Sailing with the Treleavens

Its amazing how long the arms of a hurricane can extend. The hurricane that passed through the US Virgin Islands last week created a huge wave system.

We have arrived in Martinique on route to the yacht in Grenada and were astounded to wake up in the morning on the shores of Anse Mitan to see absolute carnage. The restaurant and marina Le Ponton has gone. All that remains are the concrete piles and a shell of a restaurant. The beach near by is mainly stones with several wrecks on the points. The resort inside the collapsed breakwater around the corner has several wrecks on the beach and the exclusive appartments there are closed. All this was caused not by wind but just 3 to 4 metre waves created by the hurricane 250 nms away.

This is the 4th time in 10 years that Le Ponton has been destroyed and with no insurance this time he has retreated to the golf club to open a restaurant. It will be a long time before the marina is replaced if ever.

We spent a long time in this bay and it is sad to see all the damage. But it is amazing how the locals just take it in their stride and life goes on.
It proves to us that taking care in storing your yacht safely during the hurricane season is so important.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 27th, 2008 at 2:51 am and is filed under 2008. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.