The sound of the chain rattling as it is being raised awakens me from my slumber. We are in a very small bay called Anse Noire, located on the western shore of Martinique. A slight breeze blows over the water sending little ripples all the way to shore. It is a well protected anchorage but the key part is small. The raising of the chain had not woken me up since I have been sleeping on deck since 4:00 AM. I got up around 3:00 to check things out and it seemed like I was practically touching the boat next to me. With the calm winds and no current, the boats seem to just move around on there own accord without much organization. With wind or waves, the boats react to the water in the same way and would all face the same direction. This is not so in the dead calm. The last time I was here, I was the only boat but last night there were 6 boats in this tiny bay. That is about two too many. But all is well that ends well. A little less sleep but no boats crashing into each other.
Yesterday in addition to some fabulous snorkeling, we spent some precious time on the beach.
Two of us kayaked to the beach. Once we stowed the kayak, we headed down the beach, soft sand kissing our feet. We passed two female sunbathers without their tops.
"No wonder you like this beach so much." she says.
The local beach bar calls our name for lunch. While waiting for our food to be served, a man in a speedo stands close to the table.
"That speedo would match your shirt," she says.
"I don't think you are looking at the colors," I reply.
"Is that a baguette, demi baguette or a flute? It is certainly not a boule," She states.
We both try to control our laughter but with no results.
We have five people on board this week. For three of them it is their first experience sailing. With snorkeling with turtles and the brightly colored fish, beach time, some sunny weather, the rain and rough seas are a long gone memory.
I am starting to wind down this sailing season. In a little over two weeks Mile High Dream will be pulled out of the water in Grenada to spend her summer on shore and I will head back to Colorado. The year has been different, interesting, fulfilling and fun. I did more solo sailing which was ok but I really do not enjoy it as much as sailing with others aboard. I did not go as far north as I had planned either. Some of that was due to the Hurricane damage from the summer and some was due to scheduling of guests.
Other boats are pulling up their chains and getting to head out to a different place. We will do some turtle searching and snorkeling before we head out to our last anchorage with this crew.
"Hey can you pass me some cream for my coffee?" I asked the boat next to me. "You can just hand it over on the next swing by."