We have always LOVED sailing vacations. However, once we had kids, we felt like we had to take a break from this type of vacation. We live in Florida, so our kids learned how to swim right around the time they could walk (thank you ISR infant swim lessons!), but we still weren’t ready to take them on a boat for a week. Now that our kids are older, we figured it was time to get back to what we love, so we rented a catamaran through Moorings/Sunsail and booked a trip to Martinique!
To say I was excited for this trip would be the understatement of the century! One week on a boat in the Caribbean wearing nothing but bathing suits plus tons of sunshine and beautiful blue water… that’s my ideal vacation. Not to mention, Martinique is a province of France, so that means French bakeries, French food, and French wine! If that’s not enough, to add to the fun would be 6 additional people! Brian’s cousin, her husband, and their three teenage children would be joining us, plus Brian’s brother. An absolutely wonderful group of people!
We flew directly to Martinique from Miami, arrived at the airport and were met by the driver we had arranged through the hotel we would be staying at for the first night on the island. The airport is in Fort-de-France, the capital of Martinique, and the boat pickup location was Le Marin, about 45 minutes from the airport. We weren’t scheduled to arrive at the boat until the next day, so we stayed at Hotel Douce Vague in Sainte-Luce. There really aren’t any name-brand, recognizable hotels in Martinique, and many reviews of hotels in the area are pretty poor, but Hotel Douce Vague worked out perfectly for us. They offer apartment-type rooms and it was walking distance to the beach and lots of restaurants.
The next morning we woke up and the same driver brought us to the marina. Some of us brought the luggage to the boat and started the boat orientation, while others walked to the nearby grocery store for provisions. Compared to other marinas where we have chartered Moorings/Sunsail boats, the marina in Martinique was very small. They had a limited selection of Moorings/Sunsail boats for charter, but it also seemed like the beginning of July was the end of their tourist season. We reserved a 40-foot catamaran and it truly was a beautiful boat. The gentleman from Moorings that helped us prepare the boat for our trip was very patient and accommodating, so we had absolutely no complaints about customer service. He took tons of time to tell us everything we needed to know about the boat, answer questions, and provide everything we would need for the trip. I immediately noticed that the wine opener onboard the boat was broken, but luckily he came back quickly with a new one. Crisis averted! Overall, the boat was in perfect condition, it was equipped with everything we would need for the week including plenty of extra bath towels. We brought beach towels with us, but all other linens and kitchen supplies were provided.
Our plan was to head out later that day, but a tropical storm would have made it pretty uncomfortable. We stayed on the boat at the marina that night and set sail the following morning. Not exactly according to plan, but better safe than sorry. We would be sailing the boat ourselves, as opposed to hiring a captain through Moorings, which is an option. Brian is a very experienced sailboat captain and we are very fortunate that he is willing to take on the role, even during vacations when he would probably rather be relaxing than be in charge.
Once we set sail, we sailed slightly north out of the bay to Les Anses d’Arlet. We arrived, anchored, then set out to do some snorkeling and exploring. Once we’d had enough, we cleaned up and took the dinghy to shore for dinner. We were very surprised to find that hardly any restaurants were open! Luckily, we found one open restaurant, with tables right on the beach in the sand. Perfect! None of us are fluent French speakers, so communicating with the locals was a bit of a challenge for the entire trip. Most people who live on Martinique speak very little English. We tried our best with French, but overall, our attempts were pretty pathetic.
The next morning we woke up, made coffee in our makeshift pour-over contraption (there was a Nespresso machine on board and we bought pods for it, but it ended up requiring too much power to make it work). Each morning we would take turns being the barista, slowly turning out cups of coffee for everyone on board (everyone except for the youngest kiddos, of course). We continued to sail north, towards Saint Pierre. We skipped the Fort-de-France area because it is a very busy, very commercial port. Saint Pierre is known for the huge volcano that lies just inland, Mount Pelee. Mount Pelee erupted in 1902, killing everyone in the town (over 29,000 people) except for two, a prisoner and a shoemaker. Most of the buildings were destroyed, and some ships off the coast were also destroyed by the explosion. The town is rebuilt now and home to many people, but the destruction is still very evident in the buildings. When we arrived, we snorkeled on some of the ship wrecks right off the coast. We played in the water and explored. Finally, we cleaned up, hopped on the dinghy, and headed into town to explore some more. It’s definitely an interesting place with all of the ruins from the volcano. We bought homemade gelato out of a lady’s car trunk, then hiked up the hill to a really cool restaurant overlooking the sea, “Le Reservoir 1902”. The owner, who was also the chef and server while we were there, was super friendly and generous. We just stopped for drinks, but he brought out an appetizer for the adults and ice cream for the kids. Definitely top-notch customer service! I honestly don’t remember where we ate dinner that night, but I do remember that we did a little night swimming. Our boat had amazing underwater lights that made it so much fun! There was also a little challenge of catching fish by hand… those needlefish are painful!
