The first big parade united all the most important groups of Martinique and started around 15h00 until...18h00. The groups made at least 3 or 4 turns of the boulevards of the city and were quite tired by the end...there was a nice atmosphere on the waterfront with music until late that evening. We liked it a lot, found it wonderful that participants of all ages celebrated in the streets...there was no troublesome behaviours although people could drink and smoke in the complete absence of police!

The excitement is growing as today is THE big parade downtown...there are impromptus groups that parade in te streets, drums playing that invite to dancing, and kids and adults get make-up and masks to their suiting for being at the parade...

Our young friend from Seawarrior had her carnaval look today and she was really pretty!

Fort de France is a fun place to be although its anchorage is often rolly and bumpy, especially if the winds are from the south east and above 15 knots. Nevertheless, we were here for the Carnival and between celebrations and parades, we escaped the boat and visited areas where we had not been during our previous visits...This time, we visited the Bibliothec Schoelcher - a little gem in the city. The building, erected in the late 1800 in the Jardins des Tuileries in Paris, was dismantled and transported here, in the “colonie” after the universal exposition of 1889. Since then, it has become a touristic sight in addition to have very imposing collections of books for a Caribbean library! Victor Schoelcher is an important personality here in the French Antilles because he stood for the rights of blacks and slaves!

We walked to Fort-De-France first popular neighbourhood, Terres Sainvilles. Indeed, Fort de France was at first a military town, built around Fort Louis. There were only mangroves in that bay, surrounding the fort...but peu a peu, the area was filled and behind the administrative and military quartes, Terres Sainvilles became the first popular quarter of Martinique. Today, there are only few remaining buildings of that time..wooden houses were not painted so that the age of wood was visible and a sign of solidity! Other neighbourhood have attached themselves to Terres sainvilles, such a Sainte-Therese, whose houses literally climb the surrounding hills...These areas are not the wealthiest of Fort de France and are today mostly populated by Haitians and people from Dominican Republic...nights visits were not recommenced by the tourist office!

Ash Wednesday..a bit too early! Yep, when we got up this morning we were shocked to find a fine layer of ashes all over the boat...damm big city pollution???? NO! not at all...vulcanic ashes! The newspaper had a first page photo of people in Guadeloupe walking around with umbrella to protect themselves from falling ashes of the nearby Montserrat vulcano. Martinique not being very far also found itself under a very fine layer of ashes...It has covered the inside and outside of the boat and we try to clean up as much as we can but the cloud of ashes is at about 50,000 feet altitude and may remain over the Montserrat surrounding islands for a while...

MVO Director, Dr. Paul Cole confirmed this afternoon that the activity at the Soufriere Hills Volcano, which began at about 12.35 p.m. peaking at about 13.04 hrs. with pyroclastic flows. “What has actually happened today, was a ‘major’ event,” Dr. Cole said.
He noted that part of the significance of today’s event is that the dome which has a mass “in the region of 250 million cubic feet,” lost in the region of 20 per cent or 50 million cubic feet of dome material.”
No inhabited areas on Montserrat were affected by the resulting ash clouds from this event which travelled out towards Antigua and this drew an urgent release from LIAT which advised, “that it has been forced to suspend flights into and out of Antigua because of airborne ash clouds from the Soufriere Hills Volcano in Montserrat.”

The release said: “Passengers on LIAT services, particularly to and from Antigua, Anguilla, Dominica, St. Kitts, Nevis, St. Maarten, and Guadeloupe are advised to expect a disruption in services,” as they apologized for any inconvenience caused.

At about 6:00 p.m. the scientist was reported as saying that there was still a lot of ash being generated from rock falls and from the scar made in the dome by the activity. He said that it was still possible that there could be decompression explosions following the event.

Cendres Sur La Martinique
Vendredi, 12 Février 2010 21:24
Le nuage de cendres, issu de la Souffrière de Montserrat, a vogué jusqu'à nous porté par le vent. Ce matin, une fine
couche de cendres recouvrait pratiquement tout en Martinique. Végétaux, voitures, maisons.

