Building skiffs in the Bahamas

27 years ago my marriage to Lawanda ended. Quite simply we grew apart. She wanted a more stable life and I just wanted to keep on looking to see what was around the next point of land.

We had that year finished building the Hogfish and had sailed to Spanish Wells in the Bahamas to start a boat building company there to build out board powered skiffs to be used in the lobster and scale fish industrys there. Spanish Wells is known for their great fishermen, and farmers but had never had a boatbuilding economy. Boat building in the Bahamas was done in the Abacos mostly in Cherrokee , Man O War Cay, and sporadic one off boats in the out islands by individuals. In Man O War cay the Alburys had been building dinghys, skiffs, power skiffs and large custom yachts for several hundred years. All in wood. In the last century the Alburys in several different familys had moved into fiberglass 

Boat production . Willard Albury had the most sought after hull in fiberglass at this time. His main market was in Spanish Wells for the Crawfish industry. Tourism in rental boats had not been started.

The Alburys had been building for many years one off carvel planked skiffs . The wood crooks and knees they needed had become scarce. Also good planking pine was hard to find. They made the move to fiberglass.

I had been coming to Spainish wells since 1977 . Lawanda and I had bought a piece of land there in 78 . I loved the people and fell in with them easily as I loved spear fishing and building boats. They always had boats to repair and fish to kill. We settled into a routine of sailing over from the Florida keys in June and I would work on skiffs to get them ready for the August Crawfish season. I was able to go away for several August fishing trips that would last for 3 weeks. In doing this I was able to spend lots of sea time in all the Abaco skiffs, from wood hulls to the 3 models that were built in fiberglass.

 The Alburys are excellent builders. Their fiberglass boats will last forever. Just beautiful.

My buddys in Spanish Wells were always after me to come over and build skiffs for them. The Alburys were a year behind in orders. Every year boats were lost and the wood boats were dying off.

The year before Lawanda and I had lost our Morgan 34 at sea .( another story) . We had built the Hogfish so this seemed like the perfect job to get us back on our feet and in the Bahamas full time.

Work permits were not a problem. 

When Willard Albury went from wood to glass he picked what at the time was a big hull at 183" long with a nice vee. These boats had when built in wood a spray rail that ran the length of the boat that was 11/2 " wide the whole length. In going to glass he tapered it as it neared the bow. These skiffs also had very tight radiuses on all edges. The boats have a very distinctive look. They are built in solid glass to massive dimensions.

What the locals asked me to do was come up with a bigger longer skiff. More vee as Willards skiff at certain angles would " spank" . The boats slid in a turn, make a mold for a center console , do each boat as a custom order to fit the client ,make it look the same and could I soften the edges a bit.  

Having been in many skiffs at that point fishing and traveling around in up to8 seas for days on end I had a good vision.

The new boat was194" long , deep vee with lifting strakes, freeboard the same as the smaller skiffs, but the spray rail was wider and ran all the way to the bow.

During the start up of this project my marriage ended with Lawanda. She moved to the states to do her thing. I ended up with the Hogfish and all our dept. 

While building the plugs for this skiff I looked up one day to see Rachel looking over the sheer in the skiff hull I was fitting the stringer plug in. 

Long story short it was love at first sight. 26 years later and lots of adventures we are now getting ready for our next cruise. If you do things well in life you get to live many different lives.

After launching hull number one it went off to sea the next day for 23 days. When they came back the word was this was it. The next day we had orders for 29 boats with deposits.

Willard Albury switched to building rental skiffs .

153 skiffs were made from the molds I built. Today half the skiffs in Spanish Wells are these boats and the other half are the modern Panga boats which are better suited to the industry now.

Rachel and I stayed there for 2 years, had our daughter Kalessin and when she was 6 months gave notice and sailed away for ten years. 

We eventually came back and built our home here. I like it here because every one has at one time or another been to sea in my skiff. If you sail into the harbor here just ask anyone for Chris the boat builder. Theyll tell you whats up with my life .

Putty on the plug.

Spraying primer on for final fairing.

Plugg mover around for more space. Waxed.

New shop built. I built all the plugs and molds on a sloping shop space at the water front as they took forever to build the shop. Was a pain to level every thing up.

Mold ready to pull. I like to core my molds. Nobody would belive that it would come loose.

Made my day!

