-
Botanical Gardens
Now to explore further afield. There are road-side stands and little market stalls wherever you go … coconuts, bananas, homemade juices, in the smaller ones … more variety, spices, locally produced honey, etc. in others. Best sticking to where the locals shop. (Sorry … I included the photo in the Martinique post) North toward St. Pierre took us through Fort de France – we’ll have a chance to visit before we leave on Friday. A small fishing village looked enticing so we detoured to see. A red-roofed church, old balconied buildings reminiscent of France and New Orleans graced a square and decorative fountain. As Glen described in his post “Parlez…
-
Martinique
What a difference a day makes. Blue skies … coffee on the patio … little black finches perched on the chair backs, begrudging every crumb of the baguette that Jocelin brought us this morning … and, if you weren’t careful … hopping onto the table to investigate your plate. Bright red hibiscus dancing in the breeze while TWO kinds of hummingbirds zoomed and hovered. An iridescent green one, and a tiny crested one with a natty hairdo https://en.martinique-tour.com/discover/fauna-and-flora/the-birds/ But the VIEW … straight downhill to the bay … turquoise water and scattering of boats. A magazine-worthy picture. South .. past a lookout of Diamond Rock where a slave ship broke…
-
Fair Winds
This was the longest leg of the journey – over 50 miles to Rodney Bay in northern St. Lucia. Just time to grab a cup of coffee before hoisting the sails at 7:00 am. No squalls today. Blue skies … winds were a constant 20-25 knots… we had nothing to do! Watched the catamarans trying to deal with the big swells … dipping, wallowing and corkscrewing … bet there are some seasick passengers! Amy asked if anyone wanted to go out onto the bowsprit … 6 volunteers, 2 at a time. Glen was in the second group. Me? … I was happy to be photographer. Well somebody should do it.…
-
Haul Away
Leaving Kingstown Moritz thought we needed to practice some ‘wear ship’ (similar to jibing). No motor this morning – just sail power, and it worked brilliantly. All yards (booms) had to be hauled to the correct angle using the braces (twelve ropes) and secured … sails were unfurled and trimmed (more ropes) – these ones had to be ‘sweated’ … a complicated technique and well-named. Grabbing the rope at shoulder height you would thrust it seaward, then vigourously haul back and down as far possible, and while keeping it taught, push the rope down towards the pin while someone else pulled the line as tight as possible. This would be…
-
Parlez-vous……..?
Martinique not only is part of France, it is fiercely French. It seems as though you can only get here from a place where French is spoken. One of our co-guest/crew members on Eye of the Wind had to fly through Montreal to get back to St Louis, Missouri. Those returning to Europe had no option but to fly to Paris. Typically when you go to a beach in a tourist location and you will hear a United Nations of languages. Not here, just French, In fact we have never been to a place where so few people speak English (or are unwilling to do so). Good thing Jennifer and…
-
All Hands, well most!
Who, you might be asking, are our fellow crew and passengers? Moritz, the Captain, is from Germany. An electrical engineer by trade but his passion is sailing. Eight years as captain of the Eye plus other tall ships. He lives aboard and sails his own 59 foot yawl when at home in Germany. For this contract he brought the Eye over from Amsterdam but will be finishing up his current contract as our voyage ends and a new skipper takes over. Daniel, second in command and navigator is from Brasil (but with a Scottish accent!). He left Brasil at 18 and settled in Oban, Scotland. He can be seen most…
-
Eye of the Wind
Patience folks, we can’t board until this evening. There’s no-one booked into the Guest House until tomorrow so they very kindly offered to keep our bags in the room and we can fetch them around 6:00 tonight. A trip to the botanical gardens seemed like a good idea – Bradley sent one of his minions (Jonavin) to pick us up. Six lush acres, waterfall and natural hot springs. Water tumbling down from the volcano changes colour depending the mineral of the day … today it was a light steel gray. Dodging the intermittent showers under convenient clumps of banana leaves, friendly Lesser Antillean Bullfinches kept us company … looking very…
-
Avast Me Hearties!
Leaving behind the dusting of snow and -10C temps in Toronto, arriving in St Lucia was a world away. Flying in past the impressive Pitons (Grand and Petit) — a spectacular rainbow peeking from between the two. Just a slight delay as the working staircase broke down and a new one located. The door was flung wide and a cornucopia of aromas permeated the cabin … warm damp earth, exotic flowers, jet fuel and hot tarmac. A dozen or so ground crew stood, perched or lounged in the shade waiting for the hold to open – their fluorescent Hi-Vis vests almost dazzling in the brilliant sunshine … one fellow had…