Martinique

Micheal taking his first dive.

Fresh Lobster!!!

The cat getting his own drink of water. He will also lay in the sink with the faucet turned ON! Crazy Cat

So we stayed in Le Marin on the southern tip of Martinique for only a couple of days. We were thinking that the big city of Fort De France would be a place that we could stay for a while. We have some minor boat repairs to do and Michael wanted to see a big city for a change. On the way to Fort De France we passed Diamond Rock, a spectacular spit of land that jets up out of the Ocean 300ft. It is supposed to be good to dive on. You're not allowed to anchor on it and the moorings set out were intended for smaller boats or maybe even fish traps. At least that was our deduction since we really didn't know what that French guy was shouting at us when we grabbed the buoy. lol. So, we circled it, took in the views and continued our sail toward Fort De France.

The stud in front of Diamond Rock

Diamond rock

Since we had diving on the brain and this leeward side of the island the waves were cooperating we decided to stop in a little cove, Anse de Arlet', that was marked on the chart and went diving. I will say, it was my WOW experience diving. The visibility was 75 ft or so and when the sun came out the reef light up to the point it was almost neon. I wish I had my underwater camera settings set properly so you could get the full effect. It was spectacular.

The moray eel that we visited. Can you tell he was excited to see us?!

Some coral and fuana.

Loving life!

Even though we were tired after the dive we weighed anchor and set sail to finish our leg of the journey into Fort de France. It's a huge bay, probably the size of the Charleston Harbor. We anchored right in front of the big city docks where all of the ferry's come in to drop off day passengers. Lots of colorful tents, lights and boats. It's a beautiful view from the water. I'm not sure if I mentioned that in Le Marin we went to a local grocery store and practically filled the bilge with wine. It was soooo cheap. $3-8 per bottle. Feeling to need to lighten the load now that we filled every crevasse with wine we popped a few corks We popped a french wine and practiced what few french phrases we knew and took in the sunset.

Fort de France as we set anchor, opened wine and took in the sunset.

It's odd, the fort in the port of Fort de France is actually named Fort Louis??? Go figure.

The next morning we did a wrecky of the F de F and actually didn't find it all that appealing. Sort of like a downtown Detroit. All the wealth is in the suburbs and it's not geared towards the yachties like the other small towns are. Laundry is miles away, Internet is next to impossible to find and it's French. Most people aren't that friendly. I think we are going to leave tomorrow and move on to St Pierre on the northern tip.

Michael has a very harsh accent and when he tries to communicate with other Caribs it has been difficult for him. I keep offering advice on how to pronounce words and such. The other day I was buying a diving guide to the Caribbean and the French woman couldn't understand me....she looked at Michael and said in English "his accent is VERY bad!" Michael just about fell over laughing so hard. It made his trip to know that I was considered having an accent here.

The Captain and Michael are having a hard time getting along. Michael's consistent I Know It All attitude is driving us crazy and things may be coming to a head soon. The captain is encouraging me to extend my trip so he is making sailing plans around my flight arrangements. I was supposed to fly home from St Lucia on the 7th of Feb but, I have decided to extend my trip by one week and fly out of Antigua. I've been here for 12 days now and it does not seem like I have been here that long. It truly is amazing how easy it is to fill the day with activities. One of our main goals is to get to Les Saintes which is a very small island above Dominica and below Antigua. It is supposed to be world class diving. Every sailor we have spoke to that has been there simply raves about it. Heading in that direction will also allow us to slow down and spend more than 2 or 3 days in one spot. So, that the basic outline at the moment. We will see if it changes or not.

Take care and will write more later. Love yall.