A new hope (island)
24 January 2018 | Martinique
I was taken to the airport by Cecilia, where she helped me to jump the queue of around 30 people, the staff at Liat air were very anal, they made my take a lot of my electronic equipment out of my cabin luggage and put it into my hold luggage just because it was slightly over weight (well to be honest it was almost double the allowance at 30lbs.) Then when we got onto the aircraft there was only 12 of us onboard, it was just a short hop of around 40 minutes up to my new island 🌴 of Martinique, once through customs, I spent a little time setting my internet and SIM card up, then it was outside to get my transport to my new boat. So from the airport to Sainte-Anne is around 26km and it took the taxi about 20 minutes the cost for this short trip was €92 yes €92 🤬🤬. As the say even Robin Hood wore a mask 😷. On arrival I met my new skipper, Len, who is from Sweden. We had lunch and a beer, then we squeezed Len, myself and my 3 bags 💼 into the dingy, we motored out into the bay where around 150 boats ⛵️are at anchor. My first look at my new boat ⛵️was a pleasant surprise, she is a Beneteau Oceanis 44 cc, quite a nice looking boat, I have my own bed 🛏 in my own cabin up front, with lots of storage space. We are at anchor about 400 metre away from the beach 🏖 and town. We are now waiting for a couple of pieces of equipment to come down from the good ole US of A. Then we will set sail. We have spent quite a bit of time trying to get the generator running and producing 220 volt electricity to run alongside the 7 solar panels and our new wind generator, but alas no luck (it was purchased from a Mr Bury from Blackburn England 🏴) I am pleased to say that with this boat ⛵️I have managed to go for a swim 3 times up to now, the water 💦 is great, it's a lovely azure blue colour and is just like jumping into a warm bath. I manage to swim for about 1 hour at a time, it's so relaxing. Each day so far we have had a very small rain shower, except for this afternoon when I experienced my first white rain 🌧, which turned almost everything milky white as we tried to look through it.