Last time we updated you on our journey we were enjoying the Carnival experience in Fort de France in Martinique. In this update, we move the boat to the south of Martinique to Le Marin and then head south to St Lucia, the next of the Windward Islands.
We took a couple of days to recover from the Carnival! It was a great experience, and hopefully something we will get to do again in other parts of the Caribbean.
So we pulled up the anchor and sailed south towards the port of Le Marin. This port is well known as being one of the best places to get things fixed on your boat in the Caribbean, and we definitely had some stuff to fix. It was almost as if Azimuth knew this, and as we rounded Diamond Rock for the final leg in to Le Marin, hard on the wind, there was a bang from the top of the mast as the Genoa sail head webbing snapped and the sail started to fall down! Fortunately it didn’t fall too quickly and we were able to the furl it away before disaster struck. On with the engine to get us the last 5 miles in to the bay.
Le Marin is a bewildering place. It’s a very protected anchorage which is rammed to full with yachts! We estimated there must have been a 1000 yachts at anchor or on moorings, as well as a huge marina. We squeezed ourselves in to a spot quite far out from the shore as there was not a lot of room and further in all the boats are on moorings. You also have to avoid the many shallow reefs that litter the bay, as well as the many boat wrecks that also seem to be prevalent!
Marin certainly did have lots of places to get work done on your boat as well as numerous chandleries, restaurants, shops and supermarkets. We navigated our way around the various districts and started to make lists of all the stuff we needed. First job was to get the sail repaired. We had been keeping the Genoa going all season, but the UV strip had been getting more and more frayed, and now with the failure of the webbing at the head, it was time to get it properly fixed. There are at least 3 sail lofts in Marin. All of them were complaining of being stupidly busy. Eventually we agreed to get it fixed with North Sails, but we were going to have to wait 4 weeks to get it done!
Oh well, plenty of other things to do right?! One of the biggest issues apart from the sail was our anchor windlass. It had been sounding pretty bad of late, and also after a particularly difficult anchorage where we got the anchor stuck under a rock, and another where our anchored snagged a chain, the whole assembly felt loose and at an alarming angle! I almost dreaded opening the locker and taking a look. A new windlass would be very expensive. The prognosis didn’t look good! Under our windlass their is a heavy duty wormgear gearbox that bridges the connection between the hydraulic motor and the windlass shaft. This gear box is made of cast aluminium, and the flange that held the gearbox in place underneath the windlass had literally corroded completely away! All 4 mounting points had failed, leaving the gear box hanging on the shaft and free to rotate and presumably eventually fall off. Not a great situation. The windlass has to deal with a huge amount of force to lift the anchor up. There was no chance of finding a replacement, and in fact, the actual gearbox itself was still working fine, it was just the mounting points that had failed. Time to make a plan. I decided to build a metal frame around the whole assembly that would hold the gearbox firmly in place using the original mounting bolts. A trip to the town, and in my our best French, we managed to purchase lengths of M12 threaded A4 rod, nuts and washers. A visit to a metal basher followed where we ordered the lengths of aluminium bar for the frame which was duly cut to size and delivered a few days later. Three days of fabrication, sweat and cursing, mostly drilling holes and climbing in and out of the anchor locker later, I had the frame finished and assembled. The whole gearbox is now solidly held in place, and the whole thing worked pleasingly well when it came to pulling up the anchor after it had sunk in to the mud for a month when we finally left Marin.
Fingers and toes crossed this fix will last a good while. Total cost about £150 quid instead of 10 grand for a new windlass!
So we didn’t actually do a lot in the four weeks we were waiting for the sail to be repaired. Money is a bit tight so we only went out a couple of times. Most of the days passed relaxing. Ailsa rediscovered her talent for writing. I spent a lot of time reading. We made more trips to supermarkets than I would care to mention to restock the stores on Azimuth. The leader price supermarket was great with its own dinghy dock, and where you could push your loaded trolley all the way to the waters edge and transfer your shopping straight in to your dinghy! An absolute godsend for all that heavy stuff you really don’t want to lug in the heat. We managed to get lots of stuff sorted. New outdoor lights for the back deck. A monthly phone contract with Digicel that covers the entire Caribbean, all negotiated in French! Oh and the purchase of the numerous weird and obscure parts that you never knew would break on various parts of the boat.
We grew to actually really quite like Le Marin, and it felt sad to leave.
Finally the day came, we collected our sail from North Sails. They delivered exactly on the day they said they would (does that ever happen with marine contractors????). We got the sail back to the boat and hoisted it in a rare lull in the wind. It looks great!!!
But leave we must! It was nearly the end of March. I don’t think either of us thought that we would be in Martinique for over 3 months (with a return to the UK for good measure)
It was a lovely sail south to St Lucia. A short hop of 21 Nautical Miles across the gap between the two. A beam reach too, up to 25 knots, and a good Atlantic swell. We were followed almost the entire way by a flock of birds picking up the flying fish as Azimuth’s bow disturbed them in the waves. It felt great to be back out sailing again after over a month!
We arrived in St Lucia at Rodney Bay. A huge sweeping bay that is very protected in the North by Pigeon Island. Not many boats at anchor here either, so no problem finding somewhere to anchor in the middle.
There is a lagoon at the back of Rodney Bay which can be accessed through a narrow channel, and inside is a little haven of beautifully manicured buildings, a marina and shopping district. So we checked in to the country and went to explore.
So far we have had some very pretty sunsets here too. The bay looks out to the west and the wind always blows from the East, so in the evening we sit on the back deck, drinking a mojito or too and watch the sunset
We took a visit to Pigeon Island the other day and it turned out to be a fantastic day, well worth the effort of the climb to the top of the peaks. Pigeon Island was where Admiral Rodney built a fort to spy on the French in Martinique. Its the perfect vantage point. You would be able to see them coming from miles away and prepare for any attack!
We had a great afternoon walking round the park, see the ruins and the fort and taking in the breath taking views
We ended up at a very cool little bar restaurant for an obligatory cocktail before heading back to the boat. They made their chairs and tables from old ships wheels and drift wood!
Join us again next time as we explore more of St Lucia!