Monthly Regional Reports for the Caribbean are posted the first week of each month so you’ll find the best of the Caribbean! The Caribbean islands offer an array of experiences for boaters. From unique cultures in St. Maarten to world-renowned diving in Belize, the region has it all. Southern Boating’s articles provide helpful insight into traveling the Caribbean by boat—including features on regions such as: Puerto Rico, Antigua, Belize, Grenada, St. Maarten, the British Virgin Islands, Aruba, St. Lucia and more. Monthly updates include news about events, fishing tournaments, and sailing regattas. Detailed cruising guides can be found in thoroughly researched articles by Southern Boating experts.
Major Caribbean regattas go on for 2018, despite hurricanes
Rain doesn’t stop the Carnival and neither will the devastating 1-2 punch of Hurricanes Irma and Maria in September stop the region’s major spring 2018 regattas. The regattas go on as planned.
In fact, recovery is already well underway, says Michelle van der Werff, director of the St. Maarten Heineken Regatta, March 1-4, 2018. “Although high numbers of yachts were destroyed and the St. Maarten Yacht Club’s docks and decks were damaged, much of the marine infrastructure is still intact, including sail lofts, riggers and chandleries. By mid-November, a boat owner coming to the island won’t notice any difference.”
Likewise, the St. Thomas Yacht Club was damaged as well as some of the Club’s fleet. However, “we’re determined to hold our 45th annual regatta as the sailing grounds are as magnificent as ever, and it’s the camaraderie of returning teams and new ones that keep us moving forward,” says Chuck Pessler, director of the St. Thomas International Regatta, March 23-25, 2018.
Positive goals for the future are important in the aftermath of a major storm and staging the B.V.I. Spring Regatta and Sailing Festival, March 26-April 1, 2018, is a driving force for Director Judy Petz and her committee, Petz says. “The B.V.I. sailing community has been so gracious and encouraging, and that’s enabled us to start work on hosting our 2018 regatta. Our challenge may be housing, so the more boats that come self-contained the better. The new docks will be in place at Nanny Cay Marina, so our regatta home will be there.”
Les Voiles de St. Barth will take place as planned, April 8-14, 2018, as will Antigua Sailing Week, April 28-May 4, 2018. “Even though Antigua was not touched, as an independent nation we have our storm-damaged sister island of Barbuda to support,” says Regatta Commercial Director Alison Sly-Adams. “We invite sailors to attend our regatta as the best way to support our islands.”
History is hot, hot, thanks to Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash Broadway hit, Hamilton: An American Musical. If you’re a fan of the show and have been swept up in the recent Hamilton mania, take a trip to the Leeward Island of Nevis, where Alexander Hamilton—whose life story is the basis of the musical—was born in 1757.
From these humble beginnings, he later achieved fame as the first Secretary of the U.S. Treasury and father of the U.S. Coast Guard. Today, Hamilton House, located on the waterfront in Charlestown on the original site where the family is thought to have lived, showcases a series of storyboards that depict Hamilton’s life and accomplishments. The museum is just one of several historic sites on this 36-square-mile island, which also offers plenty of 21st-century charms.
Visiting Nevis by boat will get easier in December, when the island’s first marina is scheduled to open at Tamarind Cove, a 15-minute drive from Charlestown and the Hamilton museum. nevisisland.com
By Carol Bareuther for Southern Boating, October 2017 Photos by Ian Holyoak/Nevis Tourism Authority and Antigua and Barbuda Tourism Authority.
World Record Entries for Optimist World Championship in Antigua
The 2019 Optimist World Championship will welcome junior sailors from 64 countries July 6 to 16, setting a new record for the most countries competing in a single class regatta.
Even more fantastic is that this is happening in one of the smallest countries on Earth, the 108-square-mile island of Antigua. The Antigua Yacht Club, host of internationally renowned events such as the RORC Caribbean 600 (February) Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta (April) and Antigua Sailing Week (April/May), is no stranger to running world class events and is more than ready for the 262 sailors, their coaches, siblings, family, and friends.
“For such a small island to be able to host 64 countries is quite an achievement, and I think it reflects how Antigua is seen as such a great place to sail,” says Paola Vittoria, head of the local organizing committee, who also orchestrated Antigua’s hosting of the Optimist North American Championship in 2015 and 2016.
