Date: 26.01.2025-3.02.2025
Route: Fort de France – Portsmouth – Saint Louis- Pointe a Pitre
Miles/hours: 118Mm/29h
Martinique
Fort Saint Louis
An active naval fort. The tour is guided. The ticket costs €10 per person. You can buy it at the tourist information office near McDonald’s. The tour starts in front of the tourist information office. The guide speaks either French or English, unfortunately not both languages at once. We decide to take the tour in French – English is only available the next day.
Google Translate helps us a bit. We enter through the side entrance and visit the northern part of the fort – the rest of the peninsula is an active military base and civilians are not allowed there.
La Favorite Distillery
This is the oldest distillery in Martinique, established in 1842, and has been owned by the same family since the beginning. The distilleries are self-guided and free to visit, but all stages of production are well described in French and English – here, rum is produced from scratch, i.e. first, juice is squeezed from sugar cane using special 3-step gears powered by a steam engine. The squeezed stalks are then used to produce steam to power the steam engine – almost a perpetual motion machine. The squeezed juice goes to fermentation vats and then to distillation columns – there are two – one stainless steel and the other copper. The rum obtained from each of them has a completely different taste. Then some of the rum goes to barrels in whiskey or bourbon. At the end of the tour, a tasting.
Martinique check-out
I fill out the departure declaration on the website, print it out and go to the marina to get a stamp (just in case 🙂
Dominica
Portshmouth
The former capital of the island, which was moved to Roseau after the city was depopulated by numerous plagues. Typical Caribbean town, low wooden buildings, a few small shops, offices, bus station, stadium and pubs. Very nice anchorage, lots of buoys – PAYS deals with the buoys – a buoy costs 30EC$ or 12USD – it is worth asking for a receipt. Note, some people quote a price of 60EC$ but the receipt says 30EC$. There is also a charging station at the anchorage (from a distance it looks like a floating container). There are two jetties to which you can dock your boat, one is closer to the beach and the other closer to the city.
Entry Check-in
You have to fill out SailClear. First you have to visit customs – it is in the port for ships – about 2km on foot from the anchorage. Then you have to get past the port security (they check your backpacks and take away knives) and you can go to customs. The whole clearance takes about 15 minutes and costs 10EC$. We have our exit clearance sorted out right away. When we leave the port, we pick up Tomek’s penknife. Immigration is in town. Here, the wait for the right official is the longest. When he shows up, he stamps the clearance document, stamps our passports and that’s it.
Bus transport
From the “bus station” there are minibuses to the south of the island. The journey to the capital Roseau takes about 1 hour and costs 10EC$ per person. The bus stops on request.
Roseau
The capital of the island. There is a port for large cruise ships here. A typical Caribbean city, sightseeing takes about 1.5 hours. It is a bit like Kingetown in St. Lucia, but it is much quieter and calmer.
Island tour
At the bus station, we hire a driver for the next day and arrange a tour of the island (150UDS for the whole thing).
We set off at 9 am.
The first point on the program is the Trafalgar Falls – mom and dad. The approach to the waterfalls is the entrance to the national park – entry 5 USD or 13.35 EC$ per person. Along the path to the waterfalls there is a lot of tropical vegetation, some lizards (although they run away from people). At the end of the trail there is a viewpoint of both waterfalls. Above the waterfalls are geothermal power plants, and the water from the waterfalls powers over half of the island.
The next point is the geothermal springs rich in sulfur and other minerals – you can bathe in them – entry 10 USD or 25 EC$ – they are full of people (mainly tourists from cruise ships), so we give up. The second place is similar.
Then we go to Titou Gorge – a natural gorge in Saint George Parish. The gorge is characterized by high volcanic rock walls creating a natural channel filled with fresh water and waterfalls. The name Titou Gorge comes from the local Creole language and means ‘little throat’, describing a narrow passage connecting chambers filled with water.
Life jackets are mandatory (rental 10EC$). You can also rent a waterproof case for your phone (25EC$) and an inflatable tire.
First, we swim up to the waterfalls (there are handrails on the walls – the current is strong in places), and then you go back downstream. Apart from the entrance pool, it is deep – there is no ground.
You can change into your costume in one of several changing rooms.
The gorge was used as a filming location for scenes in the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.
The next point is the Champagne beach, or bubble beach. To see the bubbles, you have to dive, and even then there are few bubbles. From there we go for lunch (20EC$ per person) and return to the yacht.
Carbits National Park
Cabits National Park is located on a peninsula on the northern tip of Dominica (about 1km from the Prince Ruppert Bay anchorage, north of Portsmouth. The park protects tropical forests, coral reefs and wetlands. There are hiking trails and an English garrison called Fort Shirley. The fort itself is nicely restored and well-maintained – various events are now held there, there is also a small hotel.
The trails are old roads so quite comfortable. On the way we pass many buildings of the former fort in various states of repair, but mainly ruins, including cannons. We walk along paths – some of them have signposts and descriptions of places.
Guadeloupe
Entrance check-in
Similarly to Martinique, you should check the Formalités déclaratives pour le mouillage et le stationnement dans les eaux territoriales aux Antilles françaises website / Clearance formalities in the French West Indies territorial waters · demarches-simplifiees.fr create an account (or log in to an existing one), fill out the form and print it out and you’re done.
