South to Dominica and Martinique

Our stay in the Saintes was short but very pleasant, but our June deadline to reach Grenada meant that we need to keep moving. So we made the 15  mile passage from the Saintes to Dominica the Mountain island! Dominica is a lush and mountainous island, perhaps the most lush and most mountainous one in the entire Caribbean! We stopped first at the northern harbor of Portsmouth. This anchorage is the best and safest on the island. A group of boat boys have unites and formed a group called PAYS, they are polite and work hard to make sure the anchorage is safe and that cruisers can access the interior by sponsoring tours of the interior and also the Indian rive that flows into the anchorage and is a great eco tourism site, its even the site of a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean.

After our visit to Portsmouth we sailed to the southern end of the island and the city of Rousseau the capital of Dominica This anchorage is a roadside anchorage without the protection of Portsmouth, the water is hundreds of feet deep right up to the shore almost! We saw a neighboring boat drift away with its mooring attached! luckily the owners were taking to us and were able to rescue their  boat!

We didn't stay long here before we pushed on the 40  miles to Martinique and the anchorage at St Pierre! St Pierre was at one time the capital of Martinique and was called the Paris of the Caribbean before the neighboring volcano Mtt Pele erupted in the early 1800s and destroyed most of the town and its people and many boats in the anchorage! We toured the town and sailed on to our next anchorage at the capital of the country Fort De France!  This is the largest town in the country and perhaps the largest town in the entire Caribbean! Martinique has the most people of any island in the Caribbean almost 300,000! We anchored in the shadow of Fort De France a fort built by the French t protect the Harbour! The town  bustles with activity, any kind of produce can be found at the largest market in the Caribbean and the architecture is amazing

Looking at downtown Ft De France from the anchorage

Discovery  anchored under the French Flag at Ft De France

Cathedral in Ft DE France

Downtown Ft De France

Perhaps the Caribbean's largest market

Scene from Rousseau in Dominica

 More Rousseau Dominica

Catholic church in St Anne Martinique

Looking towards anchorage from church in St Anne Martinique

Diamond Rock The island the British occupied and made a part of the British navy to pester the French

Another shot of the roadside anchorage at Rousseu Dominica