The next island on our journey south was Martinique. We stopped in two beautiful ports – and while our French is not the best, the islanders were lovely and we got by ordering lots of baguettes and croissants! Our first port of call was Saint-Pierre on the north side of the Martinique’s west coast. We love the laid back nature of the French islands especially when it comes to customs and immigration. While many Caribbean islands are very specific about clearing into customs and it can take hours to “clear in”, in Saint-Pierre we found the local Capitaine official walking on the city dock. He was a bit busy, so he asked us just to come back the next day and welcomed us to tour around and enjoy the town which of course we did!

In the early 1900’s, Saint-Pierre was a bustling French seaport known as the “Paris of the Caribbean”, then in April 1902 Mt. Pelee erupted covering the town in fire and ash. Tragically over 28,000 people died and only 2 survived – one of which was a convict in a stone cell which saved his life! They have done a nice job of holding on to the history of the city while offering many great shops and restaurants to visitors. Several of the original stone walls are still standing and local businesses and homes just incorporate the old wall into their current structures. They have a wonderful museum dedicated to the disaster which we toured (fortunately using English audio headsets) which had several artifacts that were recovered back in 1902 and some quite which had been found just recently. The town is bustling and has a lovely open air market with fresh vegetables and local fare.

Next up (or down as we are heading south) was Ste. Anne which is on the southernmost point of Martinique’s west coast. We loved this town as well. Here you can easily anchor (which we prefer) in a huge open bay just off the beach. There must have been 500 other boats anchored all in about 20 fit of water so clear you could easily see the bottom. The town is geared to day tourists so lots of restaurants and boutique stores. We had lunch one day at the Pirate’s Cove restaurant which has a huge water playground with blow up structures that the kids enjoy while the parents can relax and watch over them!

Our friend Jack Attridge was originally going to meet us in Grenada, but we were able to change his itinerary and instead he flew into St. Lucia so he could sail with us down to Grenada. Billy and I sailed to Rodney Bay, St Lucia and it was the first time we had been to a marina since early January. The Marina was great! Not only did it feel good to be able to get on and off the boat so easily (and of course there was a hose for Billy to wash off all the salt!). The marina staff was warm and welcoming and they had so many services – a marine store, grocery store, a florist and several restaurants all in the marina complex. My favorite was the laundry woman Pat who came by the boat in her golf cart, collected the laundry, cleaned and returned it within a few hours. It was nice as we were able to really relax and as we waited a few days for Jack to arrive.

Jack arrived and we left early the next morning sailing past St Vincent with amazing views of La Soufreiere volcano which had erupted as recently as 2021! The island had been evacuated so there were no fatalities. It was awe inspiring to see the scarring from the lava all the way down to the sea.

We sailed to Bequia (pronounced Beck-WAY) which was about 80 Miles so it took all day. While underway, Jack and Billy watched the Marblehead High School Hockey team win the D3 State Championship (thank you Starlink!). As the game finished we reached Admiralty Bay and dropped our anchor just as the sun went down.

Since this was a new country (St Vincent and the Grenadines), we had to “clear in”. We took the dingy in to the dock and walked to the customs office which is right in the middle of the downtown area. The process was very easy and we toured all around the outdoor markets and local shops. We stayed for 2 days in and enjoyed lunches on the harbor, sunset cocktails at a restaurant called “Jack’s”, a wonderful little grocery store, a great walk down Princess Margaret Beach and grilling HUGE fresh spiny lobsters on the boat.

The Tobago Cays is a collection of several small islands protected to the east by a huge reef and is part of the national park system. As you pull into the park a boat guy on a small (20 ft) open wooden boat, will come up to you and help you to your mooring. They also offer fish, handmade goods, ice and trash pick up. Since no-one lives on the islands these people come from neighboring islands each day many from Union island which is at least 5 miles away by boat.

There is a designated sea turtle sanctuary area and it was amazing to grab a mooring right next to it and see the turtles swimming all around us. The wind was up so while we were able to take the dingy out to the Tobago Cays reef, the visibility wasn’t great and the currents were pretty strong. We swam out into the current for about 45 minutes and it only took us about 10 to get back to the dingy!

Our favorite part of the Tobagos (and Jack’s favorite overall) was joining the beach BBQ which they put on every night – anyone in the park is invited and you can have Lobster, Chicken or Ribs. You have to sign up in advance with one of the boat guys and whoever you sign up with is your host for the evening. Our host was Tyree and he was amazing! We sat with a young couple from Germany who were on a 3 month sabbatical which they take every year on their boat. Without any previous sailing experience they had bought a boat and sailed it over to the Caribbean! It’s amazing who you meet at fun events like this one.

We needed to clear out of St. Vincent so we stopped over to Union Island for the night. Once again the moorings are part of a national park so J-Man helped us grab our mooring which was right off a little island bar called “Happy Island Bar”. In town we were able to easily clear out of customs – the immigration ladies were joyful and funny and we felt a great sense of welcome. The Union Island waterfront is bustling with a big fish market, many vendors and shops. The boats that go out to Tobago Cays are pulled up all along on the beach.

We decided to have lunch down the road at Jus Rite. The owner Joy and her daughter were amazing. The food was excellent and we found ourselves watching the local high school track meet for all of St. Vincent and the Grenadines – the Union Island grammar school had won the meet the day before so everyone was in fine spirits!

Next we had to get down to Granada so that Jack could make is flight home. We sailed down the eastern coast as we were staying in one of the southern harbors and didn’t want to have to beat into the wind coming around from the west. We pulled into Woburn Bay and set the anchor right off Calivigny Island – a private island that you can rent for just $150,000 per night (it does house 50 people).

We had read about the Little Dipper restaurant in the cruising guide and decided to try it – with some help from a local fisherman we found their little dingy dock. As we walked up from the dock we found the path very steep and it went so close by the houses that we felt a bit awkward, but the residents were friendly and directed us straight up the hill. At the last house before the street a young boy shouted at us “what are you doing on my property?” Jack quickly replied that we were just looking for the restaurant and the boy pointed and shouted loudly “it’s right there!” and then added “and I am the owners son”. We got a howl out of that and Jack made sure to find the owner in the kitchen and lodge a complaint about the neighbor boy (her son) – she laughed so hard. We had an amazing meal at this small 6 table restaurant overlooking Woburn harbor.

The next morning we were due to pull into Phare Blue Bay Marina – we took our time thinking that they had a customs office, but once we tied up we found that indeed we had to go over to Port Louis to clear in and we had to do that before Jack could leave with his passport! We rushed over and cleared out – and came to find that Doug and Lucy Halsted were at the Marina on Surprise. We all had a great lunch before Jack had to head home.

Next up: more time in Granada and passing our southernmost point!