“There are many fantastic ways to watch the Championship. We have an official spectator boat provided by Wadadli Cats, which will be available to book each day. Or, if you are on land, excellent vantage points include Fort Charlotte, Fort Berkley, Shirley Heights, and Snapper Point.” 2019worlds.optiworld.org
By Carol Bareuther for Southern Boating, July 2019
A derelict WWII Ship has been converted to a BVI dive site
It’s one of the last remaining vessels to survive the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. The YO-44, aka the Kodiak Queen, has been saved from the scrap heap and, instead, memorialized in the deep as the newest recreational dive site in the B.V.I. The Queen was a rusting fishing vessel in the B.V.I. when renowned UK-based photographer Owen Buggy discovered the former U.S. Navy fuel barge’s rich historical past.
Branson and team bid farewell to Kodiak Queen
Buggy, who worked on Richard Branson’s Necker Island for a time, brought the ship to the attention of his billionaire employer and other entrepreneurs, artists and scientists who formed the B.V.I. Art Reef project. Thus, the Kodiak Queen was cleaned, topped with an 80-foot tentacled sea monster made of wire mesh and steel rebar to serve as a platform for coral to grow, and sunk off of Virgin Gorda. The hope is that soon everything from corals and sponges to sea turtles and sharks will call the historic habitat home. Major B.V.I. dive companies such as Dive B.V.I. and Sunchaser Scuba offer trips to the Kodiak Queen.
The International Billfish Tournament (IBT) turns 65.
The IBT is the longest consecutively held big game fishing tournament in the world.
The tournament is hosted by Club Nautico de San Juan in Puerto Rico, takes place October 15-21. Longevity is far from the IBT’s only claim to fame.
Over the past decade alone, organizers have maintained a cutting-edge vibe to this event by introducing elements like hotspot metrics to identify water qualities consistent with a good bite, critter cams in coordination with the National Geographic Society for research purposes, conservation conscious rules for 30-pound test line only, and most recently, a mobile app to track real-time bites, hook-ups and releases during the tournament.
This year, the new twist is a date change. The October IBT dates were purposely chosen to take advantage of a trio of plusses. Those include a perfectly full moon, warm water temperatures and a diversity of billfish. This time of year, fish swim through the world famous “Marlin Alley,” a mile-and-a-half deep trench located off the island’s north coast.
“In October, anglers will be able to hook different billfish species such as blues, whites, and sails, rather than just blue marlin, which are more prevalent in September,” says Salvador Egea, Jr. He’s the IBT chairman for the third year. Visiting anglers have a unique opportunity to fly in and fish on a different boat each day. There are also nightly parties, all for one set price.
Caribbean marine parks that fall below the hurricane belt should be high on your list to visit this season.
September is the height of the hurricane season in most of the Caribbean. Storms are a low risk in southern Caribbean islands such as Grenada, Tobago, and Bonaire, located at or below the hurricane belt or south of 12° latitude. It’s here that cruisers will find safe anchorages, capable yards and nautical attractions like marine parks.
In Grenada, for example, sightsee below the seas via guided snorkel trips at the Underwater Sculpture Park, where life-sized human sculptures made out of concrete and rebar serve as artificial reefs. These works of art are located in the Moliniere-Beausejour Marine Protected Area. grenadaunderwatersculpture.com
The Buccoo Reef Marine Park in Tobago is one of the most beautiful and accessible coral reefs in the Caribbean. The brain, staghorn, star, and elkhorn coral communities here are alive and healthy. Daily tours to the reef are available aboard glass-bottom boats.
In Bonaire, the numbers speak for themselves at the Bonaire National Marine Park: more than 350 fish species, 86 dive sites and nearly 60 tony and soft corals. SCUBA diving with local dive operators is a great way to see this very healthy marine park, which has a strict no-anchor policy. buccoo.net/seaside/buccoo-reef; stinapabonaire.org
By Carol Bareuther, Southern Boating Magazine September 2017
Photo: HOWARD CLARKE/GRENADA SEAFARIS POWERBOAT ADVENTURES
EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRYwill soon take on a whole new meaning at IGY Marinas. That’s because restaurants, hotels and resorts will become a bigger focus for this Fort Lauderdale, Florida-headquartered world’s largest international marina network, which launched its hospitality division in June. Some of IGY’s Caribbean properties will be among the first to benefit. More specifically, there will be a taste-lift and concept refresh for its Fat Turtle restaurants, located at Yacht Club at Isle de Sol in St. Maarten and the Marina at Yacht Haven Grande in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. In addition, IGY is exploring the possibility of building a second hotel on the upland at Yacht Haven Grande.
