January 2018

For me, one of the most compelling reasons for visiting Martinique, beyond the obvious baguettes and croissants, is to visit some of the many distilleries that are sprinkled around the island.   Well, mission accomplished.  A few days ago, we rented a car with friends Barbara and Ted from Raven to do just that.

However, before I  go on about that, I’ll share a view this morning from Pandora of the nearby city and mountains in the distance.  What a spot.So, back to our outing.  Fortunately, Ted agreed to drive so I could focus on the passing view as well as the many rums that we tried along the way.  In the interest of complete disclosure, I did inhale and sip but didn’t completely finish any one of the many samples that were offered.

Beyond the wonderful rums that we tried, the three distilleries that we visited also had very beautiful grounds that were open for exploring.I may be a “compact” guy but this stand of bamboo is really impressive and big by any standard.   I wonder how they deal with old dead canes.  Brenda and I had bamboo in our yard for many years and I had to use a hammer chipper to grind up the dead canes and mine were only about 1″ in diameter.  You could build a bridge with this stuff. Unlike some of the lower lying islands that we have visited, Martinique has high mountains that reach into the clouds wringingout moisture so there is plenty of rainfall to grow sugarcane.  Along the way we drove through many beautiful lush forest and overlooks with beautiful views of the countryside. Everywhere we went there were views of cultivated fields like this banana farm.“Stop the car!  I see and orchid 0n the side of the road”! A beautiful solitary flower on the top of plants that grew to 4′ in height. As we drove up and down the mountains, the roads wound one way and another through countless switchbacks.   Not a lot of straight roads here. The same was the case of old railroad tracks that predated roads as the key way to get the sugarcane to the distillery for processing as quickly as possible. Tracks like these supported steam powered trains and later, diesel like this one on display at one of the distilleries.  Unlike rums made from molasses, a byproduct of sugar production, rums on Martinique are made directly from the fresh juice squeezed from sugarcane.   It seems that there are a number of varieties of sugarcane, hybrids better suited to different types of rum.   Sugarcane is a perennial plant and is harvested once a year.    While slave labor was the mainstay of cane and rum production for hundreds of years, none of the distilleries that we visited focused particularly on the human toll of this industry.  Fortunately, following the abolition of slavery, the industrial revolution and today’s heavy machinery have found ways to mechanize the industry that for so long relied on forced labor.   I have no idea what this machine does but it sure looks like it means business.Today’s rum distilleries look more like petrochemical refineries. 
The basic physics of the equipment used for distilling rum hasn’t changed much but today’s plants use much larger and more sophisticated versions of this antique copper distillation tower, cut away to reveal it’s inner workings.  It operates on the same principles as today’s massive “crackers” for refining gasoline and, of course, making rum. Much of the equipment used in the traditional crafting of rum looks more like art than industrial equipment. Some of the equipment looks terribly dangerous.  I can only imagine how it was to work around these huge gears as they spun under the power of powerful steam engines.  Rum production has always been big business and has always been associated with prominent families, who’s products still carry their name as they have for generations. However, the factories were once much smaller and buildings located on the grounds also served as home to the owner and his family.  Generations of the Clement family lived here until the mid 80s.They lived very well and hosted dignitaries such as George Bush Sr, in their home.  I’ll bet they served the president some really great rums.  This home now serves as a tasting room and museum.However, modern production techniques or not, rum is still aged in oak barrels and the length of time it is aged and the type of barrel used, gives the rum it’s distinctive flavor and color.   Rum also ages much faster in the warm humid climate of the Caribbean and they say that one year of aging here is equivalent to 4-5 years in a more temperate climate.    That’s one reason, beyond being close the raw material source, that rum has always been associated with the Caribbean. There is big money in rum and the families behind the brands became very wealthy.   The “tasting rooms” and surrounding estates are very elaborate and often include substantial art collections.  This “King Arthur deal” is 10′ tall.
Each estate had buildings, new and old that were more impressive than the last.  Makes you want to buy rum.  Right?
Good thing as there is always a nicely appointed tasting room ready to serve and serve us they did.  Well, I could go on all day about this but I hope you get the picture.    I purchased rums from each distillery and plan on bringing it home aboard Pandora.  Want to know first hand how it tastes?  Come and visit us and you’ll find out for yourself.

One way or the other, we had a great time making our way along the rum trail of Martinique and try as I might, I just could’t try them all.   And, I did try.

