We spent a lovely, if unspectacular, Valentine's Day (Monday) in Sainte Anne, Martinique after crossing over from St. Lucia the day before (Sunday). The crossing was particularly uneventful and paid us back well for waiting a full week for a weather window. St. Valentine's Day was spent accomplishing two tasks - checking in and provisioning.

Without a dinghy motor, everything takes longer. Take checking in, for example. We had to weigh anchor, motor in close to the marina/customs office, drop anchor, and then I had to row the ¼ mile to the dinghy dock so I could check in. From there it was just the 'short' ¼ mile row back to the boat, weigh anchor, and reanchor close to another dinghy dock so we could go in and provision. Those two chores took us till 1500 in the afternoon!

But all is well that ends well, and so we found a nice spot at the south end of the Sainte Anne anchorage to drop our anchor (yet a 3rd time for the day!). The next day we took off for the east side of Martinique. Now this was a most adventurous proposal that Will had requested a few days earlier. You see, the east coast of any island in the Caribbean is most inhospitable owing primarily to a combination of 15-25k winds and 3,000 nm of Atlantic Ocean swells!

But Martinique is unique amongst the other Caribbean islands we have visited in that its east coast is riddled with long reefs that protect its windward shore. Get inside those reefs, and you can be assured of flat, if not slightly breezy, conditions. But to get to that Promised Land, you must first brave some challenging conditions.

And so it was not without more than a slight bit of trepidation that we left the safety of our Sainte Anne anchorage in pursuit of this seemingly unspoiled area. Being off "the beaten path", I was looking forward to waters that might resemble, in some small way, the empty anchorages of the South Pacific I have only recently given up (albeit temporarily!).

There is a reason this area is off the beaten path! Our 25 nm passage was marked by no fewer than three squalls and seas that rivaled the biggest we had seen on our most recent Atlantic crossing. This time we were hard on the wind, and this time I think 'Papa Bear' was closer to losing his cookies than 'Mama Bear'!! I paid a bit of a physical price while both Ruth and Will seemed to weather the weather without much aplomb or circumstance.

But when we arrived, I quickly forgot my aches and pains. We beheld beauty and splendor like we have previously not seen...especially in the Caribbean. Lush green, rolling hills. (Mostly) empty anchorages. Beautiful, reef-protected, blue waters. Life doesn't get much better than this! Already I am missing this lifestyle! But I am burning the image deeply into my cranium to serve as motivation to get me to the South Pacific as soon and as quickly as can be!!!