Bequia

We all enjoyed Bequia (pronounced beck-way).  There were white sandy beaches where we played.  There is cool trail along the shore line that is fun to walk along to see all the restaurants and the water.

This was a popular anchorage with a lot of boat oriented trades.  We also found plenty of grocery stores.  We tried plantain chips and they were so yummy we bought a plantain and made our own on the boat.  We also tried breadfruit for the first time and found it is similar to a potato and made chips out of it too.  Can't go wrong with deep fried goodness.

Cool path built along the shore

We walked to the turtle hatchery and met the owner and founder.  He has an interesting place and a unique story as to how he started his turtle shelter.

Two day old Loggerhead Turtles

The wind changed again (lighter) so we took advantage and had a fast sail to the Tabago Cays. 

Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

We stopped to rest here and didn't visit much of the island.  From what we saw this place is where people come to relax.  There is a Sanadals resort and the place seemed like your typical touristy destination.

We took the dinghy over to Pigeon Island where we paid a small fee to walk up the the fort.  The kids love to hike up steep inclines.  The island was beautiful with all of the bright red flowering trees and other plant life.  We came back that afternoon to enjoy the beach.

Fruit/Vegetable Guy's Boat

In town we found one of the biggest hardware stores and pedestrian mall we have seen since we left the United States.  There was a very nice Marina where we got our propane tanks filled.  

We moved on quickly and decided to skip the rest of St. Lucia.  We chose to admire it from the water as we sailed by.  The Pitons were beautiful.  We also skipped St. Vincent as from what we have read it is not as cruiser friendly with deep water anchorages.  

Martinique

The sail from Dominica to Martinique was fairly calm considering what we have done so far down the islands.  It turned into a motor sailing passage.

Our first anchorage was St. Pierre where the famous Mt. Pelee erupted.  We toured the town and museum as part of school to get the full effect and idea of what happened.  Some signs were in English but again, mostly French as Martinique is also part of France.  

The next day we walked to the rum distillery.  What a beautiful place!  Even the kids had a good time though they are too young to imbibe.  Paul called it the highlight of his cruise.  Ha! ha!

The kids in the prison cell where Cyparis survived the 1902 eruption of Mount Pelee

We have found plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables along with plenty of butter filled pastries, chocolate pastries and new found apple filled ones.  Wow!  Just when I thought my girlish figure was not in danger.  

Next stop was Fort De France, a big city where you can find just about anything you could possibly need.  We walked to a couple of museums and found all the writing in French.  The library had great pictures posted of surrounding Martinique and fast free wifi.  The trip through town was interesting and fun to walk around.  The anchorage was a bit rolly so we took off for St. Anne the next day.  We had to sail straight into the trade winds so we picked a day that the wind was predicted to be light.  

Once we arrived we found a bazillion other cruising boats.  This is the place to be if you live aboard or just love sailing.  While we were anchored near St. Anne we did a short dinghy ride into Le Marin and found even more boats.  I can't even begin to tell you how many charter catamarans we saw at the marina.  They seemed to be stacked on top of each other.  

We also checked out St. Anne enjoying more butter filled pastries and French bread, Yum!  They have a cool church up a steep winding hill that we hiked to and a nice trail that goes around the end of the island along the water. 

The Yoles Rondes race came through while we were anchored out making water.  The racers were bailing as fast as they were racing.  So many boats travel along side the racing boats that it made the water in the bay look like a big washing machine.  We all quickly chose our favorites for the race and watched as they all went by.  The racers left the next morning going around a few marks close to our boat.  We watched as three boats went down for various problems or issues but got themselves back up and running in no time.  Wow!

One of the race boats being followed by every type of craft

Our time here is coming to an end and next stop for us will be St Lucia.