14-2-2022 : exploring Martinique

Yesterday we set off from St Anne's to move north up the Martinique coast. It was still quite windy so we just put up the smallest part of our mainsail and set off downwind. Our destination was Anse Arlets which is a nice anchorage on the west coast about 11Nm NW of At Anne's. 
We had a great little sail past Diamond rock which is pretty impressive up close. 
With the wind behind us we are always a bit worried about the danger of an unintended gybe where the boom.slams across the boat due to a wind shift or a wave turning us. We sail with a preventer line rigged holding the boom out to one side but even so it can be a problem. 
Despite this slightly nail biting situation we managed to get a nice course right between the rock and the mainland but did have a lot of powerboats zooming past along the way. These power mad freaks are really annoying as their wake can really rock our boat. Grrr
Anyway we made it here and then had the annoyance of having to anchor twice since our first spot was a rocky plain. We can't really hold on that so had to move alas.
Second spot was good though and we had a nice evening with friends on Luna and Kithara, are baked potatoes for dinner and watched the movie men in black international.

This morning we were somewhat rudely awoken by the locals who wanted us to move our anchor. They had decided the seagrass be we were on was a nature reserve but there was no marker and nothing on our chart so how were we to know?

We moved straight away but our first attempt to drop in 10m was a failure where we didn't hold (and brought up a boulder with the anchor too! - big thankyou to Tillman from Big Bubble who came over and helped us lift it). Second go was in far south of the bay next to these lovely rain forest cliffs. 

Again no holding with he an hour dragging a big clump of seagrass merrily along the seabed. 
Finally we got a good spot with the anchor dug in well. 
Neighbours were friendly and the water is incredibly clear. 
Friendly Pelicans and quite an impressive ketch in front off us are making this a very picturesque spot to spend Valentine's Day.

Comments

  1. Unknown15 February 2022 at 09:59

    Wonderful views, looks like you are having a great time. We have had several days of grey skies and rain !! Very envious right now.

    ReplyDelete

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