One Week On….
Still in Martinique! We have been enjoying the snorkelling and the bays around Le Marin. It is oh so easy to settle into a pattern of shopping to food, doing the laundry and enjoying the local bars and cafes. Also rarer visits to local restaurants. The truth is that one just does not get as hungry out here (just as well in my case, as Annemarie keeps telling me!). As it is Lent, we are also forgoing numerous enjoyable foodstuffs.
There was also a few days in the local marina to give the batteries a really good charge up, something that is not quite as easy when at anchor. Marinas over here are a bit airless, and we much prefer the freedom of anchoring in the bays, and avoiding the cost.
Living out here is very different to Europe, in just about every sense. Every day is just T-shirts and shorts, except for going to church, and the diet is heavily biased towards fresh fruits and salads. That’s the easy bit, since you also find out that some of the kit on the boat that was great in the Solent really does not quite suit as well out here. For example, one tends to use the dinghy to travel greater distances, but we discovered that whilst our little rib would happily get up on the plane (ie, travel quickly) in calm conditions, either a headwind or any shopping would deter this and give us a soggy ride. Hence buying a new 15hp 2-stroke outboard (light weight, but now illegal to buy in Europe) that gets us places at high speed and usually dry!
Next on the upgrade list is the generator! We are getting into parts sales at long distance, having sold spare parts for our old engine both here and in the UK. Anyone looking for a great little Yamaha 8hp, or a 4KW diesel generator?
Aargh, just having our ears blasted by one of the pesky election broadcast vans 😦 How can they keep on promoting meetings every night, surely the population must be bored out of their minds with this daily intrusive drivel.
Anyway, we have just been to buy the bread, have a coffee and get some fruit, and its about time for a swim!
Freebooter 
Enjoying your blog and envisaging your Caribbean idyll. I’m sure the old working life is a distant memory. I leave GVA in 3 weeks for a new chapter running the Estates team at Yorkshire Building Society. A different set of horizons!
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