Old friends and new in St. Anne’s, Martinique

St. Anne’s is a delightful seaside town in the southeast of Martinique, that is very popular with cruisers because it sits on a beautiful beach, with shore walks to even better beaches, and it’s just outside Le Marin, one of the Caribbean’s largest yachting centers. You can get and have almost anything you want here; work hard and play hard.

Here we met up with old friends Gregg & Joe on Serenade, and new friends Henry & Katherine on Mowser.

Joe (Gregg stayed to work on the boat)

 

Henry & Katherine

One beautiful sunny day (perhaps the only one there!) we walked cross country east through farmland

 

farm kittens

lots of 'em

to the windward shore, 

 

then south along the coast through savannah type landscape, 

 

across a small river, 

to a stunning series of beaches, 

where we stopped for lunch, 

before continuing back to St. Anne’s ....  a healthy 18 km. loop!

We arrived back in town just as fishermen brought in a huge tuna.

The weather gods were not in the best mood for most of our stay at St. Anne’s. There was one night from hell when the winds blew strong from the west (highly unususl) and caused much drama in the anchorage. One boat had arrived that day, without a working engine, and wasn’t therefore able to properly set their anchor. Not unexpectedly, they dragged. They called in vain to the vessel they were bearing down on. By some fortune, they missed each other. Another vessel ended up on shore. We felt as if we were riding a bucking bronco. At times, our dinghy was higher in the water than our deck! After the worst of the storm system had passed, there were missing dinghies, kayaks, oars, etc.  Fortunately, Serenada weathered the storm well (better than her crew who were taking gravol while at anchor!).

You can’t keep good women down. Joe, Katherine and I enjoyed a “Girls’ Day Out” shopping, despite the rain. We each contributed to the local economy, because that’s the sort of people we are ;)

It seems that almost every time we go to St. Anne's or Le Marin, we see this Yacht Transport Ship arrive. It came over from Italy. If you wish to cruise in the Mediterranean for the european summer, and   come to the Caribbean during the european winter, but you don't wish to cross the Atlantic, well then this is the way to do it...