Voila la raison pour laquelle notre bateau est recouvert de cendres...nous avions blame la pollution de Fort de France mais c'est en voyant la premiere page du journal FRANCE ANTILLES que nous avons "clique": le volcan de Monserrat! L'eruption n'a heureusement pas fait de victimes ...meme si le phenomene a dure une heure et a vu le dome du volcan s'effondrer...trop de pression! Nous esperons que ce nuage de cendres qui se trouve a 50,000 pied de hauteur se fasse tres bientot balyer par les vents car l'interieur et l'exterieur du bateau sont extremement sales...on a pense a recueillir la poussiere, question d'avoir un souvenir !

Encore des photos de la Grande Parade...

We are in Fort de France for Carnaval...

As we arrived in Fort De France, we strolled in the main street of the town and caught this impromtpu dance at the sound of the drums....Des le premier jour a Fort de France , nous avons ete temoin des premiers souffles carnavalesques au son des tambours qui ont entraine cette doudou a la dance!

After an hour, we arrived to this pretty little village. Typical architecture, attractive malecon, and interesting sites...such as the oldest movie theater of South Martinique!!!

It was enjoyable to chat with an elderly man – 85 years old – who was too happy to recount stories of his life as a fisherman and post carrier in the “metropole” . He knew very well the path that we just hiked and used to do it twice a day !

Apres avoir marche sur le sentier contournant le Morne Champagne, nous sommes enfin arrives au bourg des Anses d'Arlet...mignon comme tout avec ses petites maisons creoles, son eglise au bout du quai, et son Cinema Atlas, le plus vieux du sud de la Martinique! J'ai fait une jasette avec un arlesien de 85 ans qui s'est fait un plaisir de me raconter ses tribulations de marin pecheur et sa carriere de facteur!

Due to strong swells in the Atlantic, some surf was felt throughout the night...not much movement here on the west side of the island, but rather the sond of waves crashing on the beaches....After breakfast we calked the windows and around 10h30 we began hiking to the next settlement of Anses d'Arlet...we took the path across Morne Champagne and enjoyed the view of our anchorage...

Asked what these grasses are for, a fisherman explained to me the "science" of attracting fishes by throwing this mass of grasses (banana leaves) in the water...he drives as far as 150 miles offshore and fills his boat with fishes...We could learn from him..so far, the only fresh fish eaten on board La Buena Vida came from the fish market!

On Sunday night, we get a taste of what the big carnival will look like in a couple of days. There is a mini-parade supposedly starting a 17h00 with groups from small communities of the South of Martinique. After almost an hour wait, here they are:men and women of all ages dressed in red, in blue and in white, with frills, sparkling ribbons or newspaper clips, playing big drums and calabash…they chant and dance through the village streets about 4 times before stopping at the market place for a longer demonstration of their skills. We are amazed and can only look forward to the soon coming parades in Fort de France! Last year, there were no celebration due to the strike movement in all French departments...so this year, there is a rebound of energy! There were thoughts for the people of Haiti who, unfortunately, are having other worries than carnival parades...

Pour nous donner un avant-goût des grandes célébrations du carnaval qui se tiendra a Fort De France du 11 au 17 février, nous assistons a une mini-parade de groupes appartenant a diverses régions du Sud de la Martinique. Mini-parade???? après une attente d'une heure, ca a valu la peine: la parade arrive! Plusieurs groupes de danseurs aux costumes multicolores font le tour des rues du village 4 fois et arrivent , exténués a la place du marche ou ils donnent une démonstration de leur danses et musique! Merveilleux! Nous avons donc très hâte d'assister au reste des parades...faut dire que l'an dernier, tout avait été annule du aux mouvements de grèves dans les territoires et départements français...ca devrait donc être deux fois mieux cette année!!! Malgré tout ca, les Martiniquais pensent a leurs frères et soeurs haïtiens qui ont d'autres malheurs s'acharnant sur eux...

On Saturday evening, we go for a stroll in the pretty village and enjoy the view of the illuminated church for the 19h00 mass. The doors are kept open as if to invite more people inside…although it is already full. We stay late in the village and join the crowds at the market place to enjoy salt cod cakes or accras de morue as well as creole chicken…fingers licking good.

Time to leave Le Marin for Ste-Anne…we are looking forward to walk to the Salines, one of our preferred hikes. It is Saturday morning and the paths are deserted and the beaches are not yet flooded with tourists … visibility is great on that day and enables a great view of St Lucia’s mountains. After a swim, we enjoy sitting in the shade of palm trees while eating our baguette sandwiches and drink cold Lorraine beer (yes, it’s ok to drink alcohol on the beach here!!!).

