The Catamaran Adventures of Noel and Ceu

Mais Oui, Toute Marche!

Current Location: Le Marin, Martinique
Current Position: 14 28.08 N 060 52.51 W Click to view map.
Distance sailed since last post: 23 nautical miles. View the map of our voyage track here

Yep, (almost) all is working now. We needed some different scenery, and we desperately needed to stock up on cheese, salami, and wine, so we sailed across to Martinique. Hand steered, as it turns out the autopilot is still not working. You press the button for ‘auto’ and it immediately starts to turn to port (left), so that is not too useful!

Still, hand steering for the 5 hour crossing is no different, actually much easier, than highway driving from Vernon to Calgary, especially in winter conditions. So it is not a big deal really, we are just too spoiled. It was hard on the wind with 20kts true and 3 meter swells, so a nice lively sail. Then we had to beat for the last 6 miles. The way back is always easier as it is downwind.

So here in Le Marin is an excellent electronic engineer with a great sense of humour. Last year when he fixed something for us, he asked if we wanted the 10,000 mile, 20,000 mile or 40,000 mile repair. I reminded him of that and he said he has a good stock of jokes – but sometimes needs to be reminded of them so that he can recycle them. I said he was very ecological, doing all that recycling.

Anyway, his flight to Paris yesterday was cancelled because of Parisian snow, and we caught him at the right time this morning – so now he is working on our project as I write this.

While he does that, it is off to Leader Price for the cheese and wine. Martinique really is more like France than the Caribbean. Much more organized and sophisticated than St. Lucia. 

The carnival starts tomorrow. We were here last year for the carnival, and did it to excess, so we might pass on that this time – or maybe we will just go and see it for a day. Then, since everything is closed during carnival week, we will probably just sail back to St. Lucia.

The round tuit list is getting shorter. Using up my Round Tuits at a great rate now, so life is good.

 

 

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