Ceiling And Visibility Unlimited

We thought Martinique would be a quick stop, but we were wrong. We loved it! I have dreamed of going to France since middle school when we had a foreign exchange student from France. It felt like we were in France. A small amount of people speak a little English, but for the most part its all French speaking. It’s very different then the rest of the islands we’ve been to thus far. Metropolitan and big city in some areas and quant and picturesque in others.

2-24 We ended up leaving about 1:30, a little later then we hoped. We thought it would take about 4 hours. We were excited to be able to sail the first 1.5 hours or so but then the wind was coming right at us for the direction we needed to go so we had to motor the rest of the way. Going right into the waves slowed us down and added about and hour and a half to our time. That put us getting to the mooring field well after dark, so we decided to just anchor in the outside of the bay at St. Anne’s. We were able to finding good holding, which we hear was hard here, just after the sun went down. There are so many boats anchored here, all the anchor lights look like stars. Martinique looks huge compared to the other islands we’ve been too.
On our journey here, we saw a lot of marine life. There were tons of flying fish (there usually are a lot, but seemed like more then normal). Birds were flying right by the boat and diving in after fish all along the way. Cade was just getting ready to put out fishing line when we saw our first dolphins in the Caribbean. There were a lot of them. It was very exciting. The swam behind us for a bit before heading off.
2-25
We got going pretty early and grabbed a mooring ball at the back of the field at Le Marin. Cale was preoccupied with figuring out the ball and after he passed the red bouey marking the channel he turned. I didn’t realize because I was getting lines ready but he thought we actually scraped the bottom of the keel. Kira was down below and said she heard it. No damage thankfully, but a bit of a scare for sure.
While we were waiting to know if we could check in we saw 2 other people hit it. The first Cale was screaming “reef, reef, reef.” The were being silly and chatting with friends on a boat they were going by and went right into it going out of the bay. The second did what we did and just slowly went right to it. It completely stopped them and took them a few minutes to get off of it. Communication made it tricky to know if we could check in. They wouldn’t give us a mooring ball until we checked in, but we couldn’t come to shore until we knew if it was okay to leave the boat on the mooring ball. We finally sorted it out and were able to go to shore and finish getting checked in and get the mooring ball assigned to us.
We got our rental car and some paninis for lunch. There are lots of restaurants and shops near the marina here at Le Marin.
We then drove to Port de France to Decathlon. We have been hearing a lot about this store from our Norwegian friends. We ended up with 3 surfboards along with some other stuff that we actually needed like… swim suits, towels, and a dry bag.
We left there and had to strap the 3 boards to the top of our tiny car. That, with the 6 of us piled in where quite the sight. We then went to La Slavane des Esclaves which is a museum and recreation of a slave plantation. We were too late to do the tour, but we got to see the dancers perform traditional dances. It was really cool but also a bit difficult to follow since it was completely in French. We found a pizza place on our way home.
2-26 Church started at 9. We attempted to leave the boat at 8, but it was closer to 8:10. Cale dropped his church shoes in the water so we had to dry them on the way. Somehow I took us to the wrong address. We got to the where it said the building was and there was nothing. So, we tried again and missed our exit. We finally were getting close but thinking there is no way there is a church building here. It was a very industrial area, but then sure enough there it was on the top floor of a big metal building. We found the door and walked up very sterile white stairs. Once we got to the 3rd floor and inside it was quite nice. There is just 1 branch on all of Martinique, but it seems really great. There was one other boat family we were excited to meet (the Flanders) and one other English speaker, everyone else were locals. We were able to kind of listen to sacrament meeting talks on Google translate. In relief society, one the sisters was able to translate for us. Everyone was very nice and friendly. I loved feeling how universal the gospel is. My promptings were how to plant my kids roots. It takes nurturing, patience.
We talked for a while after. We got the other boat families information and some places to visit from one of the elders. There was even an Elder from Meridian, Idaho who was fun to talk to.
We drove in our rental car to Fort du France. It was actual fort was closed but we got some food. We haven’t seen a McDonald’s since we left and thought it would be quick and easy but it was really bad. The soda was all flat, the food tasted like it had been sitting out all day and it was so busy. Cade desperately needed a bathroom but we couldn’t get to the front of the line to ask for the code for the bathroom, so we got back in the car and found one at a gas station. From there we drove about 20 minutes to Jarden de Balata. I really enjoyed all the unique plants but we all enjoyed walking through the sky canopy. It was a super high, and somewhat unstable walk way in the tree canopy. It was unexpected and very fun.
We drove back to St. Anne’s. It took about an hour. We walked around until we met our new friends the Flanders. We met several of their friends from France. We ended up talking for a long time. It was fun to trade stories and talk boat stuff. We got back to the boat and both our phones were dead so we sent the boys in through a hatch to avoid the alarm going off.

