Fort de France, Martinique

Fort de France, Martinique

Sun 8th - Mon 9th December 2024

Our plan was to sail over to Fort de France from Anse Chaudierre on Sunday, make use of the fine French supermarkets to re-provision on Monday, then head north to Saint Pierre on Tuesday, in anticipation of making a passage to Dominica later in the week.

It was only a seven mile crossing to the anchorage off Fort de France, but we knew from experience that the wind roars through the bay to the south and so we prepared by taking the outboard off the dinghy. That was a smart move. We were a little surprised by how choppy the conditions were, with winds of up to 22 knots almost on the nose and short steep waves. It certainly qualified as a salty motor! There was a sailing regatta of traditional Caribbean sailboats taking place that day out of Fort de France. We know this because we came across one of the boats out in the bay that was completely swamped by the waves and appeared to be sinking. A support vessel, also a traditional wooden boat with an outboard motor, was circling around and we stopped to ask if they needed assistance. We were impressed by the confidence of the crew, literally sitting up to their waste in seawater they indicated they were fine, and so it turned out. The support boat towed them into harbor and it appeared that by the time they reached shore they had mostly bailed out their vessel.

The Anchorage in Fort de France is well protected, but right next to the ferry terminal and thus subject to the wake of all the passing ferries. We spent Sunday afternoon doing laundry and then ‘enjoyed’ the loud music from the beach. It seems like Sunday evening is party night in the Caribbean … everybody winding down after church!

We awoke Monday morning to two surprises. Firstly, a gigantic cruise liner had docked right opposite us during the night. Secondly, we got a text message from Pete and Jo to say they were on route to Fort de France on a ferry to go and pick up a rental car, and we actually got to see them and wave as they passed behind Cotinga. We made two trips to shore today to re-provision. In particular we wanted to buy meat for the freezer, and also pick up items such as salami and pate that are not easy to find in Dominica. We also got some fruit and veg from an excellent market. After two shopping trips we feel we are in good shape for the arrival of Tasha, Mac and Mac’s parents in Dominica next week. Fort de France is a lively and fun place to wander around and I returned to shore in the late afternoon for a photo session.

We have talked too much in the recent past about boat maintenance issues. Can I just say that if you ever here me declare victory again - as in making 5 gallons of water from the water maker - then please just shoot me! The day after our “victory” the water maker crapped out completely. We fear that it is an issue with the Clark pump - the device that enhances the pressure of the water before it gets to the membrane. It seems that our unit is only pressurizing on one of the two strokes and thus is no longer making fresh water. The good news is that I was able to download the 53 page manual for stripping down and rebuilding then Clark pump. The bad news is the comment … “even for a routine rebuild expect to replace many of the parts” … we have no spare parts and you need specialized tools!

Mike

14 35.985 N, 61 04.192 W

The sailing boat is completely underwater. We don't know if they capsized or were simply swamped by waves. (The mast with the sail wrapped around was lying in the support boat at this point)

Cotinga wakes up to find the mother of all cruise liners close by. The channel for the ferry boats lies between Cotinga and Arvia. We are safely anchored outside the channel (yellow marker) and inside the anchorage area. 

A different perspective from Cotinga showing other vessels at anchor and the shoreline of FdF behind

I'm a big fan of murals and it was cool to see the artist on a 'cherry-picker' working on this wall.

Abstract shot of the exterior of the Schoelcher Library

I hiked up to this chapel overlooking FdF. It's a beautiful structure - particularly impressive from a distance

Looking back from the chapel towards the cruise liner port. We actually couldn't see "Baby cruise liner" from Cotinga as she was completely blocked out by the mother ship.

I waited around until sunset, actually so that I could get a photo of the chapel with less contrast, but the view at sunset was beautiful.

Arvia ... in the morning ...

Arvia at sunset as she was leaving (Very difficult shot - 3 x frame panorama shot from Cotinga with the camera on a tripod and 70 mm lens, F2.8, 1/40s, ISO 1000)