As we explored the Windward Islands, heading South, Martinique — another French island — was the next stop on our hit parade. Though Martinique is another small island (roughly 50 miles long with a maximum width of 22 miles), there are many good anchorages so we visited 6 different locations on the island over 20 days.
Our first stop, where we cleared in, was Saint-Pierre. Sainte Pierre is remarkable in many ways including navigation into the anchorage. The bottom drops off precipitously from the shoreline — and we mean precipitously. 100 yards off shore it is 150 feet deep and descends from there. Boats can anchor in about 20 to 70 feet in a narrow band just off the beach. We found a good spot but were frequently crowded in by other boats trying to squeeze in. Historically, the huge drop in depth allowed deep draft sailing cargo ships to anchor off the town. Cargo ships called at the port and, due to the sugarcane/rum production on the island, it was the center for slave trade to the island. There is a large no anchor zone in the harbor that protects over 15 wrecks (very popular with scuba divers) due to a cataclysmic event that burned and sank them all in an instant.
For many years Saint-Pierre was know as the Paris of the Caribbean and was considered the most important city of Martinique culturally and economically. Unfortunately, in 1902, the city was devastated by the eruption of the volcano Mount Pelee. About 28,000 people perished from the pyroclastic flow — that included the entire population of the town, except for 3 people, as well as people from neighboring villages who had taken refuge in the supposedly safe city. (BTW, for those who do not know — and that included Jill before we visited Sainte-Pierre — a pyroclastic flow is a chaotic mixture of rock fragments, gas and ash that travels rapidly away from a volcano. It’s incredibly destructive because of its high temperature and mobility.). According to local lore, there was considerable eruptive activity in the two weeks prior to the big eruption, warning of the impending danger, but the town was not evacuated because political advisors to the then mayor advised him against doing so due to the severe economic consequences that would be felt by the shop owners and towns people. Did he want to be responsible for causing economic ruin to protect against something that may not happen? (Sounds like something we have heard debated over the last few years, doesn’t it?). That urban legend, however, appears to have been started by the mayor’s political opponent. The fact that pyroclastic flow was little understood at the time, and it was widely believed that the two valleys between the town and the volcanic would stop any lava flow, is probably closer to the true reason the town was not evacuated.
At any rate, following the volcanic eruption, Saint-Pierre never really returned to its former glory and, today, though it is very much an active town, it seems more like an outdoor museum documenting the impacts of the eruption on the community. While the streets are characteristic of the French islands — very narrow and lined with many shops and restaurants — when the town was rebuilt many of the destroyed buildings were not taken down so you see buildings which incorporate older mostly destroyed buildings in their frame as well as totally empty shells that serve as a reminder of what previously existed. As a result, “quaint” is definitely not the word we would use to describe Saint-Pierre but it was fascinating nonetheless.
On the day of our arrival, Wednesday, February 23, we just had time to check in at the local designated restaurant and find a place for a quick evening meal. [Incidentally, the check in procedure in Martinique was the same laissez faire process we encountered in Guadeloupe. Sign yourself in at an honor system computer terminal and pay a fee equivalent to about $4.]. Unfortunately, most of the restaurants are closed for dinner on Wednesdays. We eventually found a local restaurant and bar built into the hillside overlooking the ocean. It was a no frills kind of establishment (leaning towards grungy) and the proprietor spoke very little English. Jill knew enough French to communicate her vegan diet and that Zack eats everything (“il mange de tout”) so after asking us a few questions about our food preferences the owner pointed us to a table. It was clear we would not be looking at menus. We were going to be served a “chef’s choice” meal. While the restaurant itself was a pretty basic, no frills, affair, the view from high up out to the ocean was spectacular and the element of surprise — what would we be having for dinner — made the evening fun. In the end, Jill was served a lovely salad with a large variety of fresh vegetables along with a small dish of cooked lentils with a hint of creole spicing and Zack was served a plate with fish “2 ways” along with several different sides including the lentil dish, rice and some whipped vegetable (yucca?). Zack reported that one of the fish was excellent (moist and flaky) but one — a local delicacy, whole balaou fish— was dry and fishy. Best avoided at future meals! Still, the whole experience was felt very authentic and for a meal that started with the local rum punch, Planteur Punch (a lovely cocktail made of orange juice, guava juice, pineapple juice, white rum, old rum, lime, cinnamon, nutmeg and cane syrup), a starter for Zack and entrees for both of us, the price was right — $58 (all inclusive).
