Our last week on Martinique

“There is nothing wrong with enjoying looking at the surface of the ocean itself, except that when you finally see what goes on underwater, you realize that you’ve been missing the whole point of the ocean. Staying on the surface all the time is like going to the circus and staring at the outside of the tent.” From Dave Barry

The book: The Secret Life of the Ocean by Frauke Bagusche begins with this quote.  I immediately thought of Rajesh and myself.  Ever since I was a little girl (yes I was really small :-)) I’ve been crazy about water, but from a distance. I could watch for hours at the raging waves of the sea, at the freighters, sailboats, surfers and swimmers.  I fantasized for hours that I wanted to be a mermaid or a dolphin.  Because deep down I also wanted to be on and in that water, but the depth of the sea, the strength of the waves and the unknown underwater made sure that I didn’t dare to take a step further into the sea than up to my knees.  When I got to know Jeroen, it soon became apparent that windsurfing was his greatest passion and that every school holiday he had, from April to October, he went windsurfing in Workum and his great wish was to learn to dive one day.  I wanted that too!  There I was 7 years later at the edge of the swimming pool in Egypt, with fear sweat between my buttocks and panic in my eyes, completely wrapped in my diving equipment.  My first diving lesson.  The lesson went well until I had to take my mask off my face completely and then put it back on.  When putting on the mask, I first breathed in through my nose.  WRONG!  I shot up and came to the surface, sputtering (depth of the pool is only 2 meters).  This exercise was crucial and I wouldn’t be allowed to go into the sea if I didn’t get the hang of it.  After several failed attempts, I finally succeeded once.  I knew that when we got our first diving lesson at sea we had to show all these exercises again, but at a depth of 10 meters.  There we went out to sea 2 days later with a boat.  I looked at Jeroen pleadingly and in panic, but he only said you can do it!  There I went, into the depths and I didn’t know it was possible, but you can really cry underwater.  Everything went quiet around me and I looked around me in terror for sea monsters whom would take me into the depths.  Jeroen right below me who was my buddy.  I can still remember being instantly mesmerized by the colours and shapes of the coral and fish.  Breathtakingly beautiful.  I held Jeroen’s hand tightly, very slowly I could relax and I understood what I had been missing all this time by just looking at the water surface.  The peace, space, the sounds under water that the fish make.  Everything took on a different meaning from that moment on.  I overcame my fear of deep water until, 12 years later, I fell while windsurfing on Grevelingenmeer and my trapeze got stuck and I couldn’t get out from under the sail.  Jeroen saved me in the nick of time!  I have respect for the depths and powers of the seas and oceans and respect for all the inhabitants in it.  I enjoy diving and snorkelling, as long as the visibility in the water is good.  My biggest fear still is drowning, but I also know that I’m supposed to be here and I have to do this.  When we got to know Rajesh, he couldn’t swim and water didn’t really appeal to him.  He prefers the mountains, snow and colder countries. We taught Rajesh to swim in a swimming pool during our first holiday together in India. Swimming in the sea or windsurfing have not become his main hobbies, but photography has.  A few years later we took two of his best friends in India on a vacation to the sea. They had never seen them in real life and they really wanted to.  You could see a small coral reef there from the beach.  We rented snorkel gear and went snorkelling with them.  All three looked anxious and tense and I could imagine what was going through them.  After we first taught them how to breathe through the snorkel, we slowly moved towards the coral reef.  They couldn’t get out of the water anymore, they were so fascinated by the wonderful underwater world.  It was great to see how this experience taught them all to look at the sea in a different way.  Just like it had done to me.  Now Rajesh snorkels for hours and I mean really hours around to explore and admire the underwater world.  Rajesh’s fears of water are gone and I’m proud to see him enjoying it.

For the past 5 days, we were in a harbour where one backstay (steel wire) was to be replaced.  Hidden under the bolts, however, the link turned out to have cracks in the metal in various places and this may also be the case with the other 14! We have therefore made the decision to have all rigging replaced.  It was a bit of a shock, but afterwards we are so glad we did.  Safety comes first and there were also cracks in the metal with various other rigging.  Because these steel wires keep the masts up, you should not think about breaking your mast in the middle of the sea during a large crossing because the steel wires give way.  This gave us the opportunity to rent a car for 2 days and see more of the island.  In Martinique, you really need a car outside the capital.  Taxis are expensive and therefore not an option for us.  Spread over the island you will find beautiful banana plantations and sugar cane fields.  For Martinique, this is the main export product, the bananas.  The great tastemaker of this island is, the rum.  There are still several distilleries on the island, the oldest being the Rhum Clément.  These plantations and fields are a nice change from the hilly landscape with untouched tropical forests.  One of our walking tours passed the “mémorial de l’anse cafard” (le diamant, Martinique) Overlooking the sea, this monument commemorates both the enslaved people who died in a shipwreck off the coast of Martinique in 1830, and more broadly, the tens of thousands of enslaved Africans brought to Martinique as part of the transatlantic slave trade.  Arranged in a triangle, the 15 stone figures are presented as abstracted, geometric shapes, removing any individualizing facial or body features.  The figures face the ocean, leaning forward, their eyes down and their mouths open, as if uttering a scream.

Being in a harbour has many advantages, water and electricity are available, you can run an errand if you have forgotten something, but it also has disadvantages.  In the harbour, there is no wind, it is muggy, there are no swimming opportunities and mosquitoes are hungry waiting for you.  After 5 days in the harbour we were happy to find a bay.  We are still waiting for a tool that we borrowed from Amel’s technical service and had it copied, a spanner size 65 to be able to tighten the nut of our rudder which prevents water from seeping in along the rudder. This will arrive in 3 to 4 days.  Then we sail towards the island group of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.  We will sail to Bequia Island which is part of the Grenadines.

Onze laatste week op Martinique

“There is nothing wrong with enjoying looking at the surface of the ocean itself, except that when you finally see what goes on underwater, you realize that you’ve been missing the whole point of the ocean. Staying on the surface all the time is like going to the circus and staring at the outside of the tent.” From Dave Barry