This is a typical street scene in Le Marin. It is a Sunday. We dinghied up Cul-de-Sac Marin from the Saint Anne anchorage to check out of Martinique, then walked around.

Steep, narrow and winding roads.

License plate.

Eglise Saint-Etienne (1700s).                       Who says hot pink and fire engine red clash? 

La Girafe Residence Hotel. Anyone home?

Peek-a-boo.

Come out, come out, where ever you are . . .

 Big brother is watching . . .                              Fleur, flor, flower.

There are probably more boats than cars in the West Indies.

Many boats are high and dry.

Some boats are used for racing.

Bamboo for sprit and boom?                              Tree trunks for masts.

Family: Combretaceae. Indian Almond or Almond Tree or Tropical Almond or West Indian Almond. U pick.

SAINT ANNE

A long Shot of Saint Anne, one of the most popular around Martinique. It is located at the entrance to the Cul-de-Sac, Marin. Those are the Stations of the Cross zig-zagging up the hill to the Catholic church.

 There’s a Club Med in Saint Anne. “Stand up baby!” (Hey Deb . . . )

Saint Anne public beach.

A Saint Anne’s church, with another behind it up the hill.

Colorful Ste. Anne restaurant.                       One of the many mega-yachts hanging out.

Old Ste. Anne graveyard. (One way to get waterfront property. But is it “affordable?”)

Many houses in Saint Anne and many rentals.

Saint Anne dock with a typical local fishing boat.

Moody Blues in the center with her blue sailcover, blue bimini and blue side-curtains. Lookin’ goooood.

(This post is dedicated to Sandra Ann(e), who ain’t a saint, although she once considered nunhood.) 

ALTHOUGH MARTINIQUE IS ONLY about 25 miles from Dominica (which is located above the words “Windward Islands”), it was a gruelling, wet roller-coaster ride for Moody Blues across Martinique Channel. Martinique is 30 miles long, 18 miles at its widest point, and a total of 680 square miles. From the north it is the first of the Windward Islands.  

Long Shot of the Fort-de-France, Martinique’s capital. Over 140,000 people live in the city.

This fort was first called Fort Royal, built by Du Parquet in 1639. In 1802 Napoleon demanded the Fort Royal city’s name be changed to Fort-de-France. Then in 1814 Fort Royal became Fort Saint Louis. It is a Vaubanesque Fort, whatever that means. 

This is Rue something. Rue means street in French. Notice the 3–5 stories and how narrow the rue is.

Above is an intricately painted mural of what Martinique was like long ago. Martinique was called Matinino, the Island of Women by the Ciguayo Indians of Hispaniola who told Columbus that it was inhabited by fierce Amazons. The Caribs called Martinique Madinina, Island of Flowers. Then the Spaniards called it Martinica, after Saint Martin, and now it’s known as Martinique. Columbus went ashore finally came to shore in 1502.

Over 414,000 people on Martinique. French is the primary language and Euro is the dollar rate.

The Cathredal makes itself known and heard. Bells chime all day starting at 6 a.m.

This is the Bibiotheque Schoelcher. It was built in Paris (along with the Eiffel Tower) then dismantled and shipped to Martinique in 1893. It’s a stupendous library. 

Colorful trees and bushes.                            Guitar riffs on the wall.

More enticement. Charme is charm in French. My mom’s name is Charm (Charmion), she can sing too!

Something’s missing . . .

Funky, if only these old buildings could talk I bet we’d hear some great stories.

Makes you wonder what’s inside that needs such protection . . .

We left Fort-de-France after one night and headed south. Many villages are tucked in the canyons.

Churches often have prime real estate along the waterfronts of many of the islands.

In 1804 the British Navy landed 107 sailors on this 573’ of limestone along with cannons and registered it as a warship, the HMS Diamond Rock. For 18 months the Navy kept guard of the area. The French got sick of it and decided to attack warship HMS Diamond Rock, but first they floated several barrels of rum out to the rock. Needless to say, the British sailors got drunk and lost control of the unsinkable vessel HMS Diamond Rock. 

(This post is dedicated to my mom Charm, who is not French, but was a Wave, U.S. Navy not British Navy.)

YES I HAD GENE TURN AROUND.

But once we got back into the lee of Dominica Island and regrouped I was ready to try it again. (Plus I saw a couple of other boats taking on the passage, so I figured I shouldn’t be such a wimp.) We double reefed the main, put out the staysail and took off.

Gene concentrating on driving.                       A Mako sailboat catches up to us.

The Mako is buried in the trough.                            A gaf-rigged whatever comes by.

The Mako half-buried again when in the trough of sizable seas, but Moody Blues must have looked like that to him too!

Lay your ear on the floor and know that when Moody Blues heels 35 degrees, that that’s what laying your ear on the floor feels like! To me it felt like Moody Blues was going to fall over! A statement like that from me to Gene makes him laugh. (Makes me wanna punch him!)

Look land, we’re almost in the lee of Martinique, meaning we are almost there!!!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you. We are now in the northern end of the Caribbean’s Windward Islands. Woopee.

(This post is dedicated to Bob Whisenhunt who is returning to the s/v Jubilation in Turkey! Bon Voyage Bob.)