22 Jan 2015

[Cruise News] Le Marin, Martinique


Finally the wind has dropped down to normal levels and our sail over from St Lucia on Saturday was delightful ... 20 knots, 1m seas, sun shining, all well with the sailing world.  After overnighting at anchor in St Anne, we returned to the marina on Sunday afternoon in anticipation of the stainless arch and solar panels being fitted this week.  True to his word the fabricator turned up on Monday morning to take final measurements saying he would be back to fit the unit on Wednesday.  Things looked promising on Tuesday afternoon when he came along and dismantled the wind generator in readiness for the new installation.  And that's when it all ground to a halt: the wind generator was re-fitted on Wednesday and we've now left the marina for a few days with a plan to return on Monday for a second attempt at getting the solar panels fitted. At least it means this will dovetail with the arrival of the pole ends - the first parcel got lost in transit and new ones are on their way to us.  We remain optimistic ... sad fools or not?

Being our third and final season in this part of the Caribbean it does feel a little bit like our "farewell tour" a la rock groups, aged singers etc etc.  Whilst I'll never say never about us sailing this area again, we both feel ready for new cruising grounds and so are looking forward to exploring the rest of the Bahamas (we only had time for the Exumas in 2013) and heading up the coast of the USA.  That's not to say that we're not enjoying our time in the Windward Islands .... quite the opposite.