Forte De France Again!
Innamorata
Steve & Carol
Thu 8 Feb 2024 20:04
14:36.04N 061:04.177W The forecast warned us that there was going to be strong northerly winds in the night so we decided to head to Forte de France early to ensure that we got a sheltered spot before the wind turned - not a fantastic idea as it was still pretty awful there when we arrived with the sea and wind getting into the anchorage, we decided the best thing to do was to go ashore for a while, the swell was so bad on the dinghy dock we lifted the dinghy and set off for a wander. After being ashore for a few hours we headed back, bumped into Fiona and Chris on the way, we all wandered back to the dinghy dock and Chris helped Steve launch our dinghy, once launched we got in it - of course now was the perfect time for a big wave to create a large back splash when it hit the dinghy dock soaking us both in the process! After a hideously rolly day things did improve in the night when the northerly wind kicked in, the boats that stayed in the anchorage across the bay had an awful time with many moving over to Forte de France in the middle of the night! All along the west coast of Martinique, Dominica and Guadeloupe some unlucky boats got in trouble with a few ending up washed ashore and wrecked! Mamita another Oyster46HP we had seen in Le Marin but not managed to talk to came into the anchorage and we went over to say hello, met Nina, Ola and their 2 children who welcomed us on board and showed us around, it's not often we see another Oyster 46HP, Mamita is a few years younger being made in 1985 and she’s a totally different layout to Innamorata, she’s also a ketch but her mizzen rigging was also different as well! Having only been on Mamita for 4 months they were keen to see inside Innamorata so we headed home with them to show her to them. All in all we had a great time in Forte de France - it was Carnival time and we did a lot of socialising, made new friends in Martin and Debbie on Locomocean and went to watch the Carnival parades on 3 occasions, once by ourselves but met up with Fiona Chris and some friends of theirs ashore and the other 2 occasions there was a group of us including Fiona and Chris, Debbie and Martin, Heather and Bob, Jo and Carl from Rockhopper. Carnival is a family event with different themes on different days and everyone has a great time.         Debbie and Martin and some of the other sailors all dressed up.   Carl, Jo and us a bit later in the day!  |