The next morning we woke up and a few of us ventured back into town to get the scoop on transportation to Mount Pelee. We wanted to hike the volcano, but of course we were on a boat so we didn’t have a car and Uber isn’t a thing in Martinique, or in Saint Pierre at least. We were able to find a bus driver who spoke just enough English to give us hope that we would be able to board a bus and find our way to the trail at the bottom of the volcano. Before we headed back to the boat, we grabbed some French pastries, croissants, baguettes, French sandwiches, and whatever else we could carry from the Patisserie. When in France… ! We gathered the crew, grabbed water and snacks, and headed ashore to catch the bus to Mount Pelee. There were 10 of us, so it was a bit of a challenge to fit on the bus along with the locals, but everyone was so kind and they helped us make it work. We got off the bus at the stop closest to the trail we wanted to hike, but it turned out that we still had to walk 1.5 miles uphill just to get to the trailhead. FINALLY, we arrived at the bottom of Mount Pelee and we were ready to hike! It was actually a pretty difficult hike, with wind, rain, slippery rocks, mud, and tons of fog. The trail was really steep with lots of huge rock steps and climbing required. We knew we had a limited amount of time because we had to get back down to the bus stop to catch the last bus back into town. We hustled! We got far, almost to the very top, but we had to turn around and head back down before we completed the entire trail. It’s okay though, the entire volcano was covered in fog, so the views were nonexistent. Overall, the hike was challenging, but fun. I chose to hike in rubber Birkenstocks because I didn’t want to bring sneakers on the trip, and multiple people stopped me to tell me that I definitely SHOULD NOT hike the volcano in those shoes. LOL, it was true, I probably shouldn’t have, the trail was pretty treacherous, but somehow I succeeded! You know what happens when someone tells you you can’t/shouldn’t do something….
There is a restaurant at the volcano trailhead, and some of our group had turned back earlier, so it was the best surprise ever when we got back and they had food and beer waiting for us! We quickly gobbled our food and drinks, then headed back down to catch the bus. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the French to English translation of the bus schedule, and we ended us waiting an hour and a half for a bus! Even then, the bus that stopped wasn’t actually scheduled for that route; the driver just stopped because he felt sorry for us… it was getting dark and we were stranded! We were very thankful for the ride (we were the only ones on the bus) because walking wasn’t really an option, it would have been pretty dangerous on that road. Hiking Mount Pelee was an adventure to say the least! We did some more night swimming that night, then headed north again in the morning. We were headed to Pearl Island at the northernmost tip of Martinique to explore and snorkel.
We anchored the boat right off Pearl Island and it was perfect. We were able to swim to shore and explore the beach or swim close to the rocks to snorkel. It was a beautiful spot; there were sea turtles and tons of gorgeous fish.
After a full day of snorkeling and swimming, we headed south back towards Fort de France. On the way, a huge pod of dolphins surrounded our boat and swam, jumped, played along beside us for about 20 minutes. It was incredible and unforgettable! We anchored at an area called Les Trois-Ilets. When we got there, there was a lot of activity: people on the beach, day boats, people swimming and snorkeling. As the sun went down it cleared out and we had a really peaceful night. Unfortunately there weren’t any restaurants ashore that were open, so we had pasta and drinks on the boat and enjoyed a quiet evening. The next morning we woke up and snorkeled and swam, finding great coral formations and sea turtles. It was a really pretty, calm spot. After a nice, relaxing morning, we continued to head south to make our way back to the marina. We had one more night on the boat and we stayed close to our destination, in Sainte-Anne. The trip took awhile because one of our engines stopped working and the wind was in an awkward direction to make sailing effective and efficient. So we ended up limping along with one engine. No big deal, it’s about the journey, not the destination, right? BUT, we did have to get there before dark and luckily we did. Before dinner, while it was still light out, the kids spotted a floating obstacle course and they insisted on going. It looked like it was part of a resort, so we were skeptical that they would be permitted. They took the dinghy over, paid an entry fee, and had the best time! That was probably their favorite part of the trip! Once they came back, we did a little scouting and were able to find one restaurant open for dinner in the entire town. Turns out, it was quite the experience. The only thing my kids will ever remember from that night was the “Damn Hot Sauce”. That was the actual name of the hot sauce, so of course it was very fun to ask someone to “please pass the Damn Hot Sauce”! Cue the continuous giggling all night long!
We woke up the next morning and sadly it was time to return the boat. What an unforgettable vacation we had! We were already thinking about the next bareboat adventure we could all go on together. I believe my children were the perfect ages for this trip. All 11 and almost 8, they are good swimmers, semi-independent, strong, capable, and ready for an adventure. We look forward to many more bareboat trips in the future and hopefully we can find more people who love sailing trips as well! It’s such a fun group vacation, whether you are all together on the same boat or you take multiple boats. Either way, we highly recommend Moorings/Sunsail as your charter company, we have always had great experiences and the boats are always in wonderful condition. Oh, and if you would like to take a sailing vacation but don’t have sailing experience, you can always hire a captain through Moorings/Sunsail and they will take care of that for you. You can just sit back and enjoy the ride, or help out and learn. You can also hire a chef… hmmmm, considering that for next time!
Can’t wait to update you on our next adventure… wherever that may be!
