Hello Folks,

We have been in Martinique now for a couple of weeks and boy are we glad we stayed. During the past couple of seasons Martinique has been a stop basically to provision with inexpensive wine and the other food groups according to Debbie - bread, cheese, and chocolate. We have gone to Fort de France each time we came to Martinique but haven't really seen much of the island other then one stop at St Anne at the southern part of the island. With our friends the MacDougall's (Kevin, Sue, Leigha and Gael) coming to visit this was our chance to take our time here and see a bit of the island. As so far this is exactly what we're doing.

Our guests showed up right on time on Valentines Day, escaping -40C weather in Ottawa to meet us in Fort de France on a rather cloudy day but temps about 30C. That is one hell of a difference between stepping on and off the plane but that's kind of the purpose of the visit. Kevin and Sue adapted quickly as can be seen by the bean bag pic.



After getting settled in Kevin, a navy buddy of mine who is still in, got his girls squared away with the new SeaSparrow Sailor In Training (Sea SIT) req book he put together. Anyone who served in the navy understands that req books are the basis of all shipboard training and qualification achievement. The req book lays out what tasks need to be done by the trainee to meet each requirement before a qualification level is met. I particularly liked a couple Kevin included that stated "Prepare Sundowners" and "Distribute Rum". Good stuff, this req book is the standard for the new SeaSparrow SIT program.



It was also a lot of fun to watch Kevin's two teenaged daughters roll their eyes and ignore their father's req book badgering for an entire week - reminded me of my junior officer days under certain training officers. The girls were good sports and humoured their father sufficiently throughout the week to allow him to think they were listening to him, thereby maintaining peace on the boat.

After a day in Fort de France we went on a beautiful sail that was only about an hour long over to the next bay called Grande Anse d'Arlet. This is a great place that has free mooring balls as well as many great places to anchor. As you can tell from the lead pic everyone likes to hang out in Grande Anse. The fact the town has installed so many mooring balls allows the sea bottom to be protected from damage that anchors can cause, resulting in the growth of coral reefs and the sea life that follows. Grande Anse has excellent snorkelling just off your boat which is something special considering the number of boats in the bay. Here are some underwater shots Gael took which can be captured by snorkelling off the back of the boat.





Beyond snorkelling, Grand Anse is a great little town with many restaurants/pubs, water available at a great public dock, excellent sandy beach, a couple of grocery stores and generally friendly people. Kev and I tried out one of the local drinks here known as Ti Punch. Dustin and I tried this in Le Marin when he was here as they were a happy hour special for only one euro. We thought great, a punch drink for a euro, excellent. Turns out a Ti Punch isn't what you think in terms of a typical Caribbean punch with rum and fruit juice, but rather tequila and some sort of sweet syrup. I figured Kevin should also give it a try and I think his expression sort of captures the Ti punch experience.



Here's also a sunset shot from the beach at Grande Anse to give you an idea why I like this place so much.



After three great days in Grande Anse it was time to see more of Martinique. To be honest, I originally thought we would go up and down the entire west side of Martinique while our guests were onboard. Unfortunately, or fortunately as it turned out, the seas we very high during the week (8-10 feet) so rather then pounding the hell out of the boat and likely making folks sick, we shortened our travel plans. From Grande Anse we decided to motor back around the point to another bay called Anse Mitan. This is the same bay as Fort de France but on the other side, which is about five miles away. Anse Mitan is also a picturesque location but is a little more touristy than Grande Anse. Now touristy here in Martinique means a bit more people traffic and a few more bars and restaurants. It is not the god awful tourist traps like back home or in the US which makes my skin crawl just driving by. Anyway, Anse Mitan did have a couple of tourist activities such as jet skies, and para sailing.

** Hypocrite/ Rationalization Alert **

I hold a dim view of jet skis and generally consider those who buzz around on them to be morons. I now have a couple of years of watching these knuckledraggers whiz by people and boats in an otherwise quiet anchorage. So when the arm twisting began to go jet skiing I was in a tough place. Everyone else was very enthusiastic so I was looking like a crotchety old stick in the mud. In the end I acquiesced to my shipmates and decided to tag along and now comes the rationalization. In Anse Mitan the jet skis have a dedicated channel that takes them in and out of the harbour where the boats are anchored and people swim. When traversing this channel the skis stay in idle and go very slowly. In addition, the groups using the skis are accompanied by a guide who you have to follow and it is he who ensures these things are used responsibly. Rationalization complete, now here's the pics:






In the end to be honest these things are a blast. Once out of the harbour in open water, man do these things move. The power and speed is unbelievable and I don't even want to think of what would happen if you fell off at full speed. It was a great experience but I still believe these things have no place near crowded anchorages or beaches due to the speeds involved and the noise they make. Still though ...

Anse Mitan saw the return of the blender for the first time this year as we once again whipped up some pina coladas. Love these things.



Once the jet skiing and pina coladas were done (pina coladas after the jet skiing) and a couple of excellent nights in Anse Mitan, it was time to head back to Fort de France so the MacDougall's could catch their flight home. One last order of business needed to be conducted prior to the trip's completion. After a serious review of the efforts by Leigha and Gael, the Senior Canadian Officer Present Afloat (SCOPA) (Debbie is SCOPA as she is the Admiral whereas I am the lowly Captain) decided to award the girls their SeaSparrow SIT Completion Certificate. It was an emotional ceremony as the girls got quite choked up when presented with their certificates - not a dry eye on the boat.




In all seriousness, it was a great, all too short week with Kevin, Sue, Leigha and Gael and I hope they enjoyed their time with us onboard SeaSparrow. Debbie and I plan to head north tomorrow (Saturday) by quickly passing through Dominica and Guadeloupe on our way back to Antigua. We plan to spend some time in Antigua, then head to St Martin and onwards to the BVIs to meet our next guests in less then a month.

Jeff

P.S. In our previous blogs I forgot to update our musical selection that is currently hot onboard Seasparrow, so here goes. Check it out.

SeaSparrow Blog Musical Selection - Baby Don't Go - Dwight Yokam and Sheryl Crow