Well, here we are in Fort de France, Martinique, the furthest south that we have been yet.   It’s wonderful to be in a big city for a change and to be anchored literally a few hundred feet from the city streets is unique in our experience.  However, with convenience comes some discomfort as we hear music blaring each evening and there is a constant parade of ferry boats rocking us, sometimes violently, as the come by from 08:00 to 16:00.

However, we are well protected from the strong winds, tucked below a ovely historic French fort.Of course, as the bottom drops off quickly as you get further from shore, the anchorage is tight, and yes, we are as close to the other boats as this photo appears.   However, tight anchoring works here as the wind is so consistent with the easterly prevailing winds.  The catamaran just in front of us is Raven, with our friends Barbara and Ted aboard.   They are from Austin TX and have been living aboard for the last two years.  We arrived here a few days ago after an overnight stop in Dominica, a very rural island that was trashed during last seasons hurricanes.   We only stayed there and didn’t even clear in, to break up the trip to Martinique.  It was sad to see the devastation that they have endured.    Leaves had been stripped from the rain forest.  When we were here last winter it was a dark green and very lush.  We were told that this is much improved compared to a few months ago when the hillside was completely barren. This closeup really gives a feel for how barren the trees are.
While a good deal of cleanup has been done, there is still a lot to be done to get things back in shape ashore.   There are signs of damaged boats and buildings everywhere. What’s remarkable is that just 30 miles south, as you approach Martinique, the forest is lush and untouched.    And, speaking of lush, we rented a car with Ted and Barbara yesterday to tour some of the rum distilleries and countryside as we drove around much of the island.  It was really beautiful.  Details to come on that in my next post. Anyway, we have also explored the city near the waterfront and it’s a unique mixture of old and modern.    There are many lovely streets in the historic district. With colorful shops selling most anything from marine supplies to island themed fabric. And, stirred into the mix are some really modern buildings.  Somehow it all works.  There are a few real standout buildings including the Schoelcher Library designed buy a disciple of Gustave Eiffel, that guy that brought you the Eiffel Tower in Paris.   Like the famous tower, the library was also built for the 1889 worlds fair, disassembled, shipped here to Fort de France and reassembled.    See what others have said about the building.

Inside is impressive with a soaring ceiling. And an impressive collection of old books and manuscripts.   Remarkably, this is open to the street so the books are not being stored in a climate controlled environment.    Wonder how they will do over time exposed to the humidity.  Nearby the St Louis Cathedral also by the same designer in perfect condition. There’s lots more to tell but too much for a single post so you’ll have to stay tuned.    Fort de France is a remarkable spot and I expect that we will stay here for a while before heading further south.

Along with the remarkable architecture the difference in the condition of the island compared to nearby Dominica just serves to reinforce the point that real estate agents always say “location, location, location” and in this case how things change only a few miles apart.

To see the near total devastation on an island so nearby is certainly sobering.

We are here in Iles de Saintes, a small archipelago here just south of  Guadeloupe.   It’s fascinating to visit some of these islands where countries battled it out years ago to control those islands that were valuable, mostly because of sugar production, and because they had good ports where ships could call home.

Les Saintes are such a group of islands.   As they are low lying and dry, I expect that the appeal wasn’t agriculture but as a place to control shipping.   And, as is so often the case in these parts, this island saw much action as the English and French fought for control time and time again.

As you’d expect wherever there is warfare, there are forts and this place has a number of them with the largest, now a terrific museum.  It would be tough to sneak up on a garrison with such a commanding view. And, with such a large harbor, comes the need to control it and at least once a large battle with dozens of ships fought for control in what is known as the
“battle of the Saintes”.   This diorama showed all the ships that fought.  This is only a detail shot but it’s sufficient to say that there were a lot of ships banging away at each other.    The museum has a number of very nice large scale models including this one of the 90 gun flagship, The Formidable, launched in England in 1777 after a ten year build.  Interestingly, it wasn’t dismantled until the early 1800s.   That’s a long career for a wooden fighting ship.  The model is nearly 5′ long.   Impressive.
Interestingly, there was also a model of the Santa Maria, Columbus’s ship.   Oops, the description of why it was in the museum was in French.  And, speaking of nice views, which I was earlier in the post.  Nice spot to have our picture taken.
The fort is in amazing shape after all these years.   It’s remarkable to see how flawless the walls are.  Not a wave or ripple.   Perfect construction. These large iguanas were in the nearby trees everywhere.  They are very territorial and this big guy was standing his ground in spite of our invasion of his space.
Another bit of local fauna, a kestrel, I think. And, of course, goats.  Always lots of goats.  In this case, baby goats, goatettes, or goatees.   Hmm…Down in the main town there was a great little parade.   Drums and all sorts of percussion.  All the marchers were probably nearly deaf after the event was over.  Brenda and I loved this little household garden.  I also enjoyed watching these guys “launch” a boat, freshly painted.  They walked briskly along, stopping every 100′ or so for a break.   “Stop, stop Francois, time for a cigarette break.  We are French after all.”  Looks heavy. Along the way (we rented a golf cart for the day) we stopped at a “beach bar” for lunch.   How about tuna ceviche and wine at a lowly beach bar?  Only in a French Island!  Bon appetite!  Indeed.
So, there you have it.  Another post of random thoughts from the Caribbean.

