Fort De France, Martinique (N14 35.936/W61 04.128)

Bye Bye Dominica … Hello Martinique!

 

This was a milestone.  We have passed through the Leeward Islands and are now officially in the Windwards!  But it wasn’t an easy passing.  We left Roseau, Dominica at 5:15am.  The trip along the western coast was pleasant.  Then we hit the open waters between the two islands and our adventure began. 

Forecasted weather … E WINDS 15 TO 20 KT. SEAS 5 TO 7 FT.  But as I’ve said so many times before, reality and forecast very rarely sync.  Actual weather once we hit the open passage … E WINDS 30 TO 40 KT. SEAS 6 TO 8 FT.  Our rock and roll from the prior nights anchorage, carried us out to sea.  It seems whatever the forecasted winds, take the lowest of the range and double it.  For the entire trip, the wind gauge would only drop down into the high 20 knot range for a few seconds before it was back up into the mid-high 30’s.  It spent more time over 40 knots than it did under 30.  Nothing like the weather predicted.  And there was no rhythm to the waves.  The seas were rough and pitched us all about.  It was not unusual to be on a heel of over 35 degrees.  This wouldn’t be bad if we could sustain it but before you knew it, we were pitched in the other direction as the waves broke over our bow and crashed high over our bimini.  We spent more time with the deck of our boat in the water on this trip than on any prior trip.

But we reached the coastline of Martinique and the winds settled.  Okay, now they settled too much.  There were times when the gauge would read 0 knots.  How can you possibly make progress with NO wind at all?  We had to start the motor and motor-sail our way into Fort de France.  We arrived at 3:30pm.

Since it is Sunday and we cannot clear customs until the morning, we stayed on board and ‘vegged’.  We had an awesome salad with all those fresh veggies we’d bought and bbq’d 4 large chicken breast.  Thank you Marg & Roger for the Swiss Chalet Sauce.  It was the perfect addition to this meal.  Almost like we were right there in Canada dining at our favorite restaurant but the view here was much more spectacular!  We were anchored off the old Fort St Louis  in the harbor right off town.  The skyline was much more modern than most of the cities we’ve seen recently with high-rises and lots of city lights!