Martinique: Ste. Anne

The joy of the cruising community is that they all try to help each other.  Help each other drink, that is.

Now, on a more serious note, they do try and give you their best advice.  And as many have been at it a lot longer then us, it is worth listening.  There are a large number of Canadian boats and one local ‘seriously’ recommended that we use another firm ‘Altec’ to do the repairs on the davits.  We reserved a very competitive quote from them and they said they could sort it the next day.

You will remember our davits broke on the crossing.

I had to put the humans to work to strip everything off the davits so that the welder could go to work.

And they did not require the humans to back into the boat slip.  They were happy to weld the new bar into place while hanging off the back.

They were so good I told the humans to get the guys at Altec to fix the broken spinnaker pole.

We were told that repairs are a lot cheaper further south, especially Trinidad.  But we found the prices much cheaper then the UK and great prompt service.

Marin seems to be a good place to get your boat repaired.

(Video of harbour)

There is lots to amuse you in the harbour while you repair your boat.

And it surprising how so many vessels seem to share the busy anchorage in harmony.

I also got a picture for you of a pteradactlye.  We first started seeing these about a day before land fall when we crossed the atlantic.

Later I learned they are called Frigate birds.

They guys at Altec asked us to come back in two days for the spinnaker pole, so we decided to head out of the harbour to the beach town next door.

Welcome to Ste.Anne!  A tiny little town with crystal clear water and great beaches.

The humans anchored off furthest from town, but right off the longest Caribbean beach I have seen yet!

There is even a Club Med on the point.

The humans like to be a short kayak ride from the beach for my morning and evening ‘exercise’.

A little swimming and we are back into the harbour at Marin to pick up the spinnaker pole.

Tomorrow we are going to head north towards the capital.  We are going to stop off at the beach anchorage of Mitan along the way.

Here is a video to make you feel like you are here.

(video of Ste.Anne anchorage).