Schoelcher

We arrive in Martinique at St Pierre to clear in but after the first night the north swell was a bit more than we like so after clearing customs at the little bar. we moved further south to Schoelcher. 

We had never stopped at Schoelcher before so it was a nice diversion for us. It is a small town just before Fort de France and is named after Victor Schoelcher who was an anti slavery advocate. It was a bit of a coincidence we were here over emancipation day, a local holiday, which celebrates the abolition of slavery. Unfortunately some misguided folks decided to disfigure the statue of Victor Schoelcher on this day, a film crew was there to capture the damage and interviewed John and Devin in the process. Now most folks will know our French is very limited so we doubt they will show us on the evening news.

Victor Schoelcher

Our interview

There is a local sailing school here which is reputed to be the best in the French West Indies. We saw large numbers of students from kids to adults going out every day. They have prams, sunfish, lasers and windsurfers for people to learn on. It was great fun to watch folks struggle in gusty conditions.

We walked to the local hardware store and grocery store on one of our first outings. It is a lot further up to Terreville via the steep hills surrounding the bay than it looks and made for an energetic day shopping.

A view of the anchorage from Terreville walk

After this we decided to walk around the coast and up the valley to the waterfall at An bo so. It was almost 2 hours each way and the valley is lush and very pretty so it made a really nice place to go.

A nice stop by the river

A small ford on the road to the trail head

Surprised to find any in France

Now the trail begins

Some English on the signage...wonderful

A very shaded trail

Beautiful flowers in the rain forest

The scramble to the waterfall

Nice crabs in the pools

A relaxing place for lunch

We also took a walk into the Cinema complex behind Schoelcher, it was closed on Sunday morning when we went but as we don't speak French very well there was nothing for us to watch anyway. It seems a nice place to visit on the days they have English language films and there were some fast food places to eat if you need them.

A very modern cinema complex with food court

The walk back through Schoelcher was interesting and the locals make good use of the beach at weekends with swimming and parties. We stopped for fresh French bread at the 8-til-8 store and also enjoyed some ice cream.

Our next stop was Fort de France for a quick stop at Decathlon for some sports gear. David and Tryna on Haymead arrived so we had a get together Out of Africa and took the local bus to the shopping mall together the next day.

We then took a short diversion and sailed across to Trois Islets and walked into the village to see John and Jo's old cruising buddies Samuel and Corrine who now run a very successful bakery here. It was a nice walk and great to catch up with them again.

Our next stop was Grand Anse D'Arlet, a very nice little fishing village with nice beaches. We met up with Freebooter Anne-Marie and Steve, again friends of John and Jo. We all had drinks on Out of Africa that evening and had some great stories and catching up.

Well somewhere in all of this Devin had too much fun as his filling in a rear tooth decided to fall out. It was the one he had in Grenada a year or so ago. So with this he wanted to move quickly on to Le Marin where we knew of a dentist a fellow cruiser had used. We said goodbye to Out of Sfrica, Haymead and Freebooter and left for Le Marin.

s/v Moosetracks

Dominica revisited

We had a few days in Dominica on our way south. It was a last chance to see Joy and Steve on Ocean Angel who arrived the day before us. We had all had difficult passages as the seas were up and the winds was pretty brisk too. Steve and Joy remarked it was one of their more difficult passages ever in the Caribbean when they came up from Martinique. Ours was pretty bouncy from Antigua to Guadalupe and very confused seas from there to Dominica, so that pleasant either.

As it was Devin's birthday we all got together on Ocean Angel to celebrate.

Joy, Jo and John

Devin, Liz and Steve

We fancied a walk to Chaudier falls and noticing Jim and Sharna on Second Spray were in the harbor we invited them too, so Jim joined us while Sharna watched their new kitten. 

We took a local bus across to the eastern shore to Upper Bense, to the start of the 40 minute walk to the waterfall. We were amazed at how much damage hurricane Maria did to the valley and the properties we passed on the way, almost every building had damage and most roofs were being or had been repaired.

