Moteurs et Baguettes

April 16-23, 2015

We have had the pleasure of meeting many Volvo dealers in the Americas, many with excellent service, some not. Our dock and technicians at Case Pilote in Martinique were uniquely wonderful.  We had heard rave reviews of the Martinique dealer from a fellow cruiser who replaced his Volvo with this dealer’s help.  This seemed like the perfect time to do an overhaul on our engines in preparation for our Pacific crossing.

About 100 feet of the local fishing pier is earmarked for Inboard Diesel and Two Fish had a reserved seat.  Upon tying up, we noticed that we had a small

tree wrapped around our rudder. We wondered how we hadn’t noticed it while sailing. Jason opined that it had cost us half a knot.  Diving under the boat is a blue job so Jason dove to remove the tree.  However,  I wrestled the tree to a safe place, where it wouldn’t fall back in the water and cause a headache for another boat.

Around 5 pm was fishing time and we observed lots of lines being thrown, with little output but much relaxation. The boats that went out to sea seemed to have better luck. Another method utilized in the harbor was to string out a fishing net and haul it into shore. Fortunately, Two Fish and her propellers were a hundred yards away.

It was a nice change from our usual cruising harbor to be in an industrious small town with its own rhythm. There was a small supermarket and bakery and a sub-standard pizza joint. What else explains why when told we could get 2 for 1 pizzas, I responded: that’s okay, we’ll just take one.

We saw a sign for a night market and eagerly planned our day around the visit. We approached the plaza and saw the six

tables of participants, one of whom was selling old books. I saw someone frying bits of something and asked for a dozen assorted. My French couldn’t keep up with what they told me they were, but I figured it couldn’t be too bad. They were a mix of donuts and fish balls, both pretty good. Jason was meanwhile enthralled by the announcer who was circulating among the six tables with a portable microphone. The announcer’s routine was to describe the wonders at the table and then hand the microphone to the vendor. The bookseller held on to the microphone for quite some time. I, of course, couldn’t understand anything. I wish there was a 0.5x button you could press to slow speakers down.

Back to the engines. Philibert took both of our engines apart, cleaning the heat exchangers, flushing the coolant loop and replacing our fuel pumps.  Volvo requires dealers, NOT owners, to do valve adjustments and injector spray tests. We have found out that Volvo engines are really Perkins parts, painted Volvo green. I am amazed at how many pieces they can be decomposed into and that they can be put back together too. Philibert couldn’t have been nicer as he responded to our questions and checked everything out.

Frank, who owns Inboard, is originally from Sweden. The garage is about a ten minute walk away from the dock space, so they have adapted a Swedish mail delivery cart for parts transport. The shop is fully stocked with a variety of parts and is the dealer for the Caribbean and Latin American region. Like kids in a candy store, we were tempted to buy one of everything.

We stayed on the dock an extra day before heading to St. Anne, so that we could travel to Fort de France to meet Krystal. We had tried to figure out when the buses run to town and came to the conclusion that they stopped at 5 or 6 pm. No problem, we’ll get a taxi. I had thought I was very smart when I checked in at Fort de France and took a photo of the taxi sign with phone numbers. I should have tried to call them then as neither number worked. No problem, we’ll thumb a ride. We have been on walks on many Caribbean islands and had cars slow down to ask us if we wanted a ride; we always refused since we enjoy our walks. Not the case in Martinique, after 45 minutes of alternate thumbs, we gave up. Hence the bad pizza. We realized we could only meet Krystal during the day.

After Case Pilote, we chose to stay at St. Anne, rather than head to the boat city that is Le Marin. St. Anne is a nice seaside village with a few good places to eat. Our friends on Receta took us to their favorite place for cocktails and croquettes and we enjoyed a few quiet nights at anchor.

Anchors, mooring balls and docks are everywhere in Le Marin. Jason drove us via dinghy from St. Anne to Le Marin. I remember it as a 15 minute ride but he says it was 45 minutes. It was definitely into the waves on the way there. The town is great if you need boat parts, but we were taking a break from boat service so there wasn’t much there for us, other than some tasty kabobs.

Onward now to St. Lucia. Once again, our AIS was a great communicator. We were spotted by our friends on El Mundo as they passed us in the opposite direction.