Our Grand Adventure

10th November 2025 | Odometer: 299nm | Martinique

I reallllly didn’t feel like writing in Martinique, so I didn’t! Here is a short recap of our time there.

After chilling in Anse D’Arlet for a few days we headed around to Fort-De-France with the intention of getting our engine looked at by a mechanic (or, in French, a mecanique). It had started leaking a lot of oil, much more than normal, and also we realised it was leaking diesel into the bilge… not good signs.

We spent a few nights on a mooring ball, then entered the Z’abricot Marina. In the end we spent three weeks in November in the marina, first, waiting for the mechanic, then, after diagnosing a leaking fuel pump, waiting another ten days for the parts to be shipped in to repair it, then organising the repair and getting ready to leave. 

We had always planned to use Martinique as our first real pit stop after ‘shaking down’ the boat really hard on the passages north from Grenada, in fact, in my ultra-high-level, loosey-goose plan, we had always planned on three weeks in Martinique – but we were both still disappointed we had to stop for so long to wait for engine parts again – even if it was a sort of plan.

After sitting around feeling glum for a bit, we got cracking into some boat tasks that needed doing while we waited.

It wasn’t all work; we hired a car for the last week and had a bit of fun exploring the island and going to all the shops and feeling like the modern world still existed. In fact, it was really nice to have a break from constant planning and moving. I think we will try and make a point of a longer stop every 6 weeks or so; or at least pull into a marina for a few days of ‘easy everything’.

Towards the end of our time in Martinique, we took a short break from the boat (that’s right, we took a holiday from our holiday) and went off to an airbnb. This was a great mental reset and was fun to get out and do something a bit different. We were shocked to realise we were already 4 months into our planned year off – a third of the way through already. We decided to really lean into embracing the unexpected, enjoying doing things I’d never do normally (like write a blog) and doing our best to focus on all the unique opportunities and experiences this trip is affording us. 

The cruising season is just starting, and I’m hoping we will meet a few more people as things get more social and busy – from what I’ve read I’ll soon be complaining it’s TOO busy haha. We are both feeling optimistic that we know what we are in for now, we have done passages, we know our boat and our own limits. Anchoring, mooring, dinghying… these are all no longer “for the first time” experiences and are way more normal parts of life now. So with all the basics under our belt, everything will be easier now – right? right?!