Chaudier Falls

The hurricane damage is fairly visible but recovering already

Yes we got in

Some jumped in

Some made a splash

Others were just as eager

On our return from Chaudier falls we stopped in Madibas restaurant for a drink before returning to our boats. While we were there we got talking to some of the crew of Pacific Hope about their volunteer work in Dominica. They have been here only a short while and were the only one of several relief boats to try to cross the pacific that made it. Their mission is to aid Dominica with an on board hospital and a crew of 50+ volunteers to work on the island daily. At the end of the talk they invited us to tour their ship, how could we refuse.

Welcome aboard Pacific Hope

On the forecastle

On the bridge

The engine room

Crew lounge, well half of it.

A talk with the Captain.

The captain told us about the Christian charity that runs Pacific Hope ( 140 foot) as well as a few other relief ships. He believes there is 3 years work for the ship here in Dominica, he has plans for that anyway and a plan for avoiding hurricanes if they come again this year.

On Saturday we joined the locals for our provisioning run of fresh vegetables and fresh bread.

Devin buying fresh juice from Levi

Waiting by the bakery for fresh bread

A huge moth we found in the dinghy that morning

Well its a short stop and time to be moving down the islands to make our deadline for hurricane season. Our insurance dictates we be south of 12d 40m by June 30th so off we go to Martinique and the big stores to provision Moosetracks for the summer.

We hope everyone is still enjoying their spring time.

Antigua - Braais, Classic Yachts and Hiking

The first few days we returned to Falmouth Harbour were a big reunion with a lot of our cruising freinds. John and Jo were easily convinced a braii (BBQ) was in order so they called one for the whole anchorage. A lot of folks attended, it was a huge success and a great evening.

Guys chilling out by the dock for the braai

Some of the gals

A really great evening

Our first walk was to Shirley Heights again with a large group of friends. We went up the trails behind the hills through the old cemetery. We had great views from Shirley Heights and stopped for photos and a drink. We then set off on the coastal path to return via English Harbor.  Jeff on Canapesia did the honor of taxing everyone in his dinghy across the bay both ways, Thanks Jeff. 

The cemetery walk

A large group photo

The coast walk down

A lot of steep drop offs

We just had to jump for joy

We caught up with lots of cruising friends whether it was noodling with the large groups that attended every day or even at the bars in the early evenings before events got started. It was really great to catch up with so many folks.

A large noodling group led by Willie

Ladies at the BarB's

Some of the gents outside

Of course it is Classic Regatta time and we volunteered as in previous years to help the regatta organizers and we took time out to watch the boats when we could. It was a well run year this year and great fun volunteering again.

The dinghy wranglers for 2018

Roy and crew on Guiding Light round a mark

The ever gorgeous Columbia

The ladies get to watch the parade of classics

English Harbour is a great setting

Another nice walk around Shirley heights was arranged to help us work off some of the calories we were packing in.

the second group above English harbour

English Harbour foreground and Falmouth Harbour behind

The steep hills ascending out of English harbour

The last event of Classics was the Gig or small boat racing and Cream Teas. We had a lovely afternoon watching the races and relaxing in the scenic gardens of Nelsons Dockyard.

Two of the small gigs

Willie's guest Andrea with Monkey their mascot

Once Classics was over we moved around to 5 Islands for a few days to relax and wait for weather before the crossing to Dominica.

The hikers above 5 isalnds

Great Views from the top

Ending back on the lovely beach

We had an email from some long lost friends from our days in the Bahamas. Steve and Carol contacted us as they were back in the Caribbean on Innamorata II and noticed we were nearby. They had taken a few years back in the UK to refit the boat and build the cruising kitty a little. It was great to see them and of course we had a few braais on the beach to celebrate with them.

Another braai in 5 Islands

And yet another

We had a little emergency when one of the ladies cut her foot on a tree root sticking up in the sand. Carol, a nurse, thought it was a bit deep and very jagged and might be better if she went to the hospital to get it checked as there was one near and they had insurance to cover it. Turns out it needed a lot of cleaning up, several stitches and even one internal one. A good call all considered.

Well it was time to say our goodbyes to Steve and Carol and make our way south for the season. They are off to Bonaire to join the O.C.C. Susy II rally and we are off to Grenada. Such is the cruising life we hope we will meet up again while we both cruise Caribbean.

So we are off to Dominica. Hugs to all our friends.