It was a beautiful day to go sailing….. SO, we sailed to the anchorage between The Piton’s.
Another mostly picture blog. 🙂
The view as we are approaching the anchorage.
Once again we were rewarded with a beautiful sunset!!
This is mostly a picture blog, because the pictures speak for themselves!! The island of St. Lucia is beautiful!!
The water in this hot tub is full of minerals and is warmed by the volcano. The locals tell us it will make our skin look 10 years younger…..
What do you think….10 years younger?
I think our faces in this picture explain just how happy we are!!
Just a random bench in the jungle…. ???
Now onto the Volcano!!
Here is a link to us driving through the volcano: Click here
The volcano as seen from a distance. it is the steam in the center of the crater. (Below)
View of the Pitons and the town of Soufrierre.
We had a really nice passage from St. Anne, Martinique to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. The winds we a steady 15-20knots and seas were nice. We had our fishing rods out, but did not even had a bite!!
As soon as we anchored in Rodney Bay we were greeted by Gregory, who was selling fruits and veggies from his boat. He kindly welcomed us and told us he could get us anything we need. 
We purchased a few things from him and they were delicious!!
Rich went in and checked us in and then we raised the courtesy flag. 
The next day we rented a car to explore the island from the land. 
As we were driving around we discovered it was election day. These little stands were set up along the roads so the people could come and vote. 
Me picking up some fresh mango’s from the side of the road.
We stopped and had lunch in the town of Soufriere which is at the base of the Piton’s.
Our little rental car.
Over looking the town of Anse la Raye
The rain washed mud into the bay of 
The next day was not rainy and was much nicer so we had a beach day!! There was an obstacle course set up in the water that Rich and Tyler wanted to try out. 
They had a lot of fun!!
After the obstacle course it was time for Lunch. We ate fresh Roti’s on the beach.
Gregory found us and asked us if we wanted some fresh Conch.
… and people started taking our picture as we were talking and buying conch from Gregory.
We stayed in Rodney Bay for about a week and every morning we woke up and took walks on the beach.
We got together with our friends on “Hanna” and “Escape Claws” for beers at Antillia Brewing Company. 
The day we left Rodney Bay, we made a quick stop for drinks and lunch a Marigot Bay.
Rich forgot to put on a shirt before going into the restaurant!! 
Cheers!! 
Celebrating Kevin and Barbara’s 1 year anniversary of living aboard!!
Next stop….. The anchorage between the Pitons.
Every once and awhile we find a charming area that we don’t want to pass through too quickly. The town of Saint Anne, on Martinique’s Southern coast is one of those places. It has everything we look for in an anchorage; Hiking, beach and beach bars, shopping, night life, and snorkeling!!
Did you know, 95% of the people in Martique are Roman Cathloic? There is a historic church in the center of most towns, including Saint Anne.
Inside of the church
We walked up this trail every morning.
At each of the 12 turns, there is a monument with the stations of the cross and people kneeling and praying along the way. 
View From the top. 
There was a meditation room at the top too.
After our walk the boys always needed chocolate!!! We are in France 🇫🇷, so we have to get it while we can.
We ended up staying in St. Anne for 8 days!!! Which is a pretty long time in one place for us. The first couple days our friends on Stop Work Order were in the anchorage, as well. We hung out on the beach.
One night all the adults went for a kayak ride. Here’s the crews from s/v Stop Work Order and Escape Claws.
The fresh market in town was on Saturday another reason we stayed 8 days. 😜 Fresh pork was 10€ for 1 kilo (2.2 pounds). We bought all of this for about $21.00
The larger town of Marin was about a 2 mile dingy ride. We would go in there and get boat parts and we ate out at a fun Restaraunt where you cook your meat at the table.
We will be back to this area, but we just checked out of Martinique because we have to keep moving south since “H” season started a few days ago. …. Next stop, Rodney Bay, St. Lucia!!
We motored around the corner from Schoelcher to Fort-de-France.
We anchored just off Fort Saint Louis.
After breakfast we dingied into the city and walked around trying to find a rental car. Here are some pictures from our walk. 
We easily found a car by 9:30am headed off to do our errands. 
We heard that there were a lot of marine supply stores in Marin, so we drove there first to check it out.
Then we drove up the Eastern Coast of Martinique through the towns of Francois, Saint Marie and Marigot.
Then we headed inland towards Mount Pelee that volcano that destroyed St. Pierre. Notice we are up in the clouds and a view of the sea below.
Then we drove through Morne Rouge and through the rain forest on our way back to Fort-de-France. 
It was a very busy day, but well worth the time to explore this beautiful island.
As full time travelers, we put a lot of faith into where to go by reading and trusting travel guides.
We anchored off the beach in Schoelcher, Martinique for several reasons:
1.) The guide book says it is easier to rent a car here than in Fort-de-France.
2.) There is a microbrewery within walking distance!!
3.) It’s a less industrial area than Fort-de-France and a little quieter anchorage with a nice beach.
