We have now purchased a sim card in order to access the
internet whilst on board instead of using WiFi cafes, and so can now update the
blog.
After arriving back in Marin we met up with friends Debbie
and Campbell and arranged to go trekking in the rain forest and climb a couple
of Pitons, the Caribbean name for very steep mountains.
Other sailing friends Kate and Murray and Claudia and Phil
agreed to join us, so on the day in question we caught a bus to Forte de France
and then a taxi to Le Mourne Rouge where we would start the walk. Campbell had
informed us that the trek covered a couple of Pitons and would take
approximately five hours to complete and get us back down to the Botanical Gardens
where we would catch a taxi back to Forte de France.
On arrival at the start of the walk the information board
told us that the walk would take approximately seven hours, was difficulty level
five, and a guide was advisable. After a short discussion we decided to carry
on.
After a few yards we commenced the climb, the paths were
quite muddy and narrow and at times very steep that we had to use the ropes
provided to haul ourselves up, no one knew how stable the ropes were, but we
carried on any way. Eventually we reached the top but unfortunately as we were
in the clouds the view was not spectacular, but we were all smiling, well, all
except Debbie.
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| Photo by Campbell Witt |
As we searched for the path down we realised we had taken a
wrong turn and so Kevin descended the way we had come up in search of the path
we had missed, he was not gone long when he called back to tell us a landslide
had washed the path away. So Kevin went in search of another way,
eventually he called to say that he had found it and so we all followed.
As we descended and climbed again, crossing saddles which
joined Pitons and clambered across narrow ridges with sheer drops either side on paths that were so overgrown you couldn’t
see where you were putting your feet, the movie Gorillas in the Mist came to
mind.
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| Photo by Campbell Witt |
After three Pitons we seemed to be climbing again, I looked
up and then asked Campbell “please tell me we don’t have to climb this one”,
his answer was “unfortunately yes”. It was the steepest and highest of the
Pitons at about 1196 metres.
By now I was aching all over and was running out of steam
but there was nowhere else to go but up. At the top we looked at the map and
decided we were not even half way round and at 1500hrs we would not make it to
the end before nightfall. So the consensus was to find a path that took us down
to the village we had seen down in the valley, we were not sure what it was
called but we thought we could make it before nightfall and get a taxi from
there.
What we didn’t realise though was that in order to get down
to the valley we would have to climb another smaller Piton, by now it was dark
we had a couple of head torches between us and so most of the remaining trek
was slow going, I did most of the decent on my backside. On the plus side we
saw numerous Fire Flies that glowed in the dark they looked like fairies, a
magical sight.
Eventually we made it down and came across a small holding
where the family were preparing the fruit and veg for the supermarket the
following day, they were really friendly and after asking where we could get a taxi
from the arranged it for us. Then they asked us into the yard provided us with
seats and water until the taxi arrived. They were amazed at what we had just
done and their son thought we were mad.
Back in Marin we found we couldn’t access our dinghies as
the gate to the dingy dock was locked, so Phil climbed over the fence brought
his dingy round to the boat yard so that Campbell, Murry and Kevin could go and
get the remaining dinghies.
We were all so glad to be back and although we had all said
we were in need of several beers, as it was Kevin and I had one and fell into
bed.
The next day I could hardly move, we had planned to have a
chill out day but that was not to be, the accumulator for the water tank broke
and so we lost all our water into the bilges requiring a big mopping out
session, then to top it off the water maker refused to work properly.
That evening team Piton as Campbell now called us met to
compare stories and war wounds, and all agreed no more Pitons. However a few
days later Debbie, Campbell, Kevin and I set of from Marin to St Anne to climb
the Piton there, however after having walked all the way there Debbi and I
decided it was too hot and so we stayed at the bottom whilst Kevin and Campbell
did the climb.
From Marin we headed back to Forte de France, from the
anchorage we could see the Pitons we had climbed from a different perspective.
In Forte de France we picked up our friends Rachel and Matt who were
staying with us for two weeks. On the day they arrived it was St Patricks day
and so we celebrated in style with green beer at one of the local bars.
Their time with us was spent sailing and visiting the bays
we thought they would like, they both even had a go at snorkelling something
they had not done before. All in all we had a great time with them and were
sorry to see them go, and hope they will join us again next year wherever we
are.
Having spent a month in Martinique we decided it was time to
move on and head for Guadeloupe.
Distance travelled this year 3,430.86 nautical miles