“The Caribbean continues to draw travelers from around the world, making it a target market for our growth strategy. Our plan for the close of 2017 is to have solidified other marina facilities that will join our IGY-branded hospitality portfolio,” says Charlie Irons, who was recently promoted from director of operations at the 5-Gold Anchor Yacht Haven Grande to IGY’s vice president of hospitality division.
IGY operates marinas in other Caribbean islands such as St. Lucia and the Turks & Caicos, as well as in South America, Mexico and the U.S.
Exploring the Grenadines just got easier with the recent opening of the Glossy Bay Marina. The $250 million facility in Canouan, backed by billionaire Irish financier Dermot Desmond, boasts 120 slips and 24 superyacht berths. There’s also in-slip water, electricity and high-speed Internet, and on-property backup power plant, waste water treatment, and fuel station. According to Marina Manager Bob Hathaway, construction on a marina plaza—with restaurants, bars, and boutiques—will open by the end of 2017.
The Moorings debuts a new Martinique Charters Experience
LOOKING FOR A NEW FLAVOR in Caribbean chartering? Try the Martinique Rum Experience with The Moorings. The French islands aren’t as frequented by Americans as the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, but they certainly should be. The charm is a delightful combination of Old World European elegance meets New World, toes-in-the-sand, sun-drenched tropics. What better way to theme a crewed charter to such a destination than to tour and taste in the world-famous factories where rum has been distilled from the island-grown sugarcane for centuries?
“Martinique represents a new charter destination for The Moorings, which offers a cultural aspect unique from our other Caribbean destinations. To be able to explore all this island has to offer, with the added flexibility of this all-inclusive crewed yacht and the immersive nature of the rum tours ashore, is something we are very excited to share with our guests,” says Ian Pedersen, the Clearwater, Florida-headquartered marketing manager for the Americas. Charters depart from The Moorings’ St. Lucia base at IGY’s Rodney Bay Marina for a cruise north about 50 miles to Martinique aboard a Moorings 4800 or 5800 catamaran.
Alternatively, it’s possible to fly directly into Le Marin, Martinique, to rendezvous with your yacht if you want to get right to the rum-sipping. Charter highlights include a visit to the famed Clement and Neisson rum factories, as well as various cultural stops, such as Saint-Pierre to visit the volcano museum and zoo; La Pointe Marin for its beautiful beach, gourmet restaurants and upscale shops; Grand Anse d’Arlet, known for its half-mile of golden-sand beachfront; and Fort-de-France, where strolling the local markets and botanical gardens is the “must” thing to do.
“The dates for 2017 and 2018 are very flexible and operate in much the same way as any of our other crewed charters in the Caribbean. Guests can depart for five or more days of their choosing, as long as the boat is available for their dates, and will set sail from our marina in St. Lucia to then explore this Martinique charter,” says Pedersen.
Forget Fiberglass! If you’re looking for a fast and fun, modern day, wooden boat regatta, then sail down or fly into Carriacou in early August. For more than half a century, Grenada’s sister island to the north has hosted one of the largest events for native-built, hand-crafted boats: the Carriacou Regatta. In fact, over 40 open-deck sloops and double enders homeported from Antigua to Tobago will arrive to race on round-the-rocks and islands courses August 3-6.
“Spectators will be keenly engaged this year as some of the courses will be brought closer to shore for better viewing from land,” explains Nikoyan Roberts, nautical development manager for the St. George’s Grenada-based Grenada Tourism Authority.
“Aside from racing, shoreside cultural activities will include the maypole (a folk dance that involves twining ribbons around a pole), donkey races and the famous greasy pole. This last involves having participants trying their luck at crossing over a slippery log to get a prize at the end.”
The Southern Caribbean is a lesser known, yet fantastic destination for a charter yacht vacation. “Grenada, the Spice Island, is very lush, and the charterer may wish to spend a few days before or after the charter touring the island,” says Ann McHorney, founder and director of international sales for Fort Lauderdale, FL-based charter yacht brokerage, Select Yachts, which has teamed up again this year with Camper & Nicholson’s Port Louis Marina in St. George’s Grenada, to host the Grenada Charter Yacht Show July 22-25.
“Provisioning companies, such as Spronk’s and Erica’s, can get anything needed and quickly. Our show partner, Port Louis Marina, is a fabulous facility with shops, restaurants, a pool, and efficient dock services. A new marina at Canouan in Saint Vincent is great for yachts wishing to be at the dock or for a more northern start or end to a charter. Essentially, most all the charters from Grenada head north into the famous Grenadines.”