Finding a car is our main priority today, so we find a car rental agency on Google maps and walk to its location. Sounds easy, right?
…. Wrong. There was not a car rental agency there, it was only a school and sports park. We try to ask 2 different bus drivers where a car rental ageny was, but neither spoke English. They directed us towards the police station. I think they thought our car was stolen?😟
So, we walked back towards the beach and asked about a car rental agency at the police station. The police officer told us (via hand signals) a 5 minute walk and pointed down the street. He didn’t speak any English either.
So, we keep on walking.
Now, our thirst is taking over and our search for the microbrewery takes precedence over our search for a car rental. We also figure we can make a few phone calls to find a car rental while drinking beer. Kill two birds with one stone, right!!
YEA!!! We found the microbrewery fairly easily.
Double Yea!!! The beer is exceptional and very cold!!! 
They only had 3 beers to choose from; Blond, Hefeweizen, Amber.
As you can see, I am one happy girl to be able to drink an ice cold, draft, microbrew!!!
We made a couple of phone calls only to discover that absolutely no one speaks English here. We can usually get by with hand signals and drawings, but that does not work when talking on the phone. Good thing we have Beer!!!
Tyler being goofy. 
Here are some pictures of our walk back to our boats.
A cat with a fish in it mouth. The cat reminded us of our little Cessna.
We decide to bite-the-bullet and pull anchor first thing tomorrow to go into the industrial area of Fort-de-France. We hope to find a car rental agency where we can use hand signals and drawings to explain to them we want to rent a car for 1 day. Stay tuned…. Will we find a car to rent?
Since our home is a moving Sailboat which is constantly changing locations and moving from one island country to another there are just a couple of things we need to do at each new island we stop.
1.) Make sure the Last Place we visit and the First Place we stop, is a town that has Customs and Immigration office. Before we depart an island we have to check out and tell them exactly where and when we are checking into the next island. We can not show up to a new country without the official paperwork from checking out of the last country we were in.
2.) Find an area where we are permitted to keep Sail Pending. We have to find a secure bay that is out of the prevailing weather and comfortable for Sail Pending to stay overnight. Some places you may anchor in sand and some areas you can only pick up a mooring ball. If we anchor in grass the anchor may not hold, and we would NEVER anchor on a coral reef. Once we are secured Rich jumps in the water with a mask and snorkel and checks the maintenance of the mooring ball or if we are anchored he makes sure the anchor is securely set.
2.) How do we get from Sail Pending onto land. Once we have Sail Pending secure, we now need to find a place that we are permitted to park our dingy on land. Some docks are only for ferry’s, others are only for the local fishermen, so we can not use just any dock we find. We have to drive our dingy around searching for the public dock or sometimes find the proper person to ask permission to tie our dingy up to one of the other private docks…and we have to lock our dingy to the dock and lock our engine to the dingy so both will be there when we return.
3.) Make sure we have the correct currency. We have to carry 3 different types of currency with us in the Eastern Caribbean and make sure that our wallets contain the correct currency of the island in which we are located. The French Islands only except Euro’s, others only accept EC (Eastern Caribbean Dollars), most islands will accept USD (United State Dollars) but the exchange rate given is horrible, so we only use USD if we are out of the official currency and find an ATM to get the official cash.
4.) Locate Customs and Immigration and check into the Country. We have to make sure we check into Customs and Immigration of the new country within 24 hours of our arrival. We not only have to check-in, but also have to prove that we’ve check out of the country we just left. (See #1) So, we check that we have 4 things before leaving Sail Pending and going to the customs office. We need to have; 1.) our passports, 2.) Boat documents 3.) local currency, and 4.) departure clearance from our last island.
5.) Watch to see which side of the Road they drive on. Sometimes we have to walk several blocks to find customs. One of the first things we do when we get off the dingy dock is to watch and see which side of the road the people drive on. Every island is different, and once you get use to looking right first, before you cross the street, you’ll come to an island where you have to first look left. We’ve also become ambidextrous drivers since we rent a car at each island we visit.
6.) What language is spoken and what is the courtesy greeting? In most islands it is polite to greet a person before asking any questions. It is considered very “rude” to walk up to a person to conduct business or ask a question with out properly greeting them. So, we must learn what the proper greeting is. Sometimes, it is “Good Morning/Afternoon/Night” (yes, Good Night is a greeting and not a way of saying Good Bye or have a good sleep). If we are at a French island it’s Bon Jour, or if it is after 6pm it is Bonsoir. If we are in a Spanish Speaking island it’s, Buenas Dias/Nochus.
7.) Locate the local markets for Fresh Fish and Local Produce. Sail Pending has a pretty large refrigerator and freezer compared to a lot of boats, but we prefer to use the space to make ice and keep our drinks cold which means we usually purchase fresh items daily. We do have some frozen and canned meats and veggies if we are at an uninhabited island, but we eat fresh local food as much as possible.