The next day was a bit of a bust. We decided to set off on foot to visit the local zoo. While ordinarily visiting a zoo would not be our thing, this zoo was touted to be more like a botanical gardens so we wanted to take a look. Unfortunately, on that day, a visit was not to be. Because we like exercise and, for our safety, we like to avoid major roads (they tend to not have either sidewalks or large shoulders in the islands) we decided to take a small road that led up a tall hill and then met up with a trail that “supposedly” (note that word) would take us back down to the zoo. So we walked, up, up, and up the steep hill road and then down a steep dirt path with lots of loose gravel. As we walked down the dirt path we decided that our chosen route was not a great idea (it was somewhat treacherous even for us!) and vowed to walk back along the main road after visiting the zoo. But, alas, the path abruptly ended and we realized that we had no alternative but retrace our steps. The only positive was that the path ended at an old, very large, cannon that was interesting to see. So back up the dirt path we trudged and then down the steep hill. By the time we got back to town it was too late to go to the zoo. We returned to Che Figata tired and very hungry. We filled our bellies with one of our favorite comfort foods — Jill’s homemade marinara sauce decadently poured over whole wheat spaghetti and served with a vegan Caesar salad — opened a nice bottle of French wine (one of the many wonderful aspects of being in the French islands!) and went to bed!
The following day, not wanting a repeat of the hike to nowhere, we decided to rent a car. That way we could easily get to the zoo, enjoy dinner at a a highly rated restaurant near the zoo that evening and, most importantly, explore the Martinique countryside which is known for its lush rainforests. Happily, after our misadventure on day 1, things went way up. We rented the car for 3 days and during that time we visited the zoo, the botanical gardens, toured a long-running rum distillery (DePaz), drove along back roads that allowed us to view the lush greenery all around the center of the island (the hillside beside the road looked like it was covered in a thick green carpet of low growing grass and fern), hiked a trail in the rainforest and visited the volcano. The zoo lived up to the hype. What was particularly nice was that the animal enclosures incorporated historical artifacts (e.g., walls from an old manner house destroyed by the volcano) that became one or more of the walls. We also particularly enjoyed the moderately difficult 5 mile hike through the rainforest. The biodiversity was incredible. Trees covered by several different species of vines, moss and fern, hanging moss covered vines, lush grasses and large, thick stalks of bamboo. For us it was reminiscent of our trip to the rainforest in Peru about 22 years ago.
And the fun wasn’t over when we returned the rental car. Our visit to Martinique coincided with Carnival. The entire island comes alive with people dressed in brightly colored clothing, some donning masks, dancing in the streets. The party continued in the rental car agency where we were greeted with an offer of straight rum. While we initially tried to refuse — it was cleaning day on Che Figata so the plan was to go back to the boat and enjoy an afternoon of vacuuming, dusting, and galley and bathroom cleaning (fun!) and we didn’t think we needed to do that with a buzz — the proprietor of the agency was quite insistent and before we knew it we were drinking rum and chatting with other customers. It didn’t matter if you were dropping off a car or picking one up, you were served rum. Never have we spent so much time returning a rental car or left feeling so good. We were just glad that we were returning a car and not picking one up. Aside from our own ability to drive after a few drinks of rum, we wouldn’t want to be sharing the road with others who had similarly imbibed in the spirit of Carnival!
After 5 days in Saint-Pierre we were off. Next stop, Grand Anse D’Arlet. Grand Anse D’Arlet is a touristy village that runs along a beautiful beach. When we say “touristy,” we don’t mean a place with high end resorts and restaurants, clothing stores or ticky tacky souvenir shops. It is not that kind of place. The beaches are lined with casual restaurants and bars, mismatched tables in the sand, some umbrellas and a few makeshift pavilions. There are even some tables in the water for those who like their cocktails standing up in thigh high water. Yep, it’s a bathing suit/flip flop kind of place. While there we enjoyed snorkeling in the crystal clear turquoise waters and a great hike (almost 6 miles round trip) along a coastal path that took us up and over a hill that separated Grand Anse D’Arlet from the next village over, Petite Anse D’Arlet. Ironically, Petite Anse D’Artlet was actually a bit larger than Grand Anse D’Artlet but other than that, it was like a replica. Casual food establishments strewn across the beach with tables in the sand.
