon was gorgeous. Green mountains ending with sheer cliffs into the sea, some caves below. Every bay has a couple of masts in it. We got frequently becalmed in the shadow of the mountains and only made a few knots, close to the coast.

But once round Point du Diamant, we started to pick up some nice wind. It was coming almost directly from the corner of the bay we wanted to get to, so had to tack towards it.

This was some really nice sailing, the best we've had in weeks. Not too fast or rough, just nice easy, steady going, with enough wind and waves to make it fun.

To cap it off, a pod of dolphins came past, hunting fish around the boat. There was lots of jumping and frolicking in the bow wave. This is the first time we've had some dolphins along for the ride, been waiting to run into them.

The late start and all the tacking meant we weren't going to make it into Le Marin by sunset. We cut the tacking short, and motored directly upwind from the middle of the bay, but that still wasn't going to get us into Le Marin in good light. Given the bay is full of reefs, it's probably best not to enter it for the first time, at night.

So, we anchored outside the entrance, in front of the town of Sainte-Anne. This is another big anchorage, with 30+ yachts spread out on the flat shelf in front of the town. The water is crystal clear, and even in the twilight we could see the sandy bottom and feel comfortable that we're safely anchored.

Le Marin can wait for tomorrow morning. It's just round the corner.

Navionics Track