2-27 The kids spent the morning doing school. Cale went to look for boat stuff. I went shopping for food and other household items in the rental car. They drive on the right side which is actually weird to get used to again. The traffic in just this little town was really bad and I didn’t really know what stores to go to or what anything said so it took a long time to get to the right places. I didn’t find any of the household stuff I needed, but I did have luck at 2 grocery stores. The prices are very low compared to what we’ve been seeing at other islands. The selection is pretty good, although it hard to buy stuff that’s all in French and it’s definitely French stuff, very little American. It took me awhile to realize to get a cart you put a coin in and when you return the cart you get your coin back. All currency is Euros here, btw.
Once we got all the groceries and everything put away, it was about 1:30. We loaded our new surf boards and headed out to surf. We stopped by our new fiend’s aboard Lia. They invited us for a very tasty lunch. They planned to meet us at the surf beach, Anse Trabaud. It was a very bumpy road and we probably looked hilarious with 3 surf boards on top of the car and 6 of us squished into our little car. The beach was amazing (besides the nudity) and the surfing was so much fun. Cade had the most and longest ride. Kelsey was the quickest to hop up. Kira and Cole did great. I rode several waves but still need to work on popping up. I keep trying to tell myself that this should be easy since I have a lot of experience on boards, but my brain seems to respond better then my body so far.
Our friends tried to meet us but apparently no one could come in after 4 and they wouldn’t let them in. We didn’t know but we were supposed to be out by 6. The lady and man yelled at us for it being 6:15 when we left, but we had no idea it closed. The sunset was absolutely amazing there so we were kind of glad we ignorantly broke the rules.
We met Lia at Indigo. It’s very French. They bring the menus out on chalk boards and set them on a little stand, first the drink menu and then the food menu. They brought olives for an appetizer. The food was good. We tried Columbo for the first time. It’s very similar to curry. We somehow lost the kill switch for our dinghy. We were able to get it started but then it ran out of gas half way home. Thankfully, it was a completely glassy, still night and we had paddles. As Kira said it was the most crazy way she had ever read scriptures, paddling the dinghy back to our boat in the middle of a marina in the dark of night. Boat life never ceases to amaze me.
2-28 The morning started early with Cale and I paddling the dinghy a Le Marin bay to get fuel. Whoops! We won’t let that happen again. We ran it really low knowing so we were getting our new one, but we pushed our luck. Once we had fuel Cale and I went to a few marine stores looking for a water heater and a few other things. Parking is tricky. The roads are tight and people park anywhere and everywhere.
We got a few groceries at the market nearest the marina then returned the rental car and picked up our new motor (Cale bought a 15 horsepower to replace the 9.2 horsepower that came with the dinghy we just got). I walked about 10 minutes looking for a place for crepes. Cade has been dying for them since we got here. I found the cutest place so decided instead of buying them and taking them back we would go get the kids to have them. We were able to pay and check out of the mooring ball over the phone, then went to get crepes. Sadly, when we got there and asked they didn’t have crepes. They sent us somewhere else and it was closed. We took the dinghy to the other dinghy dock (it’s a very big place) and that place was closed too. Cade was sad but we had to go so we decided to try at the next stop. We got fuel and then were on our way. We said goodbye to our new friends the Flanders on our way out. At the time, we weren’t sure we’d see them again but were so happy when we got several more days with them.
The ride to Grand Anse d’ Arlet was nice. We went between the island and diamond rock and it was stunning. We anchored in Grand Anse d’ Arlet. We went to shore and Cade finally got his crepes. They were super good, but we were getting eaten up by mosquitos so we ate them quickly and left. The family who made them spoke pretty much no English. The town is so cute and feels super French. When we got back to the boat we had the underwater lights on and some big fish came. At first we thought they were sharks, but ended up being Tarpin.