But a highlight of our stay in Grand Anse D’Arlet was the food. Les Saints in Guadeloupe was such an amazing gastronomic experience that we where a little disappointed with the offerings in Saint-Pierre, Martinique. Sure we had a fun dining experience with our “surprise” meal, and a lovely and tasty dinner at a restaurant near the zoo called 1643, but, overall, it wasn’t the same. [Editorial note, our perception of the food in Saint-Pierre, or, at least Jill’s, may be marred by the experience we had at one highly rated restaurant where she was served 2 hot dogs along with German potato salad. Now we admit that hot dogs bear little resemblance to meat and one may even question whether there is really any meat in a hot dog but, the conventional wisdom is that hot dogs are animal protein and Jill was served two large ones despite very clearly articulating “je ne manage pas animale” and pointing to the vegetarian options on the menu.]. So we were pleased to find 2 great restaurants in Grand Anse D’Arlet: Ti Sable and L’Escale. We particularly enjoyed L’Escale. It’s a cozy restaurant with a particularly authentic French menu. In fact it is so authentic that when we made tried to make reservations in person and we mentioned that Jill was vegan, inquiring about options for her, the owner sadly replied that he had no good options. “But we are French, we cook everything in butter” was his exact quote. Fortunately, the chef overheard the conversation and ran out to inform the owner that he could prepare a lovely dish for Jill so the owner corrected himself saying, “it is possible” and we confirmed our dinner reservation for 19:00 heure that evening.
We were so glad we did. The atmosphere was incredibly inviting. We used the word cozy above and that really is the best way to describe it. You walk down a long exterior staircase to reach the open air restaurant nestled in among lush Martinique foliage. You first enter a lounge area with a table, a bar and dark overstuffed couches and chairs (set up in two distinct seating pods) where you could enjoy a drink and/or snacks while waiting for your table. To your left is the main dining area, constructed of all natural wood and with a wonderful amber glow, which housed about 5 tables, all spread far apart. If you continued on past the main dining room you entered a small room that felt like patio covered by a pergola and contained more overstuffed couches and chairs as well as one additional dining table. We were seated at a perfect table in the corner of the main dining area close to the patio extension and with a good view of the bar in the entry foyer. Of course, the main feature was the food. Zack had raw, melt in your mouth, salmon served with a light herbed whipped cheese as a starter. For his dinner he ordered the octopus at the owner’s recommendation which had been marinated in garlic and olive oil and then grilled to perfections. Jill was served flavorful falafels with black rice and leeks which was a deadly combination. Finally, Zack had the brioche bread pudding for dessert — reminiscent of Jill’s baked French toast but oh so much richer — topped with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce. Yum. At the end of the dinner Zack tried to convince Jill to stay an extra day at Grand Anse D’Arlet just so they could have dinner at L’Escale again. Jill demurred.
So, after 3 full days in Grand Anse D’Arlet, it was off to Trios Ilets. Trois Ilets was described in our cruising guide as “a charming and photographic town, not yet overrun with visitors.” The town was definitely not overrun with visitors but we didn’t find anything charming about it. Of course, we made the most of our stay and found a lovely hiking trail that snaked through a mangrove forest and also scoped out a Thai restaurant— we had not eaten Thai food, one of our favorite cuisines, since we left the USA in late October. We really enjoyed our hike and earned our decadent Thai meal (green curry all around — one with shrimp and one with vegetables) with 13,000+ steps under our belt from our day of exploring. But one day in Trois Ilets was enough for us so the next day (March 5) we took off for a short run (2 nm) to Mouillage de la Riviere Salee and anchored off the uninhabited Petite Ilet. The attraction there was the Riviere Salee which winds through a mangrove forest.