At some point, it seems that all cruisers meet again...we have now spent time with our friends Peter and Ruth on Aquataurus and with the delightful scottish family on Seawarrior with whom we indulged in Gin and Tonic, Martinique Rum and salt sticks last night!!!

It has been more than a week that we arrived in Martinique...once more! Our goal was to shop...food and drinks!, to do rust work and to enjoy the French way of life of the Antilles before the Carnaval, from the *th to the 15th February.

We have done all that...but the weather has been rather difficult with frequent daytime and nighttime squalls, strong winds, and cloudy days...we are anchoring in a pretty mangrove lined lagoon where the wave action and wind effect are reduced...

Mango dilemma!!!
We gathered those beautiful and giant mangoes in Bequia and now the time has come to eat them!!! They are wonderful!!!!!!!!!!! They make great pancakes........................

The passage betwen St Lucia and St Vincent is ca. 20 miles long ; the silhouette of the Pitons was easily recognized and was a familiar sight. It seemed like an eternity that we had been in St Lucia ...we had reached the 14th latitude! We anchored in the beautiful bay of Anse La Raye, just south of Marigot Bay. We were the only boat there...it is an unspoiled place compared to the other bays. In the night, I heard women's voice singing and in the morning, fishermen went out in the colourful boats to set their nets...

The sail from Bequia to St Lucia - 54 miles - was just like in the magzines...15-18 knots steady breeze from the East, but no fish..although we were having the line out for the entire trip!

There was no moon during the crossing from Bequia to St Vincent ..but as the sun rose, the stars slowly receded..and then we slowly sailed along the St Vincent coast. What a wonderful island...rugged shorelines, rocky mountains, so different from Grenada.

Nous devions quitter Bequia aux petites heures du matin pour nous aasurer d'\arriver a Ste Lucie avant la noirceur...le ciel etait etoile, et au lever du soleil, nous etions arrives a St Vincent que nous trouvons tellement imposante avec ses montagnes rocheuses et ses petites plages de sable noir!

After our friend's Uwe departed Grenada, the time had come to leave the windwards islands...leaving Grenada after several months of wonderful times with hiking, walks through St Georges, fun times in Hog Island. The passage between grenada and Carriacou was once more a tough one, with the underwater volcanoe Kick'em Jenny and other surrounding islands creating their share of currents. The next leg to Bequia saying goodbye to the wonderful - but at this time of the year too crowded Grenadines - was a great sail ending with a couple of days in Bequia. We once more gathered several pounds of mangoes, enjoyed a wonderful sunshine and left for St Lucia at 4h30 in the morning.

Callaloo soup…a caribbean delicacy! The leaves are huge, the taste close to spinach, and easy to make. I used the recipe of our dutch accordeon player, henni on Windjammer, and it was a great success! Our friend Uwe tried it at the Yacht Club restaurant and found mine wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy better!

Nous aimons faire la soupe aux callaloo…specialite des iles. Hennie, notre joueuse d’accordeon hollandaise, nous en avait preparee une pour la soiree du 31 decembre...inspiree, je l’ai recree avec un grand succes!

Another day, another fall...After Concord, Heiner felt that Uwe might enjoy the Seven Sisters Fall in the national forest of the Grand Etang Park...The ground was less muddy than at our previous visit, in October with our friends Carole and Daniel. And it was more serene...as Heiner and Uwe remained alone after a large group of german tourists departed the site. Both enjoyed this "guy's outing" and spent much time swimming in the crystal clear water of the falls...

Another “expedition” ..this time to Concord Waterfalls, on the western side of the island. We took the bus from Prickly Bay to St-Georges (2,50 $ Caribbean) and then to Concord ($3,50 Caribbean)…the road was reopened..(there had been a major explosion on that stretch last fall). We wanted our friend Uwe to experience traveling with a minibus, island style, and to view at least one waterfall…The weather was very gray that day and as we got out of the bus it was pouring rain! We took shelter in a boutique where printmaking on fabric was the specialty and clothing and other Grenadian products were on sale. The staff was from Concord and Gouyave and were delighted to have visitors..although there are sometimes 4 cruiseships in St-Georges harbour, these far away places (10 miles!) don’t profit from the tourists influx…we wonder if anybody profit from these cruiseships visitors except maybe the local shopping center in St-Georges where all visitors stream to by pizza, Subway sandwiches (!) and some tee shirts… Back to our expedition: from Concord, we walked 1.5 hour under a light and refreshing drizzle rain through..a real paradise! It was breathtaking to wander through the country side where cashew trees, star fruit trees, cocoa and nutmeg trees grow among bamboos and coco palms..such a bounty! And with the light rain, it gave a real “rain forest” touch to the landscape…

The fall itself was beautiful but we were so wet anyway that a bath did not feel "needed"!