3-1 We got up and started getting ready to hike. We had some visitors from Roxy. A couple from Michigan. They invited the kids over to swing on their halyard at 2 with some other kid boat kids. We stopped by one of the other boats and it was a family from San Francisco with a leopard 43. They showed us how they had their head set up with a washing machine. They had 2 kids that were girl 7 and boy 10.
We went to town and hiked over to Anse d’ Arlet, which is the next bay over. It was longer then we expected but really nice. The trail was easy to navigate, but it was very hot. We made it to town and explored. It’s more developed and touristy then where we are anchored. There is a beautiful church near the water. We found a nice little local spot to get lunch. It was rice, lentils, and chicken and was so good. We heard from Hold Fast and they had just got there and wanted to check in. We missed them on the beach but they came a bit later to our beach. We were pretty tired so walked back on the road and it only took about 15 minutes. We got back and the kids swam over to Roxy. I did not realize what they had in mind. They had rigged up this thing to pull the kids out using the dinghy. It was very cool, but also so scary how high they went. Cade especially scared us when he didn’t let go and started going back towards the boat. Kids from other boats were there. It was a lot of fun. We came back and found out the Flanders were at our beach so picked them up. We hung out and visited until Hold Fast 2 came and then we all went to dinner. When we for to shore for dinner we were all sitting waiting to order when the waitress came out and said they didn’t have very much food to serve. We decided we better find something more suitable. We tried another restaurant and they were also not serving food. Our third try they said they could feed all 15 of us. It was a fun night. The kids played soccer on the beach before and after and we had a nice time talking. We laughed when a French guy came over and when we said we didn’t speak French he just kept on talking to us.

3-2 We tried to get a rental car to go do some shopping. It proved to be difficult. Even though the website said they had cars available, the man on the phone, who spoke no English, said “not possible.” We decided to drive up to St. Pierre tomorrow and get a car Saturday and Sunday. We did school. Kira and Kelsey snorkeled. Cole and Cale did a scuba dive. I have had a bad headache for days so opted to not go. They said it was a great dive. Calm, colorful and great visibility. Cade hurt his foot playing football on the beach the night before. It’s his little pinky toe and I can tell it’s really hurting him. I made roti using some shells I got. I worked on it all evening. I accidentally put baking soda instead of cornstarch to thicken. It kind of ruined it. I was so sad! The kids tried to make me feel better by saying they liked it. It was vey kind of them. Lia came. They still don’t have their sails but they motored over. The kids loved their sea bobs. They rode all over. A bunch of friends and boats went over for a movie night. It was the hold fast boys, Roxy, Germans and Nw Yorkers ( I wish I knew every ones names). The kids watched Moana while we talked. I spoke to the lady from Roxy who was super helpful since they’ve been here for many years.

3-3 We got an early start to go to Saint Pierre. I’ve been really excited for this stop. It’s the sight of a devastating volcano eruption in 1902. Nearly 30,000 people died. The bay is full of boats that sunk because of the eruption. The volcano, Mt Pelee towers over the city that was once considered the Paris of the Caribbean.
We left about 9. It was about 2 hours. We had perfect winds and calm seas. It was the best sailing we have had. It was also fun to travel side by side with Lia. We were able to get some pictures of each other. It took 3 tries at different places around the bay but we finally got anchored and good holding on the southern side. The kids got in and swam. Before I knew it Cale was trying out Lia’s ski bobs (the kids had rode them all over yesterday). I got in and tried as well. They are super fun! It’s cool to be able to go under the water so quickly. I kept wanting to go to town to check things out but the kids were having so much fun playing on the floating dock and paddle boards that we didn’t rush. We also messed around with the boom and made a jump for the kids. Cade got out there and got “stuck” for 35 minutes because he didn’t realize it was so high. We met some new neighbors. Zephorin?- originally from WA with 2 boys. They spent covid in Chili and went to Antarctica twice. There was also and English boat with three younger kids and a dog called Rob Roy that stopped by and chatted for a bit.
About the time we anchored I came in to make lunch and Kelsey was asleep on the couch. She woke up and wasn’t feeling good. I think she started feeling sick about the time we anchored. She said her head hurt. She felt like she had a fever. I gave her some Tylenol and a few minutes later she threw it up. She was pretty miserable. She slept on and off the rest of the day while the kids were all swimming and playing. She wanted so bad to jump in and play but just didn’t have it in her.
Eventually, I took the older 3 and the Flanders and we went to shore to explore. Cale stayed with Kelsey. The remains of the city from the volcano were very interesting to see. I was really blown away by the opera house and what was left of it after the volcano. We found a soccer field where kids were just finishing up a practice below a hillside of colorful French houses perched in the midst of greenery. They played some games until it got too dark.
We grabbed a few pizzas on the way back. I was talking with a local and distracted when I ordered what the kids were asking for. One was a fruit de mer pizza. I asked the lady if it was 3 cheese and she said yes. Of course, I should have looked closer. Even I, with my minimal French could have realized what we ordered had I paid closer attention It was all kinds of sea food. The kids were so mad at me. We ended up giving it to the guy we met outside the restaurant who heard our English and was excited to talk to us. He lived in New York for awhile before moving back to the island.
We got back and Kelsey was doing a little better. I’m pretty sure it was just dehydration and heat exhaustion. Hoping no one else gets anything.