What a marvelous decision. Save for the occasional small tour boat bringing tourists to the mangroves, we had the place to ourselves. Not another boat in sight. (Well, we did see one other sailboat anchored but it was way off in the distance.). We took some time to enjoy the rest of the morning and then by early afternoon we were off in our dinghy to visit the mangrove forest. As we entered the river that ran through the forest we knew that we were in our happy place. Though it didn’t quite rival the mangrove forest we explored in the Dominican Republic — that forest was part of a sizable national park area with many narrow inlets lined with extraordinarily large mangrove trees — it was still spectacular. Our feature photo for this blog post is one of the many pictures we took of our ride down the river. Soon after entering the river we turned off our dinghy motor and paddle our way between the mangroves. The opportunity to enjoy not just the sights of the forest but also its sounds was too good to pass up. So we slowly paddled our way along the river marveling out the beautiful trees, watching the birds and marine life (mostly crabs — the majority of which were a yellowish amber color which camouflaged them well but some were a striking fire engine red) and listening to all the different tweets, chirps and calls that really brought the forest to life. We shot a short video of our mangrove forest excursion and posted it on Instagram. We encourage everyone to watch that video with the sound turned to high. You won’t be sorry! Three hours later we returned to the boat, cooked dinner and enjoyed a particularly peaceful evening on SV Che Figata.
But the next day it was back to reality! Of course, we had another boat issue that popped up just as we arrived in Martinique. This time it was our generator. While we could limp along with a malfunctioning alternator (fortunately we didn’t have to do that) because it is a back up charging system for our Lithium batteries, we really can’t exist well — at least not self-sufficiently — without our generator. It is our primary source to recharge our batteries and we must run the generator to operate our water maker. Being able to keep our batteries topped up andmake our own water is what allows us to anchor and not be dependent on a marina. There are two pieces of good news though. The first is that with some trouble shooting we were fairly confident the problem wasn’t the generator itself. We thought the issue was with the alternator for the generator or the separate battery that operates the generator with our best guess being the latter. The second piece of good news is that if you have a mechanical issue with your boat Martinique is a great place to be. It is considered one of the Caribbean’s largest yachting centers and boast a very comprehensive list of services and vendors to address almost any concern. Despite the fact that Captain Zack is also Engineer Zack and has gotten quite good at operating the systems (Jill is earning her stripes as Assistant Engineer-in-Training), we are still more comfortable with a true expert looking at a malfunctioning system to confirm the diagnosis and, if appropriate depending on what the issue is, do the repairs. So, while it is always a bummer to be faced with another repair issue, at least we had easy access to reliable and affordable repair facilities.
We wanted to arrive the place where all this happen, Le Marin, bright and early on Monday so off we went on Sunday to Sainte-Anne which was a short hop (~ 3 nm) to Le Marin. The plan was to make it a short stay in Saint-Anne this time (we’d be back for a more extended visit after our repair work), using it as a jumping off point to get to La Merin early the next day. It was intended to be a relaxed day, arriving just in time to walk the town of Saint-Anne and maybe even find a nice place to eat. Of course, it’s been too long since we have done something really stupid so our time was up. Short story even shorter, the trip to Sainte-Anne was a bumpy ride that had us heading straight into the wind and waves with large waves breaking over the bow. We thought we had cinched the front hatch before we took off (and one of us even asked the other whether they had done so and received an affirmative answer but), apparently, that had not occurred. So, once again, we ended up with a wall of water in our front cabin which meant sopping up the water, removing the rug and pulling off a comforter, sheets and a mattress cover in rather bouncy conditions. It also means a subsequent day at the laundromat and cleaning all the wood surfaces in the front cabin. We know how to have fun! (You can read about our first encounter with a wave that breached our forward cabin on our blog entry from February 6, 2021 entitled “First cruise to St. Croix: January 27 – January 29 (Subtitle: when will we stop making rookie mistakes???)”). And this is all we are going to say about that!