Marie-Galante Island
We anchor at the Baie de Saint Louis – a well-holding bottom (sand/clay with grass), well sheltered from the waves. On the southern side of the ferry pier there is a floating pier for pontoons with an exit to a large pier, which can be accessed by car.
We rent a car for 1 day (€40 per day) and set off to explore the island. We see in order:
Gueule Grand Gouffre, a natural “cave” with an opening at the top washed out by water. Also called Trou a diable, or the devil’s hole.
Caye Plate – a beautiful cliff with blue water and white waves
Beaches – numerous beaches with white sand and blue water – many of them have picnic shelters with tables
Distilleries – there are several small distilleries, tours and tastings are free 🙂
Sugar factories – no longer operating sugar cane factories including plantations and farm buildings (e.g. Habitation Roussel – Trianon).
We also visit a few nice towns and return to Saint Louis before 4 p.m. Just a local coconut sorbet and we return to the yacht.
Marina Bas du Fort
A very nice marina in Point a Pitre. It becomes the stern to the jetty (not floating, but the tide is about 30 cm) and the bow on the buoy (2 ropes from the bow). You have to report to the marina on VHF channel 9, a motorboat comes and helps you moor on the buoys and drive in between the yachts. After mooring, you have to go to the marina office – there is usually a queue there, but it goes smoothly. It turns out that this time I have to have the check-in documents printed, but the lady stamps all the steps, signs them and gives them back. The marina costs €0.88 per foot of the yacht’s length. In addition, there is water (€8/1000l) and electricity. The minimum amount of water is 1m3. The lady tops up my “pill” with water and electricity (deposit for the pill €50) – payable by card. I pay for the marina for 10 days and return to the yacht. The pill is used to open the entrance gate to the jetty, showers (very decent) and initiate the water and electricity intake. Shops in the marina
There are several well-stocked sailing shops (including 2 chain stores), some fishing and 2 grocery stores in the marina.
Pointe a Pitre
The capital of Guadeloupe. It is worth visiting the “old town” with narrow streets and a whole host of shops, both very corporate and those for €2. Among them, there are numerous barges and restaurants. The Marche central couvert market is a typical tourist market with lots of souvenirs and spices, there are few fruits and vegetables there. Victoria Square is the central square of the city with a non-functional fountain, several monuments and greenery. The Cathedral of Saint Peter and Paul is closed and very neglected (especially from the back).
Aquarium de la Guadeloupe
The “Aquarium de la Guadeloupe” oceanarium is located very close to the marina in Bas du Fort in Point a Pitre, about a 20-minute walk. The building was renovated and reopened to the public in early 2018. It may not be the largest oceanarium in the world, but it is definitely the largest in the Caribbean. The aquarium was created to show and bring closer the life of the Caribbean Sea, and in particular the ecosystem of Guadeloupe. There are over 50 pools with fish, turtles, plants, coral reefs, shells and even a mangrove forest. Entry costs €14.90 per person, and the tour takes less than an hour. You can download an audio guide in English, French or Spanish to your phone.
Tours of Basse-Terre
It is worth taking a trip around the eastern island of Guadeloupe by car (renting a car for 2 days from the marina costs less than €60/day). We drove around the southern part of the island one day and the northern part the next. We drove the “middle” connector twice, but in different directions.
The southern side is forested and abounds in numerous attractions and viewpoints. We didn’t get to the coffee plantation, which is supposedly a banana plantation, because there were too many people wanting to visit – maybe we’ll try next time. There’s an interesting rum distillery next door, it mainly makes punches (but there are many types), but We give up on Tomek, who is the driver. In the south there is the Riviere-Sens marina – located in a nice town, but a day costs 40€, and the marinero is only in the morning and afternoon (after 16:30). It becomes the bow on the buoy and the stern to the jetty, similar to Bas du Fort, so the marinero’s help is very useful. We leave the town after 14:00, so there is little time for sightseeing. We pass the coffee museum (we will visit it another time), stop at several viewpoints and turn onto the road through the middle of the island. We stop at the Mamelles pass – unfortunately there is fog and the views are rather poor. Another stop at the Cascade aux Ecrevisses waterfall, as is the case in France, there is a parking lot right next to it, and a paved path leads to the waterfall. For those who want to swim under the waterfall (strange, because the lake smells of chlorine – probably not natural) but there are still many people willing to swim. From there we go to the marina. In the evening we do some grocery shopping in nearby Leclerc and return to the boat.
In the morning it turns out that we can’t extend our stay in the marina, so we switch to the buoy and go on another trip (this time the northern part).
By driving east along the road we enter Maison de la Forêt with nice hiking trails, to make it easier they start and end in the same place. Of course it’s a National Park. We choose the 1.5 km route and the signposts say that it will take us about 1 hour!!!. It takes a little longer, mainly because we want to avoid the mud, which is on most of the route, it doesn’t always work out, but fortunately there is a stream at the end of the route and you can wash your feet. In addition, the route is beautiful with huge trees. Several types of plants grow on one trunk – it looks amazing.
Including, of course, lianas – you can swing and huge trees with vertical roots.
Driving further north along the road we admire the numerous beaches and ocean views. After 8pm we return to the yacht.