3-4
Kelsey woke up in the night with a fever again. She went back to bed with Tylenol. Still not sure of its dehydration or sickness. Cale went over at 8 to get the rental car. Kelsey woke up feeling good but we decided to take her with us to run errands in case she started feeling bad. The other kids stayed and did home work and some cleaning and then met up with Lia. We were grateful they were so helpful with the kids. They called us a couple hours into our errands and they decided to hike Mt Pelle, which is the volcano here. I was a bit jealous, but so glad they got to do it. They said it was pretty tough but really cool and super windy and even cold at the top.
Cale, Kelsey, and I spent our morning going to every store imaginable trying to find a washer and instapot. It was feeling kind of like a lost cause and then we saw an instapot that 2 ladies were looking at. Cale laughed and said wouldn’t that be funny if it was the last one. I looked all over thinking there would be more but unbelievably it was the last one! I am just not meant to have an instpot. We got a bunch more groceries. After getting all our shopping done we stopped back at a place that had an air fryer and got that. We will give it a try. Hopefully it will make boat cooking easier.
While we were unloading we got to see the family from Germany (Andre and Margot) with the little kids. They came by and said hello.
We got back to the boat and after at least an hour of putting away food we got to return the favor and host the Flanders kids so the parents could go on a date night.
The kids had a blast. After a spaghetti dinner, a bunch of fish were jumping all over around the boat. They started by saying how big the fish were they saw and that turned into 2 teams seeing who actually caught the most fish. They were able to just reach in and grab them. It was hilarious when the fish would jump into the paddle board or right by their face.

3-5 It took so long to get to church last week so we left super early. Getting to the dingy dock and rental car went quickly so after the 35 minute drive we were going to be super early. It’s a beautiful drive btw. The road follows the coast and there are colorful little houses on all the hillsides. We decided to kill some time driving through areas of Fort de France. We saw some very nice churches with people packed in. The ward was great. The people are so friendly. We spoke with the sister of the original brother who joined. There are now 15 of them. She joined 12 years ago and served a mission at Temple Square.
We came back and went to the volcano museum. We only had time to watch the movie before coming back to check out of Martinique. The rest of the afternoon the kids spent playing with the kids around. There are so many. I’ve had a terrible headache so hoping that will feel better soon. Lia bravely hosted another movie night.
3-6 I felt better some today. Cale took the rental cars back. I stayed back and started to get the boat ready to leave Martinique. Cale checked us out yesterday and accidentally put the wrong date. We thought we might have to wait for the office to open at 11, but he called Dominica and they didn’t think it would be a problem. Checking in and out of Martinique has been quite easy. Mostly it can be done on a computer. I drove off the anchor and Cale helped the kids run the anchor. We were able to put the sails up almost right away. We were going really good and then when we got behind the volcano the wind just completely died for about 30 minutes and we motored. We were able to get going again with great wind and made great time, going about 7 to 10 knots. Martinique was a great stop. One thing I especially liked were how all the anchorages and moorings were so calm. The water is almost like a lake. It’s been nice to get some good sleep at night.