 

My young workers 15&16 years old. Spanish Wells is a white community of Bahamaians that have lived on this island for 350 years. The young boys at the time would finish school at 15 . By 16 or so they would find a fishing boat to go away on. 

Moving into new shop

Laying up hull # 1

# 1 going in 

Production going on. The young Black Bahamians that worked for me were 16 years old when they started. After I left they went on to build 143 more boats with my training over a 14 year period.

Rachel Married me on the beach here. Her only request was that I wear a belt. We were bare foot when married. In cutting the first piece of cake her mom had brought this small wedding cake knife for me to use, I pulled out this cutlass and  did the job the proper way.

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Latest news on the Chris Morejohn Tom Gordon Islamorada Marine skiff and several other home built skiffs a building

Tom Gordon sent me some pictures of our skiff collaboration a few days ago with an update on whats up with it. I also will be sharing some pictures of several homebuilt skiffs that are being designed and built by their owners for their own use. Each one has a different story to go with each skiff.

Here are some shots of the plug being built. Tom is building the plug as a mold that he will build a hull from and then wet test. When satisfied with the hull he will put the infomation he has gathered into the cad lines drawings program that he has made from my original hull lines. He can then with this new info final tool the plug mold and make a perfect plug. From this he will then make the working hull mold.

Sounds complicated but its not. The pictures that you see are a basic plywood jig set up to hold the putty that is being sprayed into this jig-form. Then the computer driven router comes over into this glob of cured putty and starts routing out to the hull lines. When done its perfect. Of course if our thinking is not then we will just end up with another skiff.

Tom Gordon gave my hand drawn lines drawings to a navel architect by the name of Johnny Sebastion.

I love that name. We have never met. Johnny put all my lines into a cad program and faired them with this.

In doing this he could now see the displacement at any angle, with any amount of bow weight and stern weight at any draft. All this and you can see every thing in 3- D moving it about the screen.

From this you can see what the weight could be. That is what the displacement would be at such and such draft and tilted angle.

From here you have to do a hull skin analysis and get your whole hull weight list together. With a computer in the right hands this is the best way to go.

Tom has told me that they are sticking very closely to my rounded stern concept. They ended up moving my upper chine up a bit from my drawing. They have widened the hull a bit as drawn to be able to meet the Coast Guard standards for a 115 HP engine on the stern.

I figured he would do this as the hull lines I sent were to the inside of the hull skin. They have stuck to the hull sides and bottom I drew and have tweaked the aft bottom pads to their current thinking and knowledge. I can see a very intresting detail in the stern vee. Looks to me like a nice keel setup for turning at speed. They ran the stern bottom through many different programs before settling on what you see here. Iam very happy with what I see. Notice how all the hull lines flow. No hard parts or straight lines except for the lifting pads aft.

The skiff will weigh 530 lbs ready to install an engine on. With two 250 lb guys aboard with a 70 hp outboard it will draft 6.5". With the same two guys and a 115 hp motor it will draw 10".

I am looking forward very much to riding in this skiff. I feel this skiff with a 70 hp should be a great all round skiff for the anglers that want to be able to go into some rough waters and still get into the shallows.

The great thing that Tom Gordon is doing is using all of todays modern technology to make a perfect hull with out rushing and worrying about everyone else. This skiff will stand alone when done.

The next skiff here is being built by Jon Conner up in Vermont. He has built several other skiffs over the years and after reading my blog decided to design and build another new model. We have been corresponding this past year going over ideas, the pros and cons etc. of each.

He likes to build in plywood using the stitch and glue method.

With this method you are kinda stuck with a limited amount of hull shape forms. It is hard to add in chine pockets and such as you are not building over a solid building jig and molds.

But a very nice hull can be made this way in a short amount of time.

Heres Jons skiff being stitched up, that is the 9 panels that make up the hull have been cut to shape and have been sewn together using small wire ties. When all together he will roll over and reinforce the inside of the hull with a few bulkheads to keep its shape and then Fillet and glass the inside Chines. After this is done you roll back over and fair the outside and glass this over. Then you add any spray rails or chine details on over this glassing over and final fairing the whole skiff. It looks to me he has the hull secure enough to fair and glass while still upside down. I will have to ask him about this.

