Martinique, Ready or Not

    It was tough to leave Dominica as beautiful as it is. We wanted and planned to stay a few more days, but the wind was forecast to come from the south for about a week if we didn’t leave Friday…so we left in the evening and sailed overnight to Martinique. Well we mostly sailed. By the time we were in the lee of Martinique the wind had died to nothing, so we motored the last several hours. Not all bad since with Nanni sipping .56 gal/hour, we arrived with the water heater hot, the water tank full with all 175 gallons (engine drive water-maker), the fridge plate frozen solid, and the batteries all topped up. The passage was again smooth and uneventful. Lynn was joined on her watch by a large pod of dolphins ripping though the phosphorescent water and leaping alongside Celebration. I on the other hand, had some great sailing, a starlit night, but was greeted by no dolphins, just several large ships to starboard and several small ones to port. It was kind of like sailing right down the median of the highway.


And have I mentioned the FOOD?



    Check in at Fort de France, Martinique was as easy as could be, even on the weekend. We went to the lobby of the Chandlery to fill out the one form on-line (yes just one for check in and out too), printed it, took it inside for signature and stamp, no fees, no fuss, no "officialdom" and we were off. Well almost off as we of course met some other cruisers doing the same thing so note sharing and plans to meet later were obligatory. All in a day’s cruising. So far the French have it hands down on the check in process!



    Like everywhere, we study the local market early in the visit; pick our grocery shopping spots and today we made the large runs to top up before heading off. Tomorrow we’ll head for a more secluded anchorage as we are right down town now, then later in the week when the wind turns east again; we’re headed south to St Lucia. Meanwhile we can relax a little now just 160km from the airport in Grenada where we must be for Lynn’s 30 June flight home.

 14 deg 28.9 min North
061 deg 04.1 min West