Captain's Log Page 13

Tideline Yacht Sales
17 Lockwood Drive
Charleston, SC 29401

PHONE: 843.813.3711
FAX: 866.467.8840
Email: glen@tidelineyachtsales.com

      Our last port of call in the Grenadines was Bequia. This is an island that evokes a vision of the Caribbean from times gone bye. We anchored in front of the main town, Port Elizabeth. The town itself is typically Caribbean, with the colorful shutters and tropical plant life. The stores appeared to be unchanged from the British Colonial era, and it looked as if time had stood still, albeit in a positive way. We had decided to stop in Bequia to clear out of the Grenadines, and having done so headed north toward Martinique.

We had slowed down in order to keep within hailing distance of "Three Ships", and arrived sometime in the middle of the day. The bay is huge, and it took us a while to orient ourselves as to where we had to go. Luckily there was a cruise ship in port, but it still took us some time to find it. That gives one an idea of the size of the bay. As we headed toward the capital of Fort de France, we passed some divers in a large RIB. Between our French and their English, we managed to understand that they were French Navy divers and that they needed a tow back toward town. They threw us a line and we towed them in.

We dropped anchor in the tiny anchorage between the fort and town of Fort de France. We were almost under the bow of the cruise ship that was docked for the day, and wondered how it was going to depart without plowing through the anchorage. Stern and bow thrusters did not occur to us.

After clearing in with customs and immigration we wandered around the town. Martinique is as French as any coastal town in the south of France. The cars, license plates, signs, currency and money are all French. Despite the fact that the USA is much closer than France, everything is French.

We went into the Supermarche that was near the waterfront, and bought a bottle of French wine, some Brie cheese and a baguette. The total cost was less than $5.00. That was our dinner that we enjoyed on our aft deck while watching the cruise ship departing for its next destination. We are not sure that we would have been happier had we been one of the passengers aboard the cruise ship looking down on the boats at anchor. At least we could stay as long as we wished, and explore and experience at our leisure. continue to page 14 >>