Outside and upside down now. You can see Jon is trying out some reverse spray rails up forward on the bow area. He has also added a chine strake aft. We talked about this strake and its pros and cons. Jon liked my chine pocket idea but it would have been time consuming to try and build it into the hull sides when building a stitch and glue hull. My opinion was that adding it to the outside would work but with the liability of a bit of water noise when poling if the boat is tipped back and forth the water running off the top of this external strake could make a bit of noise. 

Jon felt it was worth putting in. He can always remove it. I feel when hes in a fast turn his skiff will be like on railroad tracks and will not slide much with this setup. The black bottom is carbon powder in epoxy. I personally think doing this is a waste of money. If worried about bottom friction or wear then add one more layer of 7 oz. cloth just in the areas of worst abrasion.

Right side up showing the aft strakes.

Nice shot showing the locker space aboard. You can see the aft chine- strake very well here. Lots of lift from this as it will catch the water going out the sides aft and gain lift from this.

Decks going together. Notice his bait well stern box transoms are vertical. Hes gained all the displacement he can by doing this. Also he has no plans to use trim tabs in such a light small skiff.

Nice lines to this skiff Jon. He has been weighing it as he goes along. Will finish out under 300 lbs.

Look at the sheer on this skiff. When building a skiff on the floor like Jon did it is hard to stand back and lean over with your head upside down to get a look at your sheer. To me this sheer is fine for this boats intended purpose which is to run and fish in shallow protected waters. Theres no pretense that this is going to be a rough water skiff. The flattish bottom precludes that to some degrees.

For looks an inch more in bow height might look good, But when running this bow will be up in the air at all times. When poling around it will be sitting perfectly with little windage. Jon fishing from the stern with the added bouancy of his stern boxes will support his weight well so this skiff should pole and float quite level when fishing alone.

This is Jons very simple home made trim tilt braket. See the crank in the stern. With the stern boxes added if they are straight as the bottom in the stern they will act like trim tabs holding the bow down a bit. With this engine trim setup the motor is set back a bit so this would help counter act this. I normally 

Design in a bit of upturn to the bottom of stern boxes. But with a light weight skiff, trim tabs and a biggish engine this is not needed. The skiff will just want to be out of the water when running. So thats where trim tabs help so much.

Here you can see how simple this trim plate is to make. Aluminum can be cut with simple power tools so a setup like this is very cost effective.

Jon says his skiff will be in the water soon so will post the pictures when I get them. Well done Jon !

A very energetic young man by the name of Dustin Bates has been corresponding with me as he has been making a plug and mold for a biggish flats skiff for himself and other family members to build and finish off on their own. He plans on building three skiffs from this hull design and mold. I feel he will be building more though once people see his work.

Dustin started off this hull design by building over an old hull shape that he acquired. He felt this initial shape would be a good starting point for him to add all his ideas and energy too. 

When going this route you can save yourself lots of time and money if the the hull shape you have cost next to nothing and is close to what you invisioned for the final hull. But you will be stuck with a lot of its old shape to start with and this can steer your shape in directions you may not eventually want.

So think about it, draw it out before you start.

Dustin knows boat building and mold making. His last company was Barracuda Boatworks.

We have talked back and forth about details on the bottom of his skiff. My advice to him and to everyone is to keep things as simple as possible and dont make cute gimmicky details.

Dustin liked some of my idea details that I had posted a while back on reverse spray strakes, and chine details.

Lets look at what hes come up with.

Stern looking forward. Because of his initial hull shape being long and straight he has had to deal with that aspect. I would like to see some curve going in forward about midway on this chine. But as you will see it will work with his bow once seeing the whole boat.

Here it is at its forward end. Wow this should really redirect the water flow off the bottom as it goes out and aft. Cant wait to see how this looks underway.

Bow shot before final primer goes on. 

Shooting on the mold gelcoat over the finished plug. Its pretty amazing that just a simple polished on coat of wax will keep this stuff from sticking. But you have to have well designed draft angle in your plug and you must let every process on the building of a mold sit for a few days to vent its gases otherwise things could stick. After having built close to 200 plugs and molds I know pretty much what can go wrong.

Nice, now let cure and then skin coat.

Plug all glassed waiting for its outer core skin and framing. See how nice and neat everything is. The fuzzy edge will be cut off and then wedges will be hammered in the sheer plate with a little bit of water squirted into it to part the mold from the plug. Such nice neat work. A Very exciting time. 

If you see sloppy glass work around a builders molds its a good sign that his boats will be sloppy too.

