Checking Parking Meters in Martinique

We are now in the French island of Martinique and this has a particular significance for me as there is an immortal line in one of the Clouseau Pink Panther films where Dreyfuss is bawling Clouseau out and says that if he doesn't do something he will find himself checking parking meters in Martinique. We are therefore on a mission to find a parking meter here.

At a more mundane level we had an enjoyable sail here though we found it tiring as well. It is only 25 miles or so from Rodney Bay to Le Marin but we were knackered when we did make it. For the first time in months – September to be precise – we were hard on the wind all the way. The distance is roughly the same as Torpoint to Fowey which we used to do regularly on a weekend when UK based. It gave us a bit of a turn to think that a weekend would start on Friday after work with a 200 mile drive to Plymouth. We would then get underway in the morning and arrive Fowey mid afternoon, much as we just did. We would then go straight ashore and probably have a drink and a meal in a pub. The next morning we would take ourselves back to Torpoint, put the boat to bed and dfrive the 200 miles back to London. Down here we will spend at least a week in Le Marin and then head a short distance round the island to visit Fort de France.

There is a huge difference between St. Lucia and Martinique.. The harbour is very crowded with hundreds of boats anchored and on moorings to say nothing of the 600 berth marina. Of course everything is in French and everyone speaks that language though you generally seem to find that they also speak fluent English as well though. All the cars have French number plates with the European flag on it as well. The currency is the euro as well. All in all, it feels a bit strange though also quite nice. The only bread you can buy are baguettes though I have yet to find any Brie!

The view from where we were anchored at first.

This is a local "Yole" which seem to be raced quite keenly here.

We have also gone into a marina for the first time in weeks to allow us to have some luxurious showers and also to catch up on laundry. We are not sure what it will be like though as the marina berth is much more sheltered than the anchorage and is also near some mangrove swamps so we may have to deal with mozzies for the first time on this side of the pond. We will be here for a while so I will doubtless be doing some updates in due course.

On another note, the website Marina Traffic to be keeping track of us quite well. If you go to their site, you can see our progress – if you are that interested of course!