Le Marin, Martinique Jan 18-26. Best Itinerary? Other advice?

[mikedefieslife]

Originally Posted by Eleuthera 2014

Siguatera... avoid all reef fish unless sold to you by a professional fisherman. All barracudas should be avoided.

Open water tuna and mahimahi are good.

Enjoy. A Pogo is a fine piece of kit but reserve some time with your dentist post charter to replace your lost teeth fillings....

Dorado and Tuna are also known to have ciguatera

[GordMay]

More than 400 species of fish are known to have caused ciguatera poisoning, but the most common are older, larger fish which have been eating contaminated fish during their life spans: grouper, barracuda, moray eel, snapper, jack, mackerel, sea bass, sturgeon, parrot fish, surgeonfish, triggerfish, and others.
Ciguatera toxins rarely contaminate pelagic fish such as tuna, marlins, dolphinfish or other ray-finned fish.

Fish typically associated with SCROMBROID include tuna, mackerel, mahimahi, sardines, anchovies, herring, bluefish, amberjack, and marlin.

[Augi]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Parasites do not present a serious health concern in thoroughly cooked or properly frozen fish.
Adequate freezing (to an internal temperature of -4°F for at least 7 days, or blast/flash frozen to -35°F for 15 hours),
or cooking (to an internal temperature of at least 145°F for 15 seconds) fish will kill any parasites that may be present.


Unfortunately, the ideal cooked temperature for most fish is around 130 degrees, but some dense-fleshed fish, including tuna and salmon, are better at 120 degrees. Also, I wonder how many cruisers have a flash freezer, or can even get their box down to -4°F (-20°C)?


“Candling” detects surface parasites. Unfortunately, you cannot always see parasites embedded deep in thick fillets or in dark tissue. Note: Most parasites are very small.
Candling is also useful for revealing pinbones in fillets that are intended to be boneless.

Thanks for info and comments

[Augi]

Originally Posted by Eleuthera 2014

Siguatera... avoid all reef fish unless sold to you by a professional fisherman. All barracudas should be avoided.

Open water tuna and mahimahi are good.

Enjoy. A Pogo is a fine piece of kit but reserve some time with your dentist post charter to replace your lost teeth fillings....

Yes, any of the light, wide, flat bottom, planing boats similar to a Pogo will tend to loosen the filings, especially a Pogo 30. More so sailing higher than 60 degrees to the wind. You have to tell yourself when going to weather it is worth it, because how much fun it is when sailing at greater than 60 degrees to the wind.

Hopefully, the conditions will cooperate and we will have the wind close to the beam on our longer north or south passages. Other than being back in Le Marin at the end of the week we don't have to be anywhere so we can adjust our itinerary based on forecasted conditions. Or punt, and go for hike ashore or find a protected spot to snorkel or go to the beach.

[Augi]

Originally Posted by Augi

A cousin and I have chartered a Pogo 30 out of Le Marin, Martinique for 8 nights and 7 full days(Jan 18-26), through Open Sail. (see link)

https://www.open-sail.com/index.php/.../pogo-ria-ea,5

We have both chartered in the BVI's a number of times and participated in Antigua Race Week but never sailed out of Le Marin or nearby islands.

Any thoughts / suggestions for the itinerary would be greatly appreciated. Plus any advice in general for sailing those waters. Specifically we have heard it is possible to have negative experiences depending on where you stop in St Vincent and St Lucia.

In general there are three choices for the itinerary: Circumnavigate Martinique, Sail north to Dominica, Guadeloupe and back, and Sail south to St Lucia, St Vincent, and may be as far as Mustique, then back to Le Marin.

I ordered Doyle's Cruising Guides for the leeward and Windward Islands. I am supposed to receive today. It would be great to know about any other books, guides or resources or online that would be helpful.

The emphasis for the trip is on the sailing. We are good with doing a lot of miles, but will anchor each night. (We don't mind doing 50-60 miles in one shot on our last day to get back to Le Marin). After that we want to catch fish, snorkel and maybe do a couple of hikes. Other than the nature and stopping for provisions(fresh fish, fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, and diesel if needed), we have no interest in seeing any of the sites, etc. We prefer to anchor out in as natural places as possible versus a marina. The Pogo 30 has a 3 ft draft when the keel is retracted. Hopefully that will give us access to

We will be trolling for fish while sailing. Pretty much we just want to catch as many eatable as possible. Within that tuna is at the top of the list. Any suggestions about how to achieve the above objective for fishing would be great.

My cousin and I had a great trip sailing from Le Marin on the Pogo 30.

As discussed we followed the wind, stayed on the leeward side of Martinique and Saint Lucia. We stopped as far north as Saint Pierre on Martinique and as far South as Vieux Fort sailing approx. 200 miles over the week.