Ah ! Shes free ! Now you have to grind and trim the sheer edge. Next you go into the mold and sand the entire surface up to 600 grit to smooth out all imperfections. Then next its buffing away for hours.

For this boat size about two days worth. Then let sit and gas off. Then its wax on wax off. Five coats. Will take two days. Then let gas off. Now you can build a hull.

Bow detail. See how long and straight the outer lower chine is. If you start with your own design then that could have a bit more curve in it. But this skiff is going to be very stable at rest. It looks like it should be very dry when running. Lots of stuff going on down there to stay dry.

The thing is with a mold like this if any of those reverse spray strakes need to be removed or shortened its just a matter of filling in the mold and refairing. 

Transom details. The little white strips are where the mold stuck to the plug fairing. No big deal.

When building the Whipray plug I used a new type of Bondo type fairing compound that was so easy to use and sand. I went through all my usual steps. When it came time to remove the mold it was stuck completely! I had to tear out the entire plug piece by piece. Luckily the plug was built in cedar strips. About 50% of the bottom had stuck. The plug was destroyed. I later learned that this new putty was giving everyone the fits. It needed days to gas off before spraying on the gelcoat. 

When I got the last piece out of the mold I called Hal Chittum and said we now had a mold to start the project with.

To me theres too much going on in this transom. Like I said before I dont like cute. All those little pockets add drag and turbulence when running. I did suggest Dustin round the corners as much as possible to help with the noise.

I will keep posting Dustins build updates as I get them. This young man needs to be followed as he is doing this whole project in his spare time on his own dollar. He must have an understanding wife.

This next project is being built by another young man that wants his own skiff to guide and fish out of. He cannot afford the current costs of flats skiffs so has taken it upon himself to design and build his own skiff. Ren emailed me a month ago asking some basic questions about foam cores and building a one off. I did not really have the time so just said give me a few weeks and I would post a blog about lofting a skiffs lines and how to set up for building. ( soon).

Ren is a man that wastes no time so these past few weeks he started on his skiff project with his vision in his head and his energy getting things done.

He is building to his own devised method. 

This is the picture he sent me of his temporary plug - mold to form his foam core over. Underneath the plywood veneers are his station molds. I have not seen a sketch but I figure he has draw out his skiff on paper and has cut all his stations from this drawing. Again building on the floor is such extra hard work bending over. But Im 57 now and when I built my first flats boat hull I did it the same way. I had energy to spare back then and I too was in a hurry to get her in the water.

Ren has temporarily laid on a light fiberglass Matt sheeting to hold his plug together.

He has now started to cover his plug with foam core by screwing down the sheets with a limited amount of screws. He intends to pull them out when he rolls over the finished glassed hull.

This is fine. There are lots of ways to hold down the core. I like finish nails as they pull out really easily with only a small hole to fill with putty. 

I have never seen a skiff go together like this. But Iam very impressed by Rens energy and get her done attitude. He should be done with the outside of the hull soon.

Look at this shape. With a bit of fairing this could be the next new skiff.

Keep up the energy Ren.

This skiff I saw on Facebook on a site-group called Trick my Skiff that I follow. I dont know whos building it but a mold in the background in one of the photos looks like one of mine that I designed and built. So.... Someone please let me know.

Iam just showing this skiff to not pick it apart but to share what I see. This might help you to look at all skiff designs with a questioning mind. Please look at all what I say in the same way.

The mold just over its bow looks familiar. The " Plankton-Ultimate Skiff?"

Ok, this is a great looking skiff hull. Love that bow. The chine detail is very crisp. This skiff from here looks like it will run great with a 6 hp.

Now what I question is if its designed to be a flats fishing skiff then with its very obvious shallow draft that very nice chine detail most likely will be very noisy as the boat hull is tipped from side to side. The sharp edge of the chine when coming out of the water will cause a small wave and dripplets that will make noise. Its to close to the surface of the water so will be coming out allot. No one fishes a boat totally flat at all times.

What a nice run. Nice curve to the hull Chines. A great skiff for small HP. 

But the Chines are up too high for being quiet. If this skiff were totally flat bottomed then you would have to really lean over to get its chine out of the water. Not so with this type of bottom. Will only take a few degrees of tilt. The difference between this ever so slightly veed hull and a totally straight flat bottomed skiff in ride would only be in speed underway. And only just a bit. A totally flat bottomed skiff if leaned over by its operator and passengers to a ten degree angle would present a nice vee into an incoming chop. With a veed hull you will end up with a flat bottom when leaning over.