McHorney adds that monohulls are more common and more chartered in the Southern Caribbean due to the slightly longer passages compared to the USVI or BVI cruising grounds. In general, everything from small bareboat sailing yachts to megayachts are available for charter.
Charter Grenada and the Grenadines Yacht brokers will get a chance to see firsthand the crewed yachts available for charter in the Southern Caribbean during the second annual Grenada Charter Yacht Show, July 23-26 at Port Louis Marina in St. George’s.
This gives brokers fantastic insight ahead of traditional Caribbean shows in the U.S. and British Virgin Islands and Antigua that don’t take place until November and December, respectively. Plus, there’s an opportunity for clients to get a jump-start on bookings for the winter and spring holidays.
“Grenada and the Grenadines are a bit more of a walk back in time. There are untouched beaches and underwater reefs, and the pace of life is slower and friendly. You’ll see more monohulls here for charter than in the flat waters of the Virgins, as monohulls perform well with the slightly longer passages. Grenada and the Grenadines is a great option for the experienced charterer looking for something new and different,” says Ann McHorney, founder and director of Fort Lauderdale, Florida-headquartered Select Yachts, who helped to start the show last year.
South of Havana and the visiting hordes of Americans, Cuba offers a wilderness that even a half-century of revolution left unspoiled.
I spot the flamingos as I paddle my sea kayak around a corner in the coffee-colored lagoon. There are about a hundred birds along the mangrove shore, and it’s so quiet and I’m so close that I can hear their gurgled chuckling as they high-step through the shallow water. I remember what a taxi driver told me when I first arrived in Cuba and asked how far you had to go from Havana to really get out into Cuba. He laughed. “You don’t have to go very far in Cuba to go very far in Cuba.”
I’m on a weeklong sea kayak expedition with ROW Adventures (cubaunbound.com) along the southern coast of Cuba. They’ve promised me a chance to get off the tourist-packed streets of Havana and experience the island beyond frozen mojitos and joyrides in vintage Chevys. And now, halfway through our journey, Havana feels as far away as Miami. It’s just me, the muddy labyrinth of mangrove channels, the gorgeously delicate birds, and the misty blue mountains of the Sierra Escambray rising beyond.
Socialist propaganada at a factory
Sea kayakers approach flamingos on Cuba’s southern coast.
Inside Hemingway’s studio at Finca Vigia on the outskirts of Havana
A horse and carriage make their way down a cobbled street in Trinidad
Hemingway’s favorite fishing boat, Pilar
Children on their way to school near the Bay of Pigs;
Panama hats and Che Guevara adorn a souvenir stand in Havana.
A restaurant in the colonial town of Trinidad
Havana’s colonial quarter rises from the heart of the city.
A vintage auto in Trinidad
Sunrise illuminates the mountains in southern Cuba
Soon the spell is broken by the hollow thump-thump of paddles against plastic kayak hulls and the happy conversations of my fellow paddlers. The shy flamingos launch into a low, lazy flight and blur past me in a peach-sherbet smear. They climb, circle our boats once and vanish beyond the next bend somewhere deeper in the swamp. I lift my paddle and dig into the water. I’m only a half-mile into today’s five-mile paddle, but already my face hurts from smiling so hard.
Cuba travel restrictions for Americans relaxed a few years ago under the Obama administration, though rules on traveling there by boat were slower in coming. Now, cruisers (and kayakers) have fewer restrictions but are wise to consult with an experienced agency for the requirements to visit this North Korea of the Caribbean by boat. (See the resource list at the end.) It’s safe to say there is a mad rush to Cuba going on right now. In 2016, the island saw over 3.5 million tourists, with over a million visitors in first four months. “We have a joke here,” a taxi driver tells me. “All the Americans are rushing to see Cuba… before all the Americans rush to Cuba.”
After an obligatory tour of the capital and Hemingway watering holes, our group hops a brand-new Chinese tour bus and heads two hours south to Playa Larga, a small fishing village on the Zapata Peninsula. It’s a quiet town barely two streets deep from the beach with just a few rows of red-roofed pink shacks. Horse-drawn carts drop students off after school, and men mend fishing nets in the shade of coconut palms. There aren’t any hotels in town yet, so we’re split up into private homes. Shortly after the fall of the Soviet Union, Cuba descended into an economic crisis, and Castro allowed individuals to rent out rooms in their homes as “casa particulares,” quasi bed-and-breakfast establishments. Mine, the Casa Tiki, is clean, the bedroom kept polar by an air conditioner and rotating fan; my private bathroom is shiny and smells of bleach.