Winds varied from 10 knots to 40 knots (for about 15 minutes in a squall). The Pogo 30 performed extremely well except inside of 50 degrees to the apparent wind and was poorly suited inside of 50 degrees apparent wind with a short period chop. Our last day sailing due east from Diamond Rock to Ste. Anne(about 10 miles). We experienced that on our last leg on our last day. However what a Pogo 30 at 30 ft can do in the conditions we experienced was quite something.

We stopped for night each night and some times stopped a second time each day to eat ashore or on board.

I would describe our trip on a Pogo 30 as "going for a sail" not as "going for a cruise". We (to guys "going for a sail"), the space and amenities were more than adequate, but for others that want to cruise with a wife and kids perhaps not.

We found everyone from Open Sail (charter company), and Azur Spirit (agent for Open Sail in Le Marin, friendly, efficient and fun to work with. Same thing for everyone one we encountered on Martinique and Saint Lucia(including the boat boys).

To navigate we found all that was necessary was eye balling the chart and a Doyle Cruising Guide. Everything is pretty much line of sight. We did not bother to use the chart plotter.

Next up is a week charter of a Pogo 36 out Roses, Spain in May.

[Augi]

Originally Posted by okapi3

Hello Augi,

We are currently at the marina in Le Marin. We have been cruising the windward and southern leeward islands since we bought our boat (An Amel 53 ketch) in Grenada in October and believe I can give you some hopefully useful advice.

First, in Le Marin, stock up on good french bread and incredibly cheap decent quality french wine and then leave. Spend as little time here as possible. The people are very nice but it is a zoo here and kind of a european wanabee culture rather than a real caribbean experience. For that go to the english speaking islands.

Although my wife and I are francophiles and I speak fluent french I have not found the french islands nearly as enjoyable as the english ones (I love Reggae. Zouk not so much)--the Antilles are actually part of france and it feels like it. Definitely avoid Les Saintes--crowded with tourists, and very little authentic left.

Dominica has been our favorite island so far. You could easily spend half your week there. People super nice and helpful--will strike up a conversation with you in a shop. The PAYS guys are amazing--helpful, professional--safest place in the caribbean possibly. Take a tour and stay on a mooring ball to support their economy, in recovery after being devastated by Maria in 2017. Recovering amazingly well so don't hesitate to go there.

to the south, most cruisers, us included, try to avoid stopping at either St. Lucia or St. Vincent, other than to sleep. Crime is a problem on both islands and the boat boys of St. Lucia are particularly pushy and aggressive (as opposed to polite and helpful ones in Dominica and the Grenadines). If you do need to sleep on your way south, anchor between Petite Piton and Gros Piton on the southern lee coast of St. Lucia and don't go to shore. Spending a night next to these magnificent peaks is almost worth paying off the boat boys. No need to go ashore (or clear in), just pick up early and move on to Bequia, our second favorite island. It's a nice mix of real caribbean, with astrong seafaring history, and amenities for cruisiers. Take a taxi to the Turtle Sanctuary and talke to/ support Mr. King who is 80 and has been singlehandedly saving the hawksbill turtles for 20 years. Plus the baby turtles are incredibly cute...

You mentioned Mustique. A bit of an odd duck but if you don't mind paying $80 for a mooring ball sort of interesting. Private island for the rich but they treat visitors well. Basil's Bar is superb. Don't be afraid to walk over the island to the windward side--nobody made us feel like we were trespassing.

Regarding the sailing. You boat is much more tender and light than ours so please give the trade winds, especially in the passages between islands a huge amt of respect. Reef deep BEFORE you leave the lee of any island and enter a passage. winds of 25-30 sustained are not uncommon with waves 8-10 ft.

Same for squalls. Keep your eyes open for dark clouds. If they appear to be heading your way, reef early and reef deep. Don't be macho. They WILL smack you.

Also, Dominica has tall mountains with valleys between. The wind gets funnelled through these valleys and will suddenly go from 8-10 kt (wind blocked by land) to 35 as you pass. Only lasts a brief time but at least one catamaran was capsized by the "Dominica Blast"(according to Chris Doyle who you will be reading).

Prepare for upwind sailing--both north and south. The trades blow from the east but can be due east or slightly north or south of east, and this subtle difference will determine whether you are close-hauled and beating and pinching or comfortably reaching. so the forecast may influence which direction you go.

Anyway, good luck. BTW our sons were visiting us over christmas/ new years and a Pogo (40?) was anchored next to us at Portsmouth, Dominica. My sons were drooling over how cool the Pogo looked and googled it and found out how fast it can go--real fast. Be safe.

Fair winds,

Just got back from our sail out of Le Marin. Everyone we encountered were friendly and helpful. However, I think I observed what you were referring to above. In and around the shops, and restaurants at the Marina there seemed to be a number of non sailors that were not what I would describe as very classy. And it can get hectic.