So I feel the dead flat bottom would  give you the better ride if you knew how to run the skiff. 

But this skiff looks so cool upside down. I want one! But without that stern bottom.

Classic shape here except for the stern.

The stern. I would love to hear the explanation for all of this ! I can see some things. A bit of a pocket for less drag when on plane. The steps can act like a keel when turning. BUT ! When turning if this skiff leans just a bit they will not be grabbing but wll be in the air doing nothing. That rounded keel sould have a sharpe edge to it to grip the water in a turn.

All this will add drag when poling. I would like to know how this skiffs turns out.

It should plane out with a 15 hp if built in the 250-300 lb range at about 18 knts.

I sure like its lines but want to know if all that stern bottom stuff works.

Its back to cute stuff. Is it really worth it? Well see. But I would love to have a hull like this with a clean run to the stern, solid glass bottom with cored sides. Nice all round nock about skiff for low hp.

This Last skiff was built by a Bahamain in the Abacos of a Hells Bay Skiff. There are lots of HB skiffs over there fishing the Marls. This photo was sent to me by Oliver White. Thanks Oliver.

When I next sail back home to the Bahamas next summer I will look up this Bahamain and give him hull lines drawings to work from for his next build.

A few skiffs out there being built. Lots of the skiffs today will look very similar but in reality they will all be different as its all in the details that will separate them all. Some will be be real yachts done to perfection but all will float and get you out to the same spot looking at the same fish. Remember this.

I live aboard my own self designed and home built plywood sailboat that is moored in the same anchorages as the wealthiest people in the world with their perfect yachts. We go to the same reasturants, shop in the same stores, drink side by side in the same bars, breath the same air and swim in the same sea. Are they having more fun than me? Do they see the same sunsets differently? Probably not.  The difference is they drink more expensive Rum than I do.

Start building your own skiff, yes it will take a bit of time out of your life. Give up your time on the Internet and you will have plenty left to get building. Think of the satisfaction of catching fish out of your own self built skiff.

The Hogfish Maximus is a very unusual looking boat. But because I built it myself and sail about the oceans in it I get more job offers than I can take to help others with their store bought boats.

 Lets get going!

 

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Hogfish Life the past few months new skiffs Stoner Boatworks update lots more

Will try and catch up on a bunch of things going on with the Hogfish, Rachel and I.

We have sailed as far south as Grenada and are now anchored in a bay off of place called Jolly Harbor in Antigua for the summer. I have a project to do which is redoing all the teak decking on Wild Bird in its cockpit and fore cabin deck. The rest of the 34 year old teak decking I will remove, fiberglass over the underlying deck and Awlgrip to yacht standards. Will show this project on a future blog post when finished.

I get a few emails a day asking advice about this and that from some of my old Flats Fishing boat owners and others that are doing their own designs and making new plugs. 

Following is a sample of whats been going on lately.

My story about finding treasure and the feel of greed was published last mont in the Caribbean Compass. You can read this paper online. Iam homered to be in there.

This is Capt. John Iversons skiff from Louisiana. This is the first flats boat I built in 1983 for Carley Causey.

Jon emailed me a couple of years ago asking for any kind of info I had on this skiff that he had just bought. I sent him all the building photos that I had. We have become friends.

Ten months ago he sent me an email saying that he was moving on to a new boat and would like to give me this skiff free and clear. He wanted it to go back to its creator. Wow, such a kind offer. I explained to him in declining his offer that I was not a flats fisherman so would have no real use for it. 

But would try and help him find a good home for it. Find him at  johniverson3210@yahoo.com

Its still in perfect shape. 

This is a picture that was posted on Facebook of the Stoners Version of the Spanish Wells Marina skiff design that I had put together 26 years ago. In my earlier post I explained my feelings about what this skiff could be when the Stoners Boat Company got their version done. Would it be an improvement or a quick splash to capitalize on the new Spanish Wells Boatworks revamping and improving of my old molds? It looks like a splash from here. Nothing new. But its sitting on its original lines nicely.

