Le Marin,

Martinique
14.27.688N
60.52.108W

I am pleased to tell you that I did not break the microwave but I did learn that I can not use it continuously for half an hour. Dale believes that there is an overheat switch that shuts down the appliance until it cools and that is what happened last evening. As a result, this morning, it miraculously worked without further fiddling around with it.

About 7:45am, we lifted our anchors and made our way south again towards Cul-de-sac du Marin on the south coast of Martinique. It proved to be a really nasty transit.

We essentially motored the entire way due to the rain showers predicted in the morning hours. The rain showers did arrive, were fairly short lived and certainly nothing to write about. However the 20+ kt winds that may have been embedded within them proved to be something else. They were on the backside of the showers and continued for the remainder of the day. We had one gust to 30 kts but generally they stayed in the 23-28 kts range. Both of our boats can sail in winds such as these and at one point we did turn off the engines for a short time. However, for some crazy reason, which we have dubbed the “Cooper factor” the winds never died down and even shifted to be directly on the nose where they stayed for the rest of our journey.

Of course, after a couple of hours of 20+kt winds, the seas whipped up and ended up being our nemesis. As we rounded the southern coast, the waves were wicked. Four to six foot and close. Near HMS Diamond Rock, the depths came up from over 1000’ to about 200’, so that added to the mix and made those particular seas confused. We tried to tack to get the best possible ride but it was rough no matter what route we tried.

What seemed like forever to achieve, we finally entered the channel, made our way past the Club Med at the point and entered into the bay at Le Marin. Normally, we’ve anchored in St. Anne in the past and dinghied into Marin but Gerry & Nicky preferred not to dinghy the 2+ miles, as they would be soaked to the bone by the time they arrived.

We wiggled our way through the reefs in the anchorage, saw Foreclosure (no one was on deck) picked a couple of anchor spots, changed our mind, moved into shallower water, circled around a few times and eventually settled into about 12’ and dropped the hook. Orpailleur was aft and slightly to our port.

We sat in the cockpit for about an hour to make sure that we were secure, then lowered the dink and made our way into the marinas to show Gerry & Nicky around. Dale was excited to show Gerry the Yanmar engines dangling in a nearby window which, of course, they both oo’d and ah’d. For sure, Gerry would be able to find any parts he needed there.

We walked up the nearby hill to a restaurant that Dale & I had gone to back in December. We had a great dinner, then returned to our respective boats where Dale & I discovered that our starting battery was not holding a charge. I told Dale that this is the first time something has gone bad in a place where we could actually do something about it. Guess what we’ll be doing tomorrow. Well sort of. It was also a unanimous vote that the guys will putter around on the boat doing their thing while Nicky and I will rent a car and go see the Botanical Gardens to the north of here. Should be a fun day.

Photo: Orpailleur making their way to Le Marin