Great food, lovely Caribbean breezes.     I have to say that I am glad that the French persevered here as somehow I don’t think that the food would be quite as good if the English had won.

And, on top of that, clearing in would be ten times harder and cost more.

Tomorrow, off to Dominica and on to  Martinique.   Yes, more baguettes in Pandora’s future when we get to Martinique.

It’s been a while since my last post and since then we visited Nevis and went to Montserrat again, this time aboard Pandora.

When we were in Antigua we decided, as I reported in an earlier post, that we would visit St Kitts and Nevis which was directly down wind from Antigua.   The plan, after that, was to head to Guadeloupe, a long but, we thought, doable trip.

The run from Antigua to Guadeloupe is an easy reach so it seemed to me that the same, if a bit harder on the wind, would be the case from Nevis to Guadeloupe.   NOT!

Unfortunately, after spending a week of fun in spite of an annoying wrap-around swell in both Nevis and St Kitts, we struck out for Montserrat for an overnight stop as that was about half the way to Guadeloupe.  Unfortunately, with the prevailing easterly, the run was more on the wind than I had realized and it put us hard on the wind motor-sailing in some pretty rough conditions.  Brenda was not pleased.

It was quite a rough day.  It’s always frustrating to try and take photos of waves as it never seems to really show what it was like.  Perhaps these two shots of our friends on Oasis, who sailed with us make the point.   Here they are close by us as we made our way to Guadeloupe.  Looks pretty normal?A few moments later as a 10 second swell was between us.   What boat?  Where dey go?We anchored in the tiny harbor, such as it is, in Montserrat and spent the night pitching back and forth in the swell.  After a day of pounding into the wind and anchoring in a rolly harbor, and all on her birthday, Brenda wasn’t too happy. A close up of Pandora anchored.  If it was a video, you’d see the long swell rolling through the anchorage and her mast swaying back and forth 20 degrees side to side. However, swell or not, we were able to go ashore and visit a weaving studio which made her very happy.  Brenda had heard about the studio a while back and this was a destination worth fighting for and there we were.   We hired a taxi and had a terrific visit.  Two happy weavers and one happy birthday girl. After buying one of just about everything in the studio, we invited the owner and her mother out to Pandora for a glass of wine.   That was fun too, in spite of more rolling around, with our guests, while clutching our wine glasses.  Not a good location for glasses with stems.

Anyway, we slept, sort of, that night and left early the next morning to head the rest of the way to Deshais Guadeloupe, again motorsailing, hard on the wind.

A short distance to the southern end of the island we passed the remains of what was once the capitol of Montserrat before the volcano wiped it out.   Seeing these buildings, once a thriving city, under tons of ash and mud was sobering.   It was hard to see due to the smoke from the still active volcano.  You could see the deep ravines that were carved out when a huge lake that had filled with rainwater for several years following the eruption, finally broke through and thundered to the sea.  I can only imagine what that day must have been like.   Perhaps not as bad as a major volcanic eruption but not fun, even a little bit. It was two long days to Guadeloupe but we made it and that was two rough days more than Brenda needed, especially as one of the days was her birthday.  Thank goodness for the weaving studio we visited.  I was fearful that she’d jump ship and head for the airport.  Fortunately not.

