Martinique to St. Martin ... and On To Canada!

It's been a while since I posted here so to close out 2016 I thought I should do a little catch-up on our adventures since we were last hiking on Martinique.

Ah, Martinique!!  One of our favourite islands in the Caribbean and would that we could still be there.  However, Mowzer needs some warranty work and the yards here are just too busy to fit us in until later in 2017, so off to St. Martin we went on word that we could be hauled and repairs started before Christmas.

Martinique, as always had her grips on us and just as we were leaving we lost a set-screw in the pin that held the boom to the mast.  After our initial shock, we turned around, effected our repair and were on our way again a few hours later.

Just one little set screw, stripped of its' threads, caused a heart-stopping moment as we got ready to hoist sail and head north.

We had the perfect weather window for our trek north.  We could have done it all in one go but we decided to enjoy ourselves and took day sails instead:  

• Martinique to Dominica, 
• Dominica to Guadeloupe, 
• Guadeloupe to Antigua, 
• Antigua to St. Bart's,
• and then a small hop from St. Bart's to St. Martin.  

As the rainy, squally weather cleared over the first couple of days we were treated to sunny skies once again.  Along the way we met up with friends, firstly in Anse d'Arlets we had a final dinner with Laura & Jerry on their charter boat.

From under her thick duvet of early morning cloud, Martinique awakes to the sunrise.

We caught up with Joe and Greg on Serenade as we reached Dominica, and from there to St. Martin we were boat buddies.  It was still raining heavily on the island and we were treated to views of spectacular waterfalls and a 'river' of freshwater run-off along the coast.

Waterfalls from above and you can just make out the colour change of the fresh water running south along the coast.

Early morning sun lighting up the water and Serenade's sails.  What perfect conditions!

As we approached Guadeloupe we were treated to a rainbow over the anchorage and then a little squall as we anchored - seemed to be the routine we had hit, but on this occasion we were able to celebrate with a little reunion.  Bill and Wendy on Overstreet were already in the anchorage.

Rainbows mean sunshine and rain - we were already in the sunshine so we assumed we might be about to get wet in the anchorage.  Not for long though and then we were primed for a beautiful sunset.

And so the days went - up and sail early for 8-10 hours and then settle into an anchorage for the night.  Conditions were near-on perfect with beam reaches between the islands and easy-to-dodge squalls few and far between.  Once we reached Antigua we were hoping for the forecast northerly factor in the winds as we made our turn north-west towards St. Martin.  Unfortunately, the winds do not always listen to the forecast but we weren't complaining - calm conditions for a motor-sail, no drama, and a mid-afternoon arrival in St. Bart's.  The only excitement we had was when we were just over 10 miles off the coast of St. Bart's and running in 70-100' of water, we could just make out a freighter up ahead that appeared to be stationary.  Once we were in range with our AIS we were confirmed, he was anchored - and RIGHT on our rhumb line!

Easy for us to tell that freighter wasn't moving, with the peaks of St. Bart's in the background.

Really?  Right on our rhumb line to St. Bart's.  Diversionary tactics were called for.

Not that exciting in all reality - just a little tweak on the auto-pilot, and mostly a way to break up the day.

Once again, under sunny skies we headed on the next morning to make the bridge into the lagoon at St. Martin.  As a first for us, we carried right on through the causeway bridge, which is a swing bridge with an in- and an out-channel, proceeded just over the border onto the French side and dropped our hook.

Just two of us going through the bridge on that day.

We settled into the anchorage and with our arrival the winds picked back up to howling level and the sunny skies took a break.  We had timed our trip perfectly!

The sun said farewell for a few days with a nice showy sunset on the clouds above.

Our home in the French-side lagoon, just below "The Witch's Tit".

They may be stormy skies, but a little ray of sunshine created the perfect light for an evening sail.

While we awaited our haul-out date and hoped that the winds would die down a bit, we socialized and caught up with new and old friends.

One of our favourite spots - Little Jerusalem for most excellent shawarma, this time enjoyed with Jo and Greg.

Here's a new one to try - an interesting combination!

St. Martin is a wonderful cross-road where people heading north, south, east and west all converge.  Here we met up with first-time Canadian cruisers Matthew & Kathleen on Kinship (friends from Ottawa) and Tess & Al on Ingomar (from St. John's, NFLD.)  We then reunited with Danish friend Peter on Mandalay and with that we had quorum for a hike and a beer or two.

Matthew, Kathleen, Tess & Al joined us for a lovely French meal on a patio in Marigot.

Getting lost up on Pic Paradis - it's amazing how quickly the path can become overgrown in the rainy season!

Our haul-out date arrived on December 15th, and ironically it was the only day on the forecast that had winds under 20 knots.  We hightailed it over to the yard early in the morning and before the winds could change their minds, we were lifted out and settled on the hard.  

Getting the lift straps carefully positioned.

And quick as that Mowzer was lifted by the crane and carefully positioned in the yard.  The whole operation took about 15 minutes.

A dusty, dirty yard is not a fun place to stay so we were very lucky to get an apartment right on Marigot Bay, about 15 minutes walk from the boat yard.  A friend of a friend of a friend owns the place - so wonderful what a good network of friends can accomplish!

Our living room and a tiny kitchen.

The view from the bedroom and patio completely made the stay delightful!

Mowzer now has to sit on land for about four months, so being homeless for a while we decided to head back to Canada for Christmas and spend the holidays with family.  On top of that, we celebrated my amazing mother's 93rd birthday with everyone in attendance except Jim, who joined us by Skype from Belgium.

93 years strong - celebrating with the family.

Winter has of course arrived in Ottawa and with fresh eyes we are enjoying the winter views.

Changes in latitude.