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| French Caribbean! |
We’d been hoping to make Saint Anne our first port of call
in Martinique, following recommendations from a couple of people. It’s just round the corner from the big
yachting centre of Marin, in the south east of the island, and promised a
pleasant beach anchorage with an attractive village ashore. Sadly the weather had other ideas: as we came
out of the lee of Pigeon Island at the beginning of the 25 mile passage, we quickly
decided it would be too much of a slog against the wind and the waves. We could
have done it, but it just didn’t seem worth the discomfort. Contrary to the popular image of Caribbean
sailing, it can be really quite rough and windy between the islands. Fortunately
most of the passages are day sails, and it’s great to be able to see your
destination when you set off (on a clear day, at least). We were only a few miles out from Saint Lucia
when the genoa suddenly unrolled, pulling open the snap shackle holding the
tack. The furling line is a bit stiff
and came off the cleat somehow. Rather
than messing around on the foredeck, the best option seemed to be to furl it in
and continue under main and engine towards our Plan B destination, Grande Anse,
a little way up the west coast. So much
for what Don Street describes as one of the finest sails in the Caribbean!