Our brief stay in Sainte-Anne did not really afford us the opportunity for a lot of exploring. We took a very brief stroll in town and found it quite charming. Definitely worth returning to after our stay in Le Marin. The most notable aspect of our stay were the 45 mph winds that whipped through overnight. Definitely some of the most severe wind conditions we had experienced while on anchor. Fortunately, our amazing Ultra anchor held Che Figata firmly in place. Of course, that didn’t mean a restful night’s sleep. Winds at those speeds in a crowded anchorage — naturally we were in a crowded anchorage in those conditions rather than back in Mouillage de la Riviere Salee where we were the only boat — are anxiety producing and Jill was up during the worst of the winds sitting in the cockpit watching our boat’s position.
The winds died down by the morning and we were off to Le Marin. While we spent most of our time in Martinique up to that point exploring, our stay in Le Marin was more of an all work and no play affair. We had lots to do. There were loads and loads (and loads) of laundry to wash and dry (re-read the above paragraph about the wall of water that entered our front cabin) and we had extra cleaning to do (see that same paragraph). We also were really low on food and needed to do major provisioning. We learned that soba noodles, tahini and tofu — staples in the Hummel diet — are not to be found on the French islands though you can buy duck confit in a can and even the convenience stores sell foie gras in lovely small glass vessels. After the better part of an afternoon visiting 4 different stores we had most, though not all, of what we needed.
Aside from laundry, cleaning and provisioning, we needed to take advantage of what we came to Le Marin for — repair work. We met with the generator guru, Ludovic, who diagnosed our problem (a faulty generator alternator ) and also did some trouble shooting for our Watt & Sea Hydro Generator. Unfortunately, neither issue could be fixed because parts were required but we were able to get the gears in motion that would allow us to get the parts in our next port of call — St. Lucia — and have the repairs done there. Finally, we also took advantage of this yachting service mecca (more on that below) to buy some much needed supplies for our boat including, among other things, heavy chain for our dinghy. We were advised that as you head South down the windwards cable and a pad lock is no longer sufficient to secure your dinghy to a dock. Heavy chain is strongly advised. (And, on a more mundane note, we also worked on our 2021 tax filing and 2022 estimates. Living on a sailboat doesn’t get us a pass on that fun annual activity. Sounds like something you’d read is US magazine doesn’t it — “sailors are just like us.”)
But just because we were busy during the day with chores didn’t mean we couldn’t enjoy nice meals in the evening — we were still in the French islands after all. Le Marin had plenty of great restaurants and we had three particularly great meals out during our stay there. We have to give a special shout out to two restaurants. The first is L’Oyster, a small restaurant run by a husband and wife team — he is both the host and server while she is the sole chef in their totally open kitchen. Zack enjoyed a amazing main plate of Tuna Tartare while Jill was served a large salad that looked like a picture out of a food & wine magazine comprised of Bibb lettuce, avocado, pomegranate seeds, quinoa, tomatoes and melon tossed in a honey vinaigrette with a drizzle of aged balsamic on top. A complementary glass of rum for both of us when we were finished eating competed the meal. The owners were more that gracious. The second is Zanzibar, a lovely restaurant on the balcony of a two story building overlooking the beach. Zack again had tuna tartare (this time as a starter), scallops with sweet potato purée and a delicate dipping sauce for his main course and the brioche bread pudding with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce for dessert. He declared the bread pudding even better than the one he enjoyed as L’Escale which was pretty hard to top. Though there were not vegan options on the menu the chef prepared Jill roasted cauliflower soup with garlic as a starter and a plate filled with a variety of puréed root vegetables (all heavy in garlic!) along with a salad for her main course. A beautiful fruit salad completed her meal.
