A Visitor at Breakfast Time

While we're having our coffee this morning, a man hailed us from his dinghy. It was filled with goods to sell: coconuts, woven baskets and hats, palm fronds. We bought two green coconuts from him, he cut them open and we drank the juice. We also bought a ripe (brown) coconut, which he cut open and we feasted on the milk and fresh meat. Delicious! His name is John Marley and he was extremely friendly. We turned down his offer to sell us "weed and powder." When he asked for something from us as a trade (tip), we sent him off with a much appreciated ice cold beer. Quite a colorful character!

Rodney Bay in St Lucia

before anchoring in Rodney Bay, we cruised through the canal here and looked at all the sailboats which just completed the ARC, the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers. The rally begins off the NW coast of Africa and ends here in Rodney Bay. Each year, about 100-159 sailboats participate in this trip across the Atlantic, taking about 3 weeks give or take, depending on weather. Kent would love to try this trip. We'll see, I say!

We've anchored in the bay. It's beautiful here with very few boats and a fabulous view of the sunset right off our stern. The trade winds are constant here in the Caribbean and although we are protected in this bay, there is a lot more water "action" onboard. I happen to like this gentle movement, especially at night. 

Off to St Lucia

On Saturday, we had friends from Chicago join us for a week on our boat. Our first guests and we are so happy to see them!!

Leaving Martinique...

We left  Martinique for St Lucia yesterday. Bright sunny skies, 20 knot wind and 8 foot waves. It would have been a tough sail in our other boat, 35 foot monohull Star Dancer, but our catamaran just goes over and through the waves. It was only 4 hours to St Lucia and we anchored in Rodney Bay.

Captain at the wheel

Just Relaxing...

Here is a picture of the view from the master berth through our hallway with desk/bookcase on the right, then floor to ceiling closets at left, head on the right, and double sinks and shower beyond. Not a great pic, I know, but you can get an idea of what the starboard side of our boat looks like. There's actually quite a bit of room in 25 feet. We have about eight small cabinets around our bedroom we haven't even filled. You can see that Trooper is relaxing on his favorite blankie.

Coconuts Everywhere

Xmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve in Le Marin, Martinique at Mango Mango, one of our favorite restaurants on the water. Literally on the water. You look down and can see the water through the floor boards. The restaurants here welcome dogs, oddly, so Trooper joined us for dinner. I tried to get a good picture of one of the servers who wore a Santa-style bustier (!) but alas, too many people and she was too busy. 

Admiral Trooper

Trooper is running around the boat like he's the admiral. He's made himself comfortable inside and on the deck, and he enjoys riding in the dinghy. He's afraid of the trampoline on the bow, however. I guess he doesn't like seeing water below and his paws are too little.  He's also skittish about the stairs down to the berths because they're a little slippery for him. We'd also like to train him to "do his thing" on the boat and we've read several blogs about how to do this with a small pad on the bow. We have a mat on the bow just for him and I'll skip the details about how we scented it to get him to use it. But so far, Trooper is NOT cooperating. Sniff, sniff, but no action. So we dinghy him to shore twice a day. Now that we're more settled on the boat, we can work on training. If anyone has had success with this, we welcome your suggestions!

We're in Ship-Shape!

It's almost two weeks since our last post and yet the time has flown by. Our days have been filled with sorting through equipment, learning about all the systems, i.e., water maker, electric, washing machine, generator, etc., and cleaning. Even the wood walls have been washed and waxed. We found that the best way to get to know your boat is to clean every nook and cranny! Kent also replaced several ceiling lights, installed new faucets in three bathrooms and kitchen, and hung new hooks. We've been so busy. Now the boat is looking shiny and spotless.

On Saturday, we went for our first sail. Very exciting! We motored out of the harbor in Le Marin and set sail. Martinique is a beautiful island surrounded by turquoise waters. Wind started out at 10-12 knots then we caught the edge of a storm system and winds went to 20-25 knots with rain. Our top speed was 10.8 knots! And of course, the rain stopped after ten minutes and the sun came out. Love the rain in the tropics! It was a great first sail and we got to test out anchoring as well.. 

It is very strange to be away from family and friends at Christmas. Martinique does not have many decorations other than lights and a few lit trees. I'm not sure if we've seen any Santas or the usual more commercial decorations we see in the US. However, the Christmas spirit abounds here nonetheless. We plan to attend Christmas Eve services at a local church not far from the harbor. It is a very old Catholic church built in the late 1700's and we hear its bells daily. On Sunday nights, we can hear a church choir from the harbor. We will likely be the only non-French-speaking Presbyterians in the pews!

We are so looking forward to our first visitors! Friends are coming on the 27th for a week. After introducing them to Martinique, we plan to sail south to the island of St. Lucia, about 28 miles south. My son and his wife recently spent their honeymoon there and encouraged us to go there. On a cloudless day, we can see the island from Martinique and it should be a lovely 3-4 hour sail.

We've seen two big rainbows since we got here. I'm not usually superstitious but I take them as a sign of luck as we embark on our new life adventure. We have so much to be thankful for this Christmas season. Wishing all our friends and family a very merry Christmas and happy new year! We miss you!

P.S. We are still struggling to get good, consistent wifi here. Aaarrrggghhh!

We are now proud owners of a Nautitech 47 catamaran! Yesterday's closing was postponed to this morning because banks in France are closed on Mondays, and Martinique is a French territory. Everything went very smoothly but there was a lot of paperwork since we had to have English versions and the seller French.

The boat is in fabulous condition.  The seller spent time teaching us about the various systems and switches on the boat, how to work everything, and where things are stored i.e., lines, cushions, sails. After a little basic cleaning, we can move in. It's very hot and humid here, so we're going to wait until tomorrow to haul our six giant tubs to the harbor. Time to rent a car! A car will also give us a chance to do some sightseeing and shopping away from the harbor area. (We need bed pillows!) Plus we want to tour one of the four rum distilleries on the island.

We already miss our family and friends. Thanks for your support and sharing our excitement!

Safely in Martinique!

Bonjour!

After a very long day of travel, we have arrived in Martinique. It was a long trip and we were happy to land in sunny 84 degree weather. Trooper, our miniature pinscher, did great despite not being able to go outside for 12 hours! Our biggest challenge for the whole move was how to get everything we needed down here to the boat. We settled on packing six plastic tubs full of kitchen items and linens etc plus a couple duffles of clothes. The airline people had never quite seen anything like it. Customs in Martinique raised their eyebrows but waived us through after we told them we were moving to a boat and sailing away. I guess they didn't want to take time to go through silverware and chart books! The real challenge was finding a taxi van big enough and willing to lift our tubs. Our driver grumbled money talks.

Our hotel room has a lovely view of lush gardens and the harbor where our boat is anchored. We close Monday afternoon and will probably be ready to stay on the boat Tuesday. In the meantime, Kent and I will explore the local restaurants and sights. There was a devastating volcano eruption here in the early 1900's and only one person survived (in a jail cell). I'd like to visit the museum here.

This is a French-speaking island and very few speak English. Since Kent speaks Spanish and I remember only the basics of my high school French, we may struggle but we have language apps on our phones to help us. The money here is Euros which makes it easier. The people are very welcoming and friendly. The Martinicans are very tied to France culturally and the food, music and art is very French with slightly less African and other Caribbean influences. It's a very expensive place to live, more so than most of the islands down here.

We will post pictures as soon as we figure out how!

Our adventure begins tomorrow...

Packing, packing, packing! Tomorrow morning, Kent and I are off to Martinique, our first stop to buy our boat.