5:15 AM the alarm went off. Ugh! Luckily most of our pre-departure items had been done the night before despite having Steven and Shawn from Sv Amaris and Ann and Steve from Sv Receta over for sundowners, munchies and laughs. We had a long haul to get to St Pierre Martinique. The anchor was up at 5:30. We motor sailed down the west coast of Dominica in shifty and variable winds - exactly what we thought they would be in the lee of the island. After clearing the south tip of Dominica, the real winds and seas showed up. We had 13-15 and then 17-19 with gusts to 22. The waves were 6-9 with a few big ones thrown in for fun. We took a couple of waves that landed up over our Bimini. Thank goodness for our dodger and bimini!!! The lee of Martinique was just as fickle as Dominica with shifty, variable winds that gusted to 26.....wait for it......let's say it all together......ON THE NOSE. The 26 knots of wind probably has something to do with Mount Pelee that towers some 4500+ ft over the northwest coast. We dropped anchor at 16:50 off St Pierre Matinique. Tricky anchorage in that it goes from the shore to 4.6 ft to 20 and then 80 in a very short distance. We had to hit the 20 ft shelf prior to the drop off. Tomorrow we will sail for St Lucia so we can catch the St Lucia Jazz Fest. But never fear, we will be sailing back to Martinique after Jazz Fest so we can explore this beautiful looking island.
*Ann, I am pretty sure we won the contest of first out of anchorage, beating Sv Amaris. However they caught us in St Pierre. Buddy boating with a super fast cat is so ego deflating.
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