Date: Sunday 30 January 2022
Position: 14° 26.412’ N 60° 53.138’ W
Location: St. Anne, Le Marin, Martinique
Distance Sailed during the week: 126 NM
Distance Sailed total: 6491 NM
Weather: 
, 26°
Most popular on the menu: Coleslaw, it’s very easy to find cabbage, red cabbage, carrots and mayonnaise here in the Caribbean
Animals spotted: Now we don’t think of all the exotic animals that we spot every day. When driving the dinghy, it has gone from “Wow, it’s a turtle!” to “Watch out for the turtle!” 
Comment of the week: “You have to do what the note says! You can ask Val about the Bored Box rules!”
We just love this life; the freedom, the exotic places, the clear blue water, but most of all we love all the wonderful families that we have gotten to know, and are now hanging around with. They are our safety net, a big family where we all help out and take care of each other. There so much knowledge and willingness to solve all kinds of problems, and of course having a lot of fun. And in this big family, there is almost always a birthday to celebrate!
Some places that we come to are so relaxing and beautiful, that we just decided to stay longer than we had originally planned. Cumberland Bay on St Vincent was one of these places. A small and deep bay, not perfect to anchor in, but instead the way to moor was to use an anchor in the bow and a very long stern line (more than 50 meters) to a mangrove or palm tree. To your aid you have all the boat-boys, Joseph Rasta was our man to sort us out. If you are polite and respectful all the boat-boys are very friendly and always accept a “no thank you” if you don´’t want to buy anything. But we have to say, buying fish that was caught less than an hour ago from these fishermen, is so delicious. Not only is the fish fresh, they also clean and filet the fish for you if you ask them, simple and delicious!
The kids have been introduced to a new game “The Bored Box”. A game that one mom, Val, from another kids boat has invented (while in lockdown in the Mediterranean). The game is simple but ingenious. You have a box with a lot of small paper notes, on each of the notes it says things that you have to do, for example “Play a game of yatzy” or “Bake a cake”. And the rules are easy, you decide if you want to be in or out. If you are in, you have to participate and do what the note says, and if you are out, you are not allowed to participate. And the kids love it, so now we have made our own “Bored Box”. And if there is any discussion regarding the rules, the kids says “You can ask Val about the Bored Box rules”.
After 5 weeks in St Vincent and the Grenadines, it was time to leave and head north to Martinique. Nice and calm sailing, even though we have to go upwind, but with just a few tacks. We made some stops on our way at Bequia and Cumberland in SVG and Rodney Bay in St Lucia. Our first stop in Martinique was St Anne just outside Le Marin. We had heard that there should be a lot of boats there, but we weren’t quite prepared for exactly how many. Ther were so many boats in all sizes, shapes and conditions.
Next week – we have a lot of things to do here in Martinique, for example vaccination, grocery shopping, buying a new phone for Jonas, fixing some small stuff on the boat etc. The list of things to shop and do here is massive!
Written by Susanna Edholm, edited by Hanna Ericksson
Liv Sailing 