Later that afternoon, Lerdo, our local kayak guide, leads us out of the bay. Miles of mangrove swamp line the scooped coast, broken here and there by the white flash of beaches. “Back in the 1700s, these forests were full of wild boars,” he says. “So the French sailors started a trade. They shot the pigs and cured the bacon on wooden racks called boucans. But the traders refused to pay tax to Havana and were considered outlaws. They were called boucaneros.” Lerdo waits hopefully for one of us to make the connection. “Pirates!” He finally says. “You’re in the bay where the word buccaneer was born!”
It’s a fun bit of trivia, but the rest of the world knows the bay for another reason. On April 16, 1961, more than 1,400 mercenaries trained by the CIA landed here in the Bay of Pigs and tried to lead an uprising. Lerdo ticks off the beaches as we pass them: Blue Beach, Green Beach, Red Beach. As the surf picks up, we tuck in closer to shore. A small resort fronts one of the landing zones. A couple of guys are trying to get a surfing kite airborne, while a Swiss couple snorkels out to say hello and ask if we’re Americans. Children splash in the waves.
The invasion failed, Lerdo says, sticking close to the official account of a heroic resistance and a united people. The invaders who weren’t killed were taken prisoner, and eventually swapped in a political exchange. The only reminder left of the invasion today are the miles of ragged coastline, still as wild as they were back then.
Playa Giron is poised to become famous again—not for an unsuccessful imperial invasion but as the gateway to the Caribbean’s last truly unspoiled wilderness. The next morning we drive down a sandy arrow-straight road deep into the heart of the Zapata Peninsula, Cuba’s largest national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was declared a national park back in 1936.
We spend all day paddling a glorious sky-blue lagoon so bright it hurts my eyes even with sunglasses. We paddle past islands of palmettos and tangles of mangroves. Rosette spoonbills step daintily among the shallows and white egrets probe the mud for crabs. Large schools of bonefish stir up the milky water. The sea is shallow, rarely more than a meter deep, and often my keel scrapes the sandy bottom. We’re the only ones in this vast wilderness today, maybe the only ones here this week. I learn later that more people summit Mount Everest every year than kayak the Zapata Swamp.
Over the week, we make our way ever eastward through the Zapata Swamp, through the lagoons around Cienfuegos and along the rugged cliffs off Trinidad. Near the end of the week, we reach our terminus at Cayo Blanco, a small crescent island. We can’t reach it by kayak since it’s nine miles offshore and the waves are too steep. So we take one of the rare motorized boats available from a marina outside the colonial town of Trinidad. Our Cuban escort can’t join us. Why not, I ask. He shrugs. “Cubans need a special permit to ride in a motorized boat. And I don’t have a special permit.”
The open sea is choppy and people are seasick. When our captain spots a fleet of wooden sailboats fishing a nearby bank, we detour out. There’s a shouted exchange as the fishermen sling three red snappers aboard and the captain tosses back two liters of cola.
We land on the island. Anywhere else in the Caribbean this sugar-sand beachfront would be lined with high-rise resorts and studded with candy-cane beach umbrellas. But here there’s only a small government-run café powered by about 40 car batteries hidden behind the kitchen. Sunburned Brits line up at the bar for rum over crushed ice, while large Russians stall out the buffet line as they carefully pick all the lobster bits out of the soggy, communal paella.
I’ve gone as far as I’ll go on this journey through Cuba. On our homeward journey, I climb to the bow. The emerald water rushes beneath my bare feet. Far ahead the mangroves guard the shore. Beyond them climb the Sierra Maestra. The horizon to port and starboard is empty, just endless green waves heaving under a blue sky. A tern drops in and keeps pace with the boat. And for the moment at least, while the rest of the paddlers’ nap in the shade of the bridge, Cuba all around me is wide and open and unbound.
— Story and photos by Jad Davenport, Southern Boating Magazine February 2017
Cruise or race your way from the Caribbean to Bermuda to watch the America’s Cup. The Louis Vuitton America’s Cup Qualifiers start on May 26th off this British Overseas Territory located 1,000 miles from the coast of the Carolinas. Starting on June 17th, the top Challenge will meet defending champions, Oracle Team USA, in the 35th Cup. Cruisers can take their start north on the Salty Dawg Spring Rally. The rally starts on May 15th out of the Nanny Cay Marina in Tortola, B.V.I., after several days of parties, boat preparation and weather briefings. Ralliers will then head to their U.S. port of choice. Linda Knowles, Vice President of the Salty Dawg Sailing Association, says that this year several rally participants are planning to stop in Bermuda for the America’s Cup qualifiers and finale.