8.) What do we do with our garbage? Living a land based life you just take your garbage out for pick up once a week, but it’s not that easy when you live in a boat and go from one country to another. One of the other things we must learn is what do we do with our garbage at each stop. Sometimes it’s very convenient to the dingy dock, other times we have to walk blocks to find a public dumpster.
Being a constant traveler is pretty amazing!!! Each new place we anchor and explore is unique and has its own special characteristics. Each town has its own special “vibe” and the cultures on each island are as diverst as the islands themselves.
One of the questions we get from people is: “What do you eat and what kind of food do you prepare while living on a boat?” … Of course, the answer varies greatly depending upon where we are.
If we are located near a town or village we will try to get as many local fresh fruits and veggies as possible from local venders. 
We’ll walk to the fresh market everyday or buy fruits and veggies from the local guys who come around selling items from their boat.
We use the fresh items to make whatever we can. Here I am simmering passion fruit and sugar cane to make an all natural Passion Fruit Juice. No chemicals or high fructose corn syrup here!!!
If we are in a place that has a grassy bottom and we are allowed to take conch we will get a few conch and make a refreshing cold conch salad.
We eat A LOT of Lobster when it is in season.
If we see the locals eating something we’ve never seen before we ask about it and ask how to prepare it. Here is Philip, from Myreau Island teaching us how to clean and prepare Sea Urchin, also known as Sea Eggs.
Philip taught us how to make Sea Egg fritters and cooked a huge batch up for us. 
I end up cooking and baking a lot more than I did at home. I bake home made bread and cinnamon rolls.
We hardly ever eat red meat anymore because a really good cut of beef is so hard to find. We eat a lot more pork, chicken and seafood.
Premade frozen hamburgers are usually easy to find, but fresh (not frozen) ground beef is not easy to find.
Quiche is also very easy because here the eggs do not need to be refrigerated, so they are easy to store.
Below, Rich reeled in a yellow fin Tuna!!
We always have good luck fishing when friends visit. Below, Mike is feeling in a Mahi!!
At the St. George’s Fish Market in Grenada there is always fresh tuna for $7.50EC a pound ($3.00 USD). So, we have been eating a lot Tuna in Grenada.
Sushi and Grilled Tuna Steaks! Yum! 
Before we left, we read that most cruisers eating and cooking habits were very close to what they were while they were living on land. But, as you can see, our eating habits are completely different than the way we ate when we were living in PA. We eat a lot more fresh food even though we don’t have a car or a grocery store at every island we stop.
Provisioning for large items like toilet paper, paper towels and heavy items like cases of beer is always tough. We rented a car in Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe and stocked up!!
Grocery shopping is not as easy as jumping in a car and running a few miles to Wegman’s or Traders Joe’s, but I know the food I am buying is as fresh as healthy as it can possible be without any added chemicals or pesticides. Everything is organic here!!! Everything taste different here, as well; it has way more flavor and just taste better. People say things taste better on a boat, and they are right!!
We left Portsmouth, Dominica around 9am with our original destination being Roseau, Dominica. But, as we pulled into Roseau two guys started arguing over who’s mooring we should take and it was too deep to anchor, so we had no other choice than to take a mooring ball. We just didn’t get a good vibe from the area and then when the two guys started arguing and telling us not to trust the other one, we decided to pull out of Roseau and continue on to the French Island of Martinique. This meant we would be entering the bay to Saint Pierre, Martinique in the dark.
After a very fast, (we never saw winds less than 30 knots and winds as high as 47 knots), and lumpy (the sea state was constant 8-10′) we arrive in St. Pierre around 8:30pm.
As we arrived we saw something on the chart plotter that was a little out of the ordinary. It showed a bunch of ship wrecks. (See below. A line with 3 perpendicular lines through it, is a ship wreck) Tyler said, “Oh crap, these are the other boats who tried to come into the bay at night.” 
We cautiously searched the area and anchored safely. Then started researching the anchorage where we’ll spend the next few days. It turns out that the ship wrecks are from 12 ships that were burned and then sunk when Mount Pelee erupted.
It is hard to imagine, but this seaside village was completely destroyed and 29,933 people were killed when Mount Pelee erupted on May 8th, 1902.
For several weeks, before the major eruption, the volcano gave the people of the town several warning signs. It cautioned them of the impending disaster with gentle rumblings and a couple smaller eruptions that blanketed the town in a little ash.
Throughout these warnings, Governor Moulette, encouraged the people to stay because business leaders were afraid of the financial loss, and an important upcoming election could have been lost to the black voters if too many people left the island. The local paper also did its best to persuade people to stay.
There were only 2 survivors of the town, both were prisoners who were housed in a stone cell.
Today the village has been rebuilt on the foundations and ruins that survived the volcano. 
Most of the current buildings have at least one wall that survived the volcano.
Next stop Central Martinique where we try to rent a car.
Sail on Sail Pending 
