Goodbye BVI, Bonjour Martinique
We decided, with Safina, to travel from BVI to Le Marin, Martinique.
Le Marin is on the south coast of Martinique and has a good anchorage
area. This would be our first French island and we thought it would be
wonderful to visit it with our French Canadian friends. So after
spending a few days snorkeling around, a weather window opened up for
leaving on Friday. We figured the trip should take about 2.5 days as
it is approximately 320 miles from Virgin Gorda to Le Marin. As we
had to go to Customs to clear out, we hired a cab on Thursday with
four other boaters to travel to Spanish Town where the Customs office
is located. The "cab" was actually an open pickup truck with bench
seats along both sides. The driver agreed to make two photo stops
along the way as well as to take us to see The Baths and Spanish Town
before returning us to Leverick Bay, all for a set price. Spanish Town
is only about 5 miles as the crow flies from Leverick Bay but there is
a mountain in the way. We had a great trip traveling up twisty, turny
roads and some incredible views where the driver stopped for our photo
opportunities. Customs at Spanish Town was efficient and we got our
clearance papers very quickly. The driver then took us to the Baths,
which were really busy. We hiked down the trail to the waterway but
did not have time to go on the trail through the rocks. It is still an
incredible spot and worth the visit, especially for those in our cab
who had not been there before. After a quick stop in Spanish Town, we
retraced our route to Leverick Bay. The afternoon was spent cleaning
the bottom of the boat (bottom paints designed for fresh water lakes
do not stand up in the warm Caribbean waters). Safina had us over for
Karen's birthday dinner and the dinner was delicious. It was hard to
believe that just 14 years ago, again on Karen's birthday, we had our
first sailboat ride on Lake Ontario and decided to take up sailing.
On Friday, we finished putting Vagus together for an offshore passage
and had a rest. Our departure time was 1500, which we thought should
put us into Martinique early Monday morning. All the weather
information pointed to a reasonable passage with light winds the first
day. So at 1500 we left with Safina and motored into a fairly quiet
Caribbean Sea. It was like a mass exodus from BVI as many other
cruisers also left at the same time. This was the first opportunity
in two weeks for boats to leave on the way South and boats had been
collecting up all that time. Most of the other boats were planning an
overnighter to St. Martin, however, and there was only one other boat
that planned to sail to the Windwards like us.
It was a hot day and we motor sailed in large but comfortable swells
all afternoon. In the evening we had a pod of 5 dolphins play for
quite a while in our bow wake. It was great watching them jump and
dive from the bow. We continued having a good motor sail that night,
although Karen had a busy time dodging freighters and tour boats
during her shift (I only had one to contend with). On Saturday, Safina
caught a black fin tuna after losing another tuna to a shark and
throwing back two barracuda. The winds were light so we were still
motor sailing when we lost the alternator. After shutting down the
engine and messing about awhile I found the problem to be a slipping
alternator belt and a dead engine starting battery. I managed to
adjust the alternator belt, isolate the starter battery to start the
engine, and get back to motor sailing.
Later that night, the winds filled in. The strength was a little
higher than predicted and the direction was not as predicted - so much
for computer models. Instead of getting 20 knots of wind on the beam,
the wind came directly on the nose. We ended up sailing a close hauled
course under a double reefed main and a partially furled genoa (for
non-sailors, that means the point of sail when the boat is most
"tipped over"). Once the canvas was reduced and the sails balanced,
Vagus did well. The main problem was the waves. We ran into a 6-foot
easterly swell with a 6-foot southeast wind driven wave, all while
trying to go southeast. The two different wave trains would meet
sometimes putting up a square wave that Vagus literally fell off,
making quite a thump. The general action of the waves produced an
irregular, jerky motion that was impossible to predict. We kept
tethered to the boat at all times and held onto the boat, as you never
knew which direction you would be thrown next. Sunday night, we did
get some relief when we got into the lee of Guadeloupe, then Dominica.
However, the wind and wave in the passages between the islands
increased and it was back to the jerky motion. This motion was the
worst that we have experienced. The boat did well and we felt safe,
just very uncomfortable. We were, however, able to sleep and stay
rested. Monday morning found us sailing behind Martinique. We traveled
the length of Martinique and anchored at Le Marin at1300. Customs
closed at 12:30 PM so we stayed on the boat with our yellow "Q" flag
flying until we could clear in the next day. Safina came in about 1
hour behind us and offered some of the tuna they caught. We quickly
accepted and they passed over two huge tuna steaks. After a bit of
boat cleanup, a shower (much needed!) and a rum punch (needed even
more!), we settled down to a delicious tuna dinner overlooking the
hills of Martinique. We were excited to have a new place to explore.