Racers can embark on a trip north via the inaugural Antigua to Bermuda Race, which is organized by the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club. Sailors take their start at 12PM on May 12th off Fort Charlotte, Antigua. “Many boats are planning to be in Antigua for our 50th Anniversary Antigua Sailing Week (ASW), April 29th to May 5th. Following this, there will be a week’s grace to make repairs and provision before the start of the 900-nautical mile race to Bermuda,” says Alison Sly-Adams, Commercial Director for ASW. Over 40 yachts are expected to compete, including the magnificent Swan 90, Freya. There are also charters available from companies such as Ondeck, Performance Yacht Charters, Global Yacht Racing and the Bermuda Sloop Foundation. saltydawgsailing.org; antiguabermuda.com
National Marine Suppliers opens at Yacht Haven Grande
Megayacht crews and grand prix race teams now have a new source for everything from provisioning to engineering and deck expertise when in the U.S.V.I. National Marine Suppliers—the Fort Lauderdale, Florida-headquartered yacht suppliers and logistical support group—has opened an office at IGY’s Yacht Haven Grande in St. Thomas. The marina here is a 5-Gold Anchor facility that boasts 46 berths for superyachts up to 656 feet in length and up to an 18-foot draft. Located on the east side of the Charlotte Amalie harbor, Yacht Haven Grande is central to many restaurants, shops and the airport, which offers direct daily flights to several destinations in the U.S. nationalmarine.com; igy-yachthavengrande.com
New Poker Run Circuit
Throttle up and get ready for more fun and more winnings in the new Caribbean Triple Crown Poker Run. This year’s first-ever three-legged circuit kicks off on May 28th for the Leverick Bay Poker Run held off Virgin Gorda in the B.V.I. Then on July 2nd the Stars and Stripes Poker Run takes place out of IGY’s Yacht Grande Marina in St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. The cup wraps up on July 16th at the St. Maarten Poker Run hosted out of Isle del Sol Yacht Club in St. Maarten. The winner of all three events will take home $20,000 in cash and prizes and earns the title of IGY Triple Crown Poker Run Cup champion. Nick Willis, who founded the Leverick Bay Poker Run in 2001, says he never thought the event would garner so much recognition and response from powerboaters. “It’s one event, three destinations and the chance to give back to multiple charities,” says Willis. The Caribbean Triple Crown Poker Run is an official member of the Florida Power Boating Club & Poker Runs of America. For more information, contact Javier Lopez at (787) 529-8064 or j.lopez@caribbeanpokerrun.com.
The year was 1887, and the island was Martinique. I’ve come to the quiet, French-speaking island in the Lesser Antilles to find out if Gauguin’s paradise still exists and, perhaps, to be inspired in the process.
Tahiti wasn’t painter Paul Gauguin’s first love. Long before he made the island a famous paradise in his lush artworks, Gauguin had found another Garden of Eden much closer to home—in the Caribbean.
My quest to find Gauguin’s paradise starts in the hotel-studded south, a modern-day paradise of beaches and palm trees. On this bright afternoon, the sun is high and the lagoons glow like Hopi turquoise. I’m skipping over the shallow water in a speedboat with a famous musician, a pair of Brazilian women in string bikinis and a young local woman with a pink flower tucked behind her ear.
Bord de Mer II (Sea Side II) by Gauguin in 1887, private collection.The writer captures seaside activity more than a century after Gauguin.
I meet Victor O that morning in the busy town of Le Francois. He’s a young guy with a clean-shaven head; a huge grin cracks his beard. He’s amused by my quest to chase Gauguin’s ghost around Martinique, and local pride inspires him to show me the most beautiful natural swimming pool on the island—Josephine’s Bath. “Joséphine was born on a habitacion beyond the mornes,” Victor says as we slalom through a maze of palmetto-tufted islands. He points at a rumpled range of cane-quilted hills to the west. “She was an island girl, and she was Napoleon’s great love. He made her the Empress. Legend says she would come out here to bathe in the seawater.”
The captain tosses the anchor over a submerged sandbar between two islands. We drink planter’s punch, a homemade brew that’s more rum than punch.
