Martinique

Tuesday 24th January

We've started to head north and our first stop after leaving St.Lucia is the town of St.Pierre on the north west point of Martinique. The anchorage lies in the Shadow of Mt. Pelee volcano, which in 1902 erupted killing just under 30,000 people. Two lucky residents survived, Cyparis, who was imprisoned in a stone cell, and Leon Leandre, a cobbler in his cellar!

Last time we were here we spent a few days exploring the village and hiking in the hills above, this time we just used it as an overnight anchorage and as a jumping point to get further north to the island of Dominica. The trade winds have been blowing in full swing, on the Atlantic crossing this made for a great downwind sail, now that we're heading north  between the islands it means a lot of wind and big swell hitting us on the beam and some times head on. It's not making for the most enjoyable sailing for me as we end up wet and soggy but Jimmy is Loving the speed and  the opportunity to push Blue Moon at what she does best.