Another facebook picture of the hull coming out of the mold. When I look at pictures online and I can plainly see sloppy glass work on a mold I have to wonder whats the boat going to look like in the out of the way places. They have cut off the keel making a small flat pad here. Mark Stoner says its for fuel efficiency. I have seen a picture of the inside and all they have done that I can see is put in a square hatch in the foredeck. So far to me this is a splash. Waiting to see what they will be charging. Iam disappointed so far.

The other day in Grenada these guys were selling these fish along the carnage. They are very tasty when deep fried. This you can buy for cents.

 I just love the colors in this wooden skiff

Next along the carnage is this plywood go fast skiff. These boats really take a sea well and are very fast

Heres some more up in Carriacou on the beach. All bare painted plywood.

A two bow skiff down the beach. These are now only for sailing

My favorite plywood skiff in Carriacou 

Hers one with a bit of detail

Lots of wee as they say.

A new varnished one built in Carriacou

See how the Chines are above the water when at rest. Perfect. 

In the French islands they race these little sloops with big sprit sail mains and small jibs. When the mast is up the boat cannot stay upright so off you must go sailing, hiking out and bailing away.

Sweet transom

The fastest Carriacou sloop this year. Its for sale for $50,000.00 US with a full racing mast and sails.

This is Alexis Andrews Carriacou sloop " Genesis" with Alex at the stern. He has just sailed up from St. Barts to Falmouth in Antigua. Hes buying 1,800 lbs of extra lead from me for these sloops. They all carry inside ballest.

While at Woodstock Boatbuilders in Antigua the other day I got around to talking half models with its owner Andrew Robinson. He was going to order a custom one for hundreds of dollars to give as gift To the owner of the boat he had just rebuilt. I said I could make a bunch in a few hours and would trade for some of his companys tee shirts. 

This I did and he was very happy

Heres a plug that Dustin Bates is building for a personal flats skiff. He has been emailing me questions and sending photos of what hes up to asking advice. He wants to build three skiffs for himself and family.

This is going to be a very stable and dry skiff from the looks of it. Nice plug work too. Iam looking forward to seeing it upright.

Going through some old papers on board I found these old sales brochures from when I worked at Gold Coast Yachts in St. Croix 25 years ago. I worked building their wooden catamarans till they found out I could draw and had lots of design ideas. Next thing I know Iam in an air conditioned office doing conceptuall designs for their future wave piercing power cats. I drew and designed the boats to scale and they took these and gave them to their computer guy to print out.

 

Its nice to see a vision I had many years ago afloat in the Caribbean today. Actually they are all over the place now.

Local fish vendor in St. Pierre in Martinique selling Ballyhoo to eat. Beaks cut off and all gutted.

 Little red snappers for sale. The bucket was not full. Thats all they had

Some trigger fish for sale. Very small. They catch everything and sell it.

These tuna are 14" long! 

Why are all the fish vendors so grumpy looking. I get the women to smile when I say dont cut yourself when buying some tuna.

Rachel climbing up a hill we are trying to get over when hiking along the coast of Guadaloupe

At the top was this great stack of rocks placed by nature.

Hogfish sailing up to Diamond Rock off the south coast of Martinique. This island was commissioned by the British to be a Man O War ship. Wrecked havoc for quite awhile back in the day.

Gayle under a tree on a hike up from the sea side town of St. Pierre. We were going to hike along a 100 plus year old aqueduct that was built by slaves to provide water for sugarcane fields.

Once you started walking along the edge of the waterway you could look down the sheer face the mountain side to the valley below. The water was perfectly clear and clean and fast moving.

In Antigua now it is very dry and dusty, such a contrast to the other islands. Back in the slave days in Antigua they cut all the trees down to grow sugar cane so this helps to not draw in the moisture. Antigua is a very trashy dirty island, the worst place Ive seen. Rachel and I do lots of hiking here and no matter where we go in the bush its full of plastic trash.

There were lots of these big huge trees about

Rachel does not like heights as she says she feels like she wants to jump. All went well though as shes still on the ground with me.

On another hike in Martinique we walked along the west coast of the island on our sailing circumnavigation of Martinique.

With other boating friends we did a 11 mile hike out around the eastern most point of land in Martinique.

You can see our four sailboats at anchor below in this secure lagoon.

The view from the light house was great.

To finish off a nice big Palm tree at a rum estate. There were many about at this size.

We will sail back to Martinique after the Hurricane season in December with our daughter Lillian on her Christmas break to do more beach combing as its so good there. From there we start sailing back towards the Bahamas via Cuba and other islands.

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