2024-06-09 Another week at St. Anne

Still at St. Anne, but plan on leaving after lunch to sail down to St. Lucia.

St. Anne is a sleepy touristy town but not too touristy which is great.  There are two main one way streets in town lined with some tourist shops, restaurants, a grocery store, and not much else.  Of course there is a French bakery as well with great pastries.  The "BEST" ice cream shop in all the Caribbean but it was closed for the month of June so can not confirm this :(

One of the main one way streets

Town square, right off the dinghy dock

One large church in town, can hear the bells every 1/2 hour from the boat

Nice church inside as well

Off the main streets, the streets look normal Caribbean

The other main street

Near the tourist and police station, odd decoration.  Fake grass with decorations.  

Subtle but nice rock work

Not a busy week, but did go on a couple of hikes with our friends Matt and Sharlie on Matcha.  First hike was about 5 miles round trip along the SW coast on the Les Salines trail.   A nice mostly shaded hike along a well marked trail that's relatively flat.  Lots of scenic views of the ocean and some nice beaches, and lots and lots of crabs.

Lots of the Blackback land crabs along the trail

Had to watch where we stepped in the shady leafy areas due to so many crabs

Nice little bridge on the trail

Nice coastline and beaches

One thing about the beaches in on the west side of the Caribbean islands - no shells to speak of, just lots of soft sand.

Very scenic walk with overhanging trees giving shade

Some roots to avoid, but most the trail not like this.

This crab was plentiful as well, but mostly in rocks, and hard to spot

This little hermit crab needs to find a bigger shell soon.

An old road across a marshy area, no longer used

After our hike, we stopped for a nice lunch at Pirates Beach restaurant.

Pirate themed restaurant

Got a kick out of how the bill was presented in a pirate chest.   

We did go into the main town of Le Marin, picked up a new boat hook as since we had lost one overboard and wanted a replacement.   Le Marin has more chandleries than anywhere else.  There are 17 listed supplies for work - sail lofts, welding, electronics, engine work and more, and 6 decent sized chandleries.  Its only 1 mile from the two furthest away from each other, but there are 5 dinghy docks you can use to easily access all the stops.  It is truly a mecca for boat work.

We went on a short walk with Matcha later in the week.  There is a switchback road we can see from the boat, and Kris had to walk up it before we left.   It is  called the Monuments Rue du Calvaire a path dotted with monuments describing the crucifixion of Christ, and at the top is the Sanctuaire Notre-Dame de la Salette  built in 1731.   Walk had great views of the harbor.

The zig zag walk going up

Markers at each turn

Great view at the top of the anchorage

Looking down, you can spot Dean and get a better perspective of the incline

Some pretty flowers along the way

First snail we have seen in the Caribbean.  Wonder if this one will be someone's dinner at some point.  We have seen Escargot on the menu at a couple spots.

We will leave later today, and head down to St. Lucia.