“It’s customary here after the first rum that a bikini becomes a monokini,” one of Frenchmen says as he pours a cup and passes it over. “And of course after two rums, well, then the monokini also goes.”
he writer discovers that fruit is used for accessories as well as for paintings.La Cueillette des Fruits (Among The Mangoes), by Gauguin in 1887, Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam
We leap overboard. The water is so clear and the sun so brilliant that even five feet down the rippled sand warms my soles. “It’s probably just a legend that Joséphine came out here,” Victor laughs. “I’m not sure she could even swim.” Whether the legend is true or not, the pool is idyllic. The Brazilians float on their backs while the progressively emptier bottle of rum punch bobs in the waves.
That evening as shadows creep down the mornes I have dinner with my new friends at Soleil Faire. It’s a romantic spot, a Creole house on a hillside overlooking the Empress’ playground. Waiters snap around in pressed black and candles flicker inside hurricane lanterns. “This is the best table on the island,” purrs the woman with the flower behind her ear. “The chef was trained by Alain Ducasse, himself.”
When the plate is presented, I smile and remember a conversation Victor and I had about food. “In Martinique we are French first and Caribbean second, so you can imagine that food is very important to us,” he’d said. “Our cuisine is truly Creole. We combine the generosity of Africa and the spices of India with French savoir faire. No matter if you eat at a beach shack or a Michelin-starred restaurant, the food is always the same, and that is to say, superb.” I chuckle as I carve into my lacquered pigeon.
I head to downtown Fort de France the next day to track down the only address I have for Gauguin. I have an old sketch of his street. The artist’s connection to Martinique is largely unknown even to locals, which is why I’m lucky to find Marie, a French historian. But even she didn’t realize that Gauguin had an address here in town. We set out to find Rue Victor Hugo #30.
Marie is short but moves quickly in a flowing blue and white dress; I dodge pedestrians to keep up. When she talks, her teeth flash in a frame of shaded purple lipstick. “I love all Gauguin’s colors,” she says as we wend our way through a square where an office building with mirrored windows reflects the beige steeple of Cathedrale St. Louis. “When I was young, I wore lots of colors just like the women in his paintings.”
Brightly dressed women straight out of a Gauguin sashay past in ruffles of red, green, orange, and yellow. “We are the only part of France that still wears folk dress, our Madras,” Marie says. “If you wore traditional dress in Brittany today people would laugh at you. Not here. Here we say, ‘good for you.’”
We find #30 near the end of Rue Victor Hugo where it dead-ends into La Savane Park. The white two-story building is wedged between a jewelry store and an osteopathic office. Sunshine slants down on the afternoon shoppers. Now, just as in the 19th-century sketch, the street is bustling. Gauguin kept #30 as his forwarding address, but he quickly set out to wander the island. I decide to do the same.
Perhaps Gauguin used this same luxuriant coast for inspiration.Martinique Landscape by Gauguin in 1887, Scottish National Gallery.
It’s during my wanderings that I meet Laurent, a local sculptor and painter. He invites me that night to a party at his villa. Gauguin always claimed to have discovered paradise. In one of his first letters home, he gushed about the luxuriant coast:
“It’s a paradise on the shore of the isthmus. Below us is the sea, fringed with coconut trees, above, fruit trees of all sorts… Nature is at its most opulent, the climate hot, with cool spells intervening. With a little money you can have all that is needed to be happy.”
“Does that Martinique still exist?” I ask the group. “Yes,” Laurent says, pushing his glasses back on his head. “If Gauguin came tonight on the Air France flight, he would find that same beauty, the same colors, the same volcanoes, and sugar cane fields.”
I hitch a northbound ride the next morning, trading the crowded coastal plain for the cooler mountains. The landscape quickly morphs into Gauguin’s Eden. Dense forests crowd overhead and each valley has a small village. The houses all have that lovely state of decay: cracked stucco walls and baked roof tiles furred with moss.
The road eventually slinks below Mount Pelée, and hairpin turns drop us into the rambling town of St. Pierre. When Gauguin arrived a century ago, this port was the most celebrated city in the French West Indies. More than 30,000 people lived here. They promenaded in the latest haute couture from Paris while horsedrawn trams ran along the cobbled streets. The theatre—a replica of the one in Bordeaux—had 1,000 seats. But the town is smaller today with barely 4,000 people. My ride drops me off near the beach where young men build a stage in the shade of sea grape trees. Nearby, women set up food stalls. Every time the sea breeze picks up, their white dresses billow and reveal Madras colors beneath.
