20 Miles off Guadaloupe to Anse a l’Ane, Martinique

I wake just before 1am and am shaken immediately by a huge clap of thunder.  Over the roar of the engines (I am sleeping over one of them) I can hear rain hammering over my head.  Then there is a prolonged flash of lightening and more thunder.  I pull some clothes on and go out to see how Mike is faring.  Apparently the storm has only just started but the winds are amazingly light (only gusting at 25 knots) and the heavy rain is flattening down the waves.  Is this Ana or just a squall heralding her imminent arrival?

Although I am due to start my watch at 1am, Mike tells me to go back to bed as he wants to be on deck if it gets worse.  He wakes me just before 2am when he starts to feel tired.  By this time the squall has passed over and is continuing eastwards.

Just before 4am, and approaching Martinique’s north shores, I see my first evidence of other vessels - a fishing boat is racing to his nets.  He has probably been waiting for the storm to pass.  The winds move round so that we are heading almost straight into them and they strengthen to 10-15 knots which slows our progress down a  bit (and of course uses more diesel).  Mike relieves me again at 5am and when I eventually wake just before 9am we are already heading into the huge bay at Fort de France, the capital of Martinique.

  Photo:  Morning clouds over north Martinique

We motor over to Anse Mitan to see if Marina du Bakoua has been rebuilt.  The restaurant and pontoons were swept away by Hurricane Omar last year, but looking at the area, it is obvious that no work has begun, which is a pity as it was a lovely area.

Mike tries to get internet connection while I just keep the boat hanging around but there is none to be had to we motor around the corner and try again.  Still no success to we anchor and Mike takes the PC ashore to search for an internet cafe.

When he returns he has found out that Tropical Storm Ana just sort of fizzled out over Guadaloupe and Hurricane Bill has curved round to the north and is now expected to head back out into the Atlantic instead of hitting Antigua.  Good news all round, although things can change again!  It also means that we could have stayed where we were in St Martin and Ann and company could have stayed with us.  Bugger!

We pull the anchor up and motor back to Anse a l’Ane, a pretty holiday spot where we will stay the night.  We both have showers and I do my blog while Mike sleeps.

Photo:  Anse a l’Ane

In the late afternoon, we go ashore and look around.  It is a nice mixture of holiday homes and a ‘suburb’.  The ferries run every 45 minutes taking people to and from Fort de France where they obviously work.  We check out the grocery store, the laundrette, cash machine and car hire – all the essentials for the next few days in fact are here.

Photo:  Playing boules on the beach – how French

  Photos:  The beach at Anse a l’Ane

Back on the boat we relax in the quiet before switching on the gennerator for the air conditioning.  The boat has not been cool for over two days and needs to dry out to prevent mould in this humidity.  We revel in the cool, eat salad and watch ‘Cold Feet’.  Bliss.