We left Barbados about 8am for Martinique about 110 miles to the NW. This should just be an overnight voyage. We motored for an hour and then sailed slowly until we got out of the lee of Barbados. Soon were sailing along nicely on a beam reach in 10 to 15 knots of wind. Then we got a call on the radio to change coarse as there was a survey ship in front of us towing a 5 mile long sonar cable. He asked us to pass one mile astern of him and all would be okay. We had to start the engine again to do this as the wind was wrong. After that we had an idyllic sail all the way to Martinique, a full moon and a light breeze and we glided along nicely all the way, never had to touch the sails all night. Occasionally we would give the self steering a slight tweak but that was all and that only takes 2 seconds.
Had a small black sea bird hitchhiking on our rail all night. At dawn we could see the outline of Martinique clearly and St Lucia in the distance as well. Martinique has more protected anchorages that Barbados and also small mountains where as Barbados is flat. We motored into a deep bay as a lot of yachts were coming out being the start of the Easter weekend here. A helicopter flew over and must of noted our flag because 15 minutes later a inflatable with 4 guys in uniforms in it came up behind us and asked where we had come from in French but luckily one of them spoke english. We then carried on, no problem and dropped anchor deep in the bay amongst 100's of other yachts.
What a difference from Barbados. We dinghed ashore, tied up at the dinghy dock and cleared in with customs. All that was required was us to sit at a computer terminal and fill in a basic questionnaire and then hit print and then give form to lady in marina office. The computer terminals are in the marina office upstairs. This cost us 5 euros which we got at ATM out in parking lot.
It is now noon and everything is closing up as it is Easter Friday. We went for a long walk down the road by the waterfront. Lots of marine stores and boating stuff here. Far more that Barbados and the walking is a lot better here too. After our first night here we were amazed at how quite it is, though that is partly to do with how far out we are anchored. Many anchorages around the world you here night clubs blaring away until early in the morning including Barbados, as out on the water there is nothing to block the sound. This is the most yachts we have seen in one place in a long time, and they are mostly french.
We have already noticed it is cheaper to shop here than Barbados. The grocery shopping is quit a bit cheaper on most things and apparently things get cheaper as you get further south on the other islands. A car rental is half the price of Barbados, which we hope to do in a couple of days.
INFO
-See Above notes
-Anchored in 58ft at 14 27.54N 60 52.51S at SW cornor of island at le Marin
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