One May morning not long after Gauguin left Martinique, Mount Pelée detonated. A nuee ardente (a glowing cloud) exploded down the volcano’s ravines and incinerated St. Pierre and the surrounding villages. Thirty thousand people died—every last person except one drunk in the jail cell.
Down on the promenade I can hear the Zouk music thumping. Today is May 8th, the anniversary of the eruption. Afternoon light gilds the town, and the sailboats speckle the blue bay. Gauguin’s paradise is still here.
CRUISER RESOURCES Marin’s Yacht Harbour Marina
Le Cul-de-Sac Marin bay (southern Martinique)
Tel.: +596 596 74 83 83
Email: port.marin@wanadoo.fr
-Customs clearance is accessible on computers in marina office (customs office hours 7AM-12:15PM, tel. 05-96-74-91-64)
NOTE: Half a dozen small marinas can be found around Martinique such as the Somatras Marina (tel. 33-596-71-41-81) and Marina La Nepture [no contact info available] in Fort-de-France Bay. There are also many outstanding anchorages. Consult the most recent update of your preferred cruising guide.
Words & photos by Jad Davenport, Southern Boating Magazine March 2017
What are the biggest Caribbean Updates? Superyacht marinas, classic sailing races, Easter cruising and more!
Beautiful white sand beaches, bountiful French and Dutch cuisine, and a bevy of land and sea activities ranging from horseback riding on the beach to day-sails to uninhabited islands are just a few of what draw millions of visitors each year to the dual-island nation of St. Maarten-St. Martin. Now, yachtsmen can add another reason to their list. Island Global Yachting (IGY) Marinas 5-Gold Anchor Marina, Yacht Club at Isle del Sol, is the recipient of the 2017 Superyacht Marina of the year award. There are several good reasons to pull in for a visit. On the logistical side, the well-constructed concrete slips offer grade A fuel, water, two 100-amp receptacles (with a choice of 110V or 480V), complimentary satellite TV, and high-speed Internet. A recent major dredging project allows room for superyachts with up to 17.5-ft drafts. On the self-indulgent side is the on-site Caribbean-vibe Fat Turtle restaurant, as well as a swimming pool and tennis courts. Other eateries, shopping and entertainment complexes are close by. igy-isledesol.com
Classics set sail in Antigua
Feel like you’re back in the bygone days of Caribbean sailing at the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta. Set for April 19-25 and hosted out of the Antigua Yacht Club in Falmouth Harbour, this year’s 30th anniversary event features a fantastic array of competitors. The watercraft ranges from traditional island boats and classic ketches, sloops, schooners, and yawls to majestic Tall Ships, J class and spirit-of-tradition yachts from throughout the Caribbean and the world. One newcomer this year is the 112-foot, three-masted Spirit of Bermuda, a 2006-launched purpose-built sail training vessel constructed in the manner of 19th century civilian schooners. Other eye-candy entries include the USA-based 115-foot, 1939-build Staysail Schooner Eros; the Netherlands-homeported 2012 157-foot, Klaus Rodner Staysail Ketch Chronos; and France’s Mariette of 1915, a 137-foot Herreshoff gaff-rigged schooner built in the year of its name. Spectators can enjoy a great view of all four days of racing from Fort Charlotte, Shirley Heights and the Block House. Those who have only one day to visit should do so on Sunday, April 23rd for the Parade of Classics. This is when an incredible line-up of some of the most awe-inspiring vessels set sail at 1:30PM off Nelson’s Dockyard. It’s definitely history-making in modern day. antiguaclassics.com
Hop down to Virgin Gorda for Easter
The Easter holiday is party time in Virgin Gorda, the second largest of the inhabited B.V.I. Parades, live bands, food fairs, and comely queens are all on tap for the 50th anniversary of the island’s Easter Festival set for April 8-17. A big part of the fun for sea lovers is the two-day Fisherman’s Jamboree tournament on April 15-16. Bring your own boat or charter. Vessels like Capt. Donnell Flax’s 42′ Bertram Big Ting make a great platform to fish the productive sea mount south of the island. Anglers catching the top three heaviest wahoo win prizes. Hosted out of the Fischer’s Cove Beach Hotel & Reef Restaurant, fishermen and their families can enjoy a wrap-up dinner and awards ceremony. fischerscove.com
—By Carol Bareuther, Southern Boating Magazine April 2017
