South to Martinique

There we were, last night in BVI at Cooper Island.  As usual there was a beautiful sunset send off.

It’s pretty exciting getting back ‘out there’. 
The Virgin Islands have become so comfortable and familiar leaving them stirs up all that nervous, excitement and energy.

Having heard so much about all the islands heading south from other cruisers it was going to be great to see them all for ourselves.

It just wasn’t going to be the way other cruiser’s do it – island by island heading down the chain.
Nope we were going to skip everything and go straight to St Lucia!

Having booked a lovely and I’m sure much appreciated non stop flight from Toronto to St Lucia for our kids we were on a mission to be there when they arrived!

If you’re sailing you might as well be fishing right?

So we through down a line and what do you know, caught a fish!

She was a dandy one too – Mahi Mahi.
Bright green until we jabbed a hook through it’s face – then all the color went away.

Hey little known fact, Mahi Mahi is the Hawaiian name for this fish adapted because Dolphin freaked everyone out.
The first time I saw Dolphin on the menu was in the Keys FLA and thought, well that’s just WRONG!

Everyone wants to catch a fish, reel it in, it’s exciting.
Then the excitement starts to waiver what with killing it and the inevitable:

Cutting that sucker up.
All fish are not created equal.
Some you slice this way.
Some that way.
Either way you slice it you’re eating some fresh fish tonight!

Usually the excitement level goes back up with that thought in mind.

It’s a very satisfying feeling to be eating what you caught.
It’s like when you harvest all your vegetables in fall and make delicious salsa and sauces.
Thank you Mother Ocean!

We watched the sunset as we prepared for our first round of night watches.

It was pretty much a straight sail in – not a lot of tacking.  Actually only tacked once.

The wind she was gusty and we blew into Martinique in 2 days!
We weren’t planning on Martinique but we were way ahead of the schedule so why not?

It’s rainy season, as you can see by this lovely picture of Fort de France.

Seeing as it was the weekend and a long weekend at that, everything was closed.
The islands still practice Sunday’s off as well as siestas (for lack of a better word).

A time for family’s to gather together at the beach, in town or wander the docks.  Pop up food vendors get ready for the night crowd and everyone pretty much hangs out all night, young and old alike.

This was set up – maybe never got tore down from 100 years ago, at the harbor front for the kids.
It’s unique because it is not automated at all.

The music – comes from a band in the middle.
The turning comes from the guy pushing them forward.

See for yourself:

We watched this for a while – it was somewhat memorizing!
It gets going pretty fast and the kids were so excited!!

Not sure about how we feel about this horse.
This is classic horror movie stuff right here!

Just down from Fort de France was this very quaint fishing village Anse D’arlet.

It’s very French here in Martinique.
No one will turn away if you speak English to them and they will most likely be able to hold a conversation if you keep talking to them.

There’s no hawking of goods here.  They speak to you if you speak first.
Which was weird for us having become accustomed to saying Good Morning / Good Afternoon and Good Evening to everyone we meet everywhere in the Virgins.
It’s just what you do and believe me it took some getting used to.

Here they don’t really do that.

What they do is jump off the pier (kids).
Every pier in every harbor has kids jumping off it.

There’s also a lot of hanging out with families and friends, enjoying the beach and I think life in general.
There is a very old time feel about this place, not much having changed since tourism isn’t a thing here.
That’s a good thing.

Dock shots – kids fishing.
Never.  Gets.  Old.

This is what I’m talking bout.

Everyone is out all night long.
Playing volleyball.
Fishing.
Playing Tag.
Chasing cats.
Swimming.
Everyone.  It’s a beautiful thing to behold.

Next morning we grab some baguettes and off we go.
Baguettes…
It was at this precise point in our journey that I realized a certain health program I had adapted to was not going to work.
I am not a hero.
Stevo can’t experience this alone!!

On our way to St Lucia we passed this very interesting yet foreboding rock/island.
This is Diamond Rock and it has a great story.

Diamond Rock was actually commissioned as a ship and is/was referred to as the H.M.S. Diamond Rock.
You see the French and English were fighting over all the islands up and down the Caribbean.

The Brits ruled this area.
Napoleon wanted it.
It was especially a sore spot for N-Dog because Martinique was the birthplace of the love of his life, Josephine.

Brits won with the help of this rock which was quite a nasty place for the soldiers back in the day.
Snakes.
Caves used as living spaces (probably filled with snakes).
There was even a hospital cave!

So just sailing by, its just a rock.
Look a little closer and it’s a one million year old rock that Royally pissed off Napoleon in 1804.

History class was NEVER this much fun!