18/03/2014
14 30 03’N 061 05 42’W
We cleared out of St Vincent bound for Martinique and this was a hard beat in 28 knots of a northerly wind, we made good time but the sailing was bouncy, tiring, fun for about an hour. We crept into Rodney Bay in St Lucia, put up the yellow flag but did not clear in, very naughty! Karen had hurt her back the in the rough weather so we needed the break. I set sail at seven in the morning on a fast beam reach to Grande Anse D’arlet. During the trip I was buzzed very close by a twin engined light aircraft. Ops, I thought that I had been rumbled not clearing in and out of St Lucia and this idea was enforced as we were met by a large French customs cutter just off the coast of Martinique. I slowly exhaled when the captain waved and went to look at another yacht.
We moved the 12 odd miles to Port de France which is the capital of Martinique and has the lure of large supermarkets and a vibrant shopping area. Lo and behold as we swung into the anchorage we met up with Roger and Audrey on Sarah G. Roger explained that his prop was turning round on the shaft so had been in effect engineless. The next day I donned snorkel and mask and after countless dives managed to get the propeller off. It was confirmed that the key had disintegrated so Roger needed a new key, I also needed to change the oil and filter on the engine so hired a car and drove to Marin where I got the oil and filter. The closest we could get to the key was a piece of stainless steel that was 12mm by 8mm which we needed to get down to 6mm by 6mm. The next day was spent with the grinder and file trying to keep the piece square until 6 by 6 had been achieved. The propeller was reattached and on testing the prop turned and propulsion occurred fantastic all done with a bit of hard graft and mask and snorkel.
We moved up the coast to St Pierre where the volcano mount Pele erupted in 1902 and killed nearly all 23,000 inhabitants . One of the survivors was a local miscreant who had been locked up in the jail and it was the thick walls that saved him though he was still badly burnt.
We have had problems anchoring here as the bottom slopes very quickly and is covered in weed. We cannot wait to clear out and go to the next island Dominica