Two additional notes on Sainte-Anne and Le Marin. There are thousands of boats. Thousands. We are not exaggerating. The bay at Sainte-Anne is huge and it is packed with boats at anchor. Think 500 boats spread out in front of a quaint village and 50 dinghies at the dinghy dock. In Le Marin, we were told that there were 3,000 boats there in two huge mooring fields and several large anchoring areas. Truly unbelievable. These are not superyacht ports — they are sailing ports. Boats of every description — fabulous yachts, hardened sea crossing cruisers of every description and, our favorites, vessels we affectionately called “squatter boats.” These boats, sometimes in groups of two or three lashed together, don’t move, but nonetheless serve as a home. Covered in tarps, water containers, plants, animals and festooned with solar panels, wind generators and huge amounts of junk, they dot the landscape of the harbor (some aground on reefs) like the small homeless camps you find in some major cities. The other item relates to Le Marin and can be summed up in one word: Chandlery. Landlubbers — it’s a boat store. As mentioned above, Martinique is one of the Caribbean’s largest yachting centers with all manner of marine stores and services. Zack could not be kept out of them and wandered through in a daze like a kid in the world’s largest candy store. The stores actually were stocked with numerous essentials for sailboats—hardware, line, pumps, alternators, batteries, chargers, lights, etc., etc. etc. West Marine hide your head in shame. These were real boat supply stores and Jill had to drag Zack out of them time after time.
After 5 full and highly productive days in Le Marin it was time to head back to Sainte-Anne. Our visit there was short and we wanted to further explore the town. In addition, it’s a great jumping off point for St. Lucia, our next stop down the Windwards. As an added bonus, we could get our required rapid antigen COVID test there. So off we went to Sainte-Anne for our final few days in Martinique. `Sainte-Anne was a lovely spot to end our stay in Martinique. As we mentioned above, the town of Sainte-Anne is charming and quaint. Like a quintessential seaside French village. Like most towns, the Catholic Church was at the center. In the case of Sainte-Anne, the small all stone church — one of the oldest in Martinique, originally built in 1630 and destroyed and rebuilt several times, most recently in 1829 — was particularly prominent, sitting slightly elevated, in the middle of a town square. While we were in town there was some sort of music program going on inside the church so the doors were wide open and the standing room only crowd poured out onto the street. This gave us a great opportunity to peek inside. While beautiful grey stone frames the exterior, the interior was full of dark wood beams going up the walls and meeting with wood rafters. Down the center of the church, directly over the main aisle, were three large, exquisite, crystal chandeliers. They were something you’d expect to see in a restored historic ballroom. The chandeliers, the only light source in the dark church, gave off the most beautiful amber glow. It was hard to not have an emotional reaction the splendor of this sights and sounds.
We really enjoyed strolling the streets and having lunch at a local, small, restaurant where the proprietor served as the host, server and chef. We also enjoyed having cocktails with the crew of SV Allegro in the evening. Allegro was part of the Salty Dawg rally down to Antigua so we spent some time with them there but hadn’t seen them since we left Antigua in early February. As we anchored in Sainte-Anne we looked up and realized we had anchored right behind them. Of course, we bumped into them in town upon our arrival — Sainte-Anne is a small place — and arranged to have them over to Che Figata for cocktails the following evening. As often happens when cruisers are reunited, our cocktail hour last 4 hours as we exchanged stories of our adventures. They waved good-bye to us as we took off the next morning for St. Lucia.
We made it to St. Lucia on March 15 after a very sporty 3 hour sail. The winds we kicking up over 20 mph and being from the northeast meant that we had big waves coming towards our port side for the entire trip. As we have said many times, Che Figata was built for these conditions so she handled the sea state beautifully. Still, Jill did not like to look at what often appeared to be a wall of water heading towards our beam. After safely anchoring in Rodney Bay, we have now successfully cleared the health department, customs and immigration and our looking forward to celebrating our arrival to a new country. St. Lucia is special to us because we celebrated our 25th and 30th wedding anniversaries here. We meant to come back for our 35th but life happens and we did other things. But now we get to enjoy this beautiful island as we approach our 40th wedding anniversary! Though that is a little over 4 months away, it is never too early to start celebrating. We are also looking forward to spending some time at Marigot Beach Resort where we will meet some good friends from Connecticut who reserved a room there. The resort has a lovely marina and, as marina guests, we will have full use of all the resort facilities which we intend to take full advantage of — we will continue to milk the excuse of our 40th wedding anniversary! Finally, on a more mundane note, we hope to get the new alternator for our generator installed by the expert in Rodney Bay that Ludovic (from Le Marin, Martinique) so kindly connected us with when it was clear the new alternator we needed would not arrive in Martinique before our intended departure. Our next post will likely be after we depart St. Lucia in a week or two and find ourselves in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