As we slogged our way to Deshais we were passed by a large sailing ship.  It was an impressive sight as she passed us in the distance. We were happy to relax in Deshais for the evening.  It’s a beautiful fishing village and we were particularly pleased to be back on a French island.  Bring on the food.   We binged on baguettes and cheese.  Yum.    Ok, we also bought some produce too, local of course. Unlike Antigua and other islands influenced by the UK, the French islands have very easy customs procedures.   Instead of going from window to window or office to office, in Deshais all you had to do was to go to this T shirt shop, fill out a form on a PC, French keyboard of course, and pay four Euros.  Simple.  And you can check in and out at the same time if you know when you are going to depart.  It was very picturesque.   Lots of boats, along with Pandora, out in the harbor.
Outside where we had lunch they had a charming bird feeder that was very popular with the locals. So, now we are here now in Les Saintes, also part of Guadeloupe, where we will stay for a while, perhaps through next week before heading south to Martinique, French again.  There are wonderful places to dine and the food is great.
As I write this post I am sitting in a cafe overlooking the main town square.    A lovely view.
From downstairs, you can look out and see Pandora on her mooring nearby.   that’s her, with the dark hull.  Not the best shot but you get the point, I hope.  Very close. We just love the local architecture, shabby chic. So, here we are for a while and tonight we head to a friend’s boat for cocktails.  It’s amazing that everywhere we go there are always boats that we know.    Could be worse, we could be in sub-zero temps.

I prefer this.   However, all is not always easy as our trip to Nevis showed, there’s a good and bad way to do everything and now we know how NOT to visit St Kitts.

I have written about the “islands that kiss the clouds” before and that was mostly in anticipation of visiting those that qualify for that distinction.  In order to be one of “those”, and they are mostly located south of Antigua, and island must have a mountain that is high enough, around 3,000′ tall, so that the trade winds, blowing out of the east, hit the side of the mountain,  rise up, cool the air as it rises and then condense their moisture in the form of rain.

What makes these islands distinctive is that their summits are always crowned with clouds.  It’s beautiful.  This is Nevis, where we stopped today along the way to our planned destination of Montserrat.  The winds are less than they have been for the last week but as we got underway today it turned out that it was still pretty windy, with gusts into the low 20s.

Bill, on Kalunamoo, had spoken to folks earlier in the day on the SSB radio and heard reports that  that it was still pretty bumpy out there, so armed with that knowledge, we decided to just head the short 6 miles to Nevis and pick up a mooring.  As holding can be challenging here, there are plenty of moorings to pickup.

Bill was the first to arrive and picked up a mooring only to have it float away with him attached, somehow no longer connected to the bottom.  Not good.  That doesn’t give me a lot of confidence.   Anyway, after we picked up one ourselves, I dropped the dink and retrieved the “floater” and secured it to another mooring.  I’ll enjoy talking about that when someone comes out later asking for payment for the use of the mooring.   With a smile I’ll say “No problem, I’ll trade you a floating, no longer connected mooring for a free night.  Oh yeah, and that applies to my friend Bill too, you know, the guy who almost floated out to see attached to your mooring”.

Anyway, here’s the view of the highest peak in Nevis, dead ahead, “kissing the clouds”.We enjoyed our visit on St Kitts if you don’t include the relentless wind that we put up with over the last week. However, a tour of the island, trips to the local bars and a few meals out made for a fun visit.

We also enjoyed seeing members of the local monkey population.   They were shy but sometimes we were able to get pretty close.   300mm lens or not, this guy didn’t seem to concerned about us.Last night our group went out for drinks at a nice bar.   The sunset did not disappoint.Yesterday afternoon this lovely little sloop anchored nearby.  It’s home port is Rockport Maine.   That’s a long way from home for a boat that looks like it’s under 30′ long.   Beautiful.  I would have enjoyed talking to the owner to learn more about the boat.  I’ll bet he built it himself.  Of course, with all that “mountains kissing the clouds thing” comes rain and rainbows.  We saw plenty during our visit and again this morning as light showers washed over us.   I guess after posting so many rainbow photos I have to find one that was a bit different.  Looks like someone spray painted it on a cloud. Off of our bow here in Nevis is the Four Seasons Hotel, supposedly a first class spot.    As Brenda’s birthday is tomorrow and we will likely be underway for Montserrat, perhaps we will go out for a drink there this afternoon.It sure looks like a great spot and lush with a perfectly green golf course.  Not many of the dryer islands can support a golf course.   This island is pretty lush. Well, the day is young so I’d better head out and see what’s involved in getting ashore.  Unfortunately, it’s Sunday and most everything is closed in these parts on the Sabbath so we probably won’t have much to choose from.

I wonder if I can track down a birthday cake for you know who?  If I can I’ll bet that the islands that kiss the clouds won’t be the only ones getting kisses.

Pretty clever way to end the post?  Perhaps not but it’s the best I can do on short notice.  Wish me luck.  Cake or die trying…