Route from Martinique
to les Saintes
Motivator subscribes
to weather guru Chris Parker’s email service for forecast information as do a
lot of cruisers in the Bahamas and Caribbean.
Unfortunately, sometimes Chris has bad news for us:
“SYNOPSIS:
Some folks may call them the "Christmas Winds". Whatever you may
choose to call them...strong Trades, driven by a persistently-tight
wind-gradient arrive in E Caribbean as FrontalTROF settles S-ward
along N Parts of E Caribbean about tomorow night...and gradually
shifting S to S Parts of E Caribbean by late Sun8-Mon9.
Although we may see an occasional 24-36 <with> interval of slight
moderation (down to ENE@20-25/8'...for instance about Wed11 as a
ColdFRONT presses S&E in W Atlantic)...except for such brief intervals
of slightly-less-bad conditions, I see no break to strong Trades in
the next few weeks.”
Some folks may call them the "Christmas Winds". Whatever you may
choose to call them...strong Trades, driven by a persistently-tight
wind-gradient arrive in E Caribbean as FrontalTROF settles S-ward
along N Parts of E Caribbean about tomorow night...and gradually
shifting S to S Parts of E Caribbean by late Sun8-Mon9.
Although we may see an occasional 24-36 <with> interval of slight
moderation (down to ENE@20-25/8'...for instance about Wed11 as a
ColdFRONT presses S&E in W Atlantic)...except for such brief intervals
of slightly-less-bad conditions, I see no break to strong Trades in
the next few weeks.”
He went on to say if you need
to get somewhere, go now!
Fort de France, Martinique
I pulled Pollie out of the
Fort de France’s dress shops, and we headed north. It was our fourth time in
Fort de France enjoying the shopping and the feel of a French island city. The crossing between Martinique to Dominique
was easy, even when we were not in the lee of the islands.
Approaching Dominique
At Portsmouth, Dominique we
did a touch-‘n-go. We put up the Q-flag
and did not go ashore. We had hoped to
spend some time there, but given the option of being stuck in Portsmouth or
Terre-de-Haut for two weeks, we picked Terre-de-Haute.
Dominique is a very scenic
island and the government is promoting ecotourism, but it is a very poor
country. It is hard for us to overlook
the rampant poverty and enjoy the scenery. We did get to visit briefly with our friend Martin
and give him a donation of T-shirts he can distribute.
Terre-de-Haut
Just twenty-one nautical
miles away in les Saintes, Terre-de-Haute the situation is just the
opposite. It is a very popular tourist
destination with clean streets and restaurants serving great French food.
Motivator’s
route
into les Saintes
We managed to tuck in close to Terre-de-Haut in the lee of
the island and take a mooring ball. As I
type this posting, the wind is at about 20 knots with gusts much higher. As long as there is some northerly component
to the wind, swells will wrap around the island making for some uncomfortable roll
action. By Wednesday the Christmas winds
should be out of the east.
Please sing to the tune of Oh Christmas Tree:
Oh
Christmas winds, Oh Christmas winds!
How
ever keen your presence
Oh
Christmas winds, Oh Christmas winds,
How
ever keen your presence
You
blow and blow us to and fro,
The white
caps froth, palm fronds fly off.
Oh
Christmas winds, Oh Christmas winds
How
ever keen your presence.
Oh
Christmas winds, Oh Christmas winds
How
ever keen your presence.
Sea
water sprays. Are nerves are frayed.
The
dinghies swing. The halyards ring.
Oh
Christmas winds, Oh Christmas winds
How
ever keen your presence.
By:
Pollie Howland
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