Notre expedition a Concord fut un success: nous avions vu celles des Seven Sisters, grimpe au Mont Qua Qua et vu le lac du Grand-Etang. Cette escapade fut tout a fait differente, comme dans un paradis terrestre ou poussent tous les fruits exotiques imaginables !!! Cette marche de 1.5 heure nous emmena a la chute Concord mais nous n’avions pas envie de nous y baigner puisque nous avions ete sous la pluie au cours de notre marche !Ce fut une superbe decouverte et nous a permis de voir une autre facette de la flore grenadienne.

First time snorkeling with a S U I T...getting into it is difficult! But with the help of your friends, everything goes! Uwe enjoyed swimming with the turtles and the colourful fishes of the Tobago cays...

The dreams of some are the nightmares of others…it was late at night when the chartered 46’ Beneteau S/V Thetis anchored besides us…like 15 feet besides us. We warned the skipper:

LBV: Hi neighbours..you are really to close!
BENETEAU: We’ll be OK, we have 2 fenders at the back..
LBV: Really???? That's all? Will you keep watch tonight?
BENETEAU: …(they probably wondered what watch meant!)
BENETEAU: How many meters of chain do you have out?
LBV: 25 meters
BENETEAU: We have 14 m....

At this point, several of the crew members got all the fenders out and another 10 m of chain which made our proximity even greater. During the night, our boats were so close that we could have jumped in their cockpit. We were concerned that if forced to reanchor, they probably would pick up our chain instead of theirs!!!
This morning, as we prepared to lift anchor…we first blew the horn as a warning but it took a good 20 minutes before Skip came outside. He sheepishly said that it would be ok…we “forced” him to come out…here he was, standing like a wax statue at the bow, probably wondering what one could do…(as I am writing, a couple of hours later, he has probably not figured it out yet…).

Bye Bye 2009 , you were a fun year...and so was the party!!!
Notre "Bye Bye" a 2009, tout en musique et rires!

GOOD BYE 2009! 2010 HERE WE COME!

Last year at that time…we were already in the Caribbean, in the US Virgin Islands more precisely! We were still new to the area and 2009 has been a year of discovery, encounters of all kinds, and unforgettable experiences (the good and less good ones).

Since our departure from Kingston, Canada in September 2008, we traveled ca.4000 nautical miles and visited 20 islands! We have not yet listed how many kinds of rum and beer we drank…but we really made a distinct effort to taste each island’s beverage! Butter and cheese were mostly from New Zealand…thank God for Martinique and its imported goods from France! We met hundreds of people of different races and nationalities, locals and cruisers included! And as a bonus, we got to spend more fun time with friends …so much more than if we had been home!

As the year comes to an end, we look back and can’t help to feel good about our voyage on La Buena Vida. We had fun telling our stories and showing pictures on the Blog: Sharing the stories make the experiences so much richer! We wish all of our readers all the best for 2010!

AU REVOIR 2009! 2010 ON ARRIVE!

Ah! Le fameux bilan du dernier jour de l’année…l’an dernier, nous étions tout juste arrivés dans les Caraibes et nous célébrions cet événement à St-John dans les Iles Vierges américaines. Au cours des 4000 milles nautiques parcourus depuis notre départ de Kingston, Canada en septembre 2008, nous avons visité 20 îles, fait des rencontres de tout genre (si on compte les personnes, la faune et la flore!) et fait des expériences (bonnes et moins bonnes) qui resterons inoubliables! Et comme bonus, nous avons aussi passé beaucoup plus de temps avec des amis et fait avec eux des expériences qui resterons de merveilleux souvenirs (on espère!)...

Alors que nous disons au revoir à 2009 et saluons 2010, nous ne pouvons qu’espérer que 2010 sera à la hauteur! Nous continuerons de relater nos expériences sur le Blog car de les partager avec vous les rend encore plus enrichissantes. Merci à vous, chers lecteurs et lectrices! Nous vous souhaitons une merveilleuse année 2010 !