A very exciting report is coming your way today, so sit down and brace yourself!

After our last night shift on the Atlantic, Martinique has been visible as a glow on the horizon since about 4:00 am. From 6:00 a.m. after sunrise then clearly in sight, you can see the outlines of the island through the morning haze. The closer we get, the more colors and shapes of the island we can see. Everyone is on deck for the moment, looking forward to seeing land again after 23 days at sea. We follow the signal of a sailing ship, which also seems to be heading towards Martinique. It’s the MANATEE, the ship of a YouTuber whose videos we used to set up our satellite phone back on December 22nd. We make radio contact and thank you for the video, which made the setup a lot easier for us, and loosely arrange to meet up for a beer when we have all arrived at the marina.

Unfortunately, the last “meters” of this trip didn’t turn out as planned. About 20 nm before the finish, the engine breaks down after pushing us to the sails in the direction of Martinique as reinforcement for almost a whole day without any problems. Again radio contact with MANATEE and receive the offer to tow us to the next anchorage. However, the MANTEE only has an 80 HP motor and is also much smaller and lighter than us. We report to the marina and describe our situation. Should report back in half an hour…

We use the time and undertake a repair attempt. The engine sounds like it’s running out of fuel to start. So we decide to change the diesel filter. However, since the screw continues to turn during the journey even when the engine is switched off (we use it to produce electricity), we first have to bring the ship to a standstill. The associated maneuver is called “enclose”. Unfortunately the built-in diesel filter is very clean and almost as expected this does not solve the problem, the engine still refuses to start. In the meantime we have received the number of a tugboat from the marina who might be able to help us. We should be towed to the gas station, from there the marina can help. However, today is Sunday and there is a regatta in the bay – the harbor and the entrance are closed until 3.30 p.m. and nobody can get in or out until then. Finally we reach the tug company, but when they hear about our ship’s weight (37 tons), they quickly dismiss it because their tug is too small. But as a consolation we get the number of another company with a larger ship. Unfortunately, that cannot go out on Sunday because one of the two required crew members is missing. We agree that we will be towed into port at least the next day (Monday) at 8:30 am.

We continue cruising in the bay and in the meantime even consider going to the anchorage under sail. But that would be too dangerous if the anchor didn’t hold. With the binoculars we can catch first impressions of the palm beach in the afternoon, at least from a distance. Unfortunately, the prospect of another night with night watch and tacking in the bay so close to the destination is not good for the mood on board, especially since the weather forecast speaks of increasing wind. Then Franziska has the saving idea when looking at our chart plotter: we radio a passing fishing ship. Unfortunately without success at first. We don’t give up and make ourselves known with horns and light signals and finally the captain of the ship changes course and comes towards us. When he came within earshot, we described our situation in French as far as we could and asked for help towing. The captain immediately agrees to help us and we get the tow line ready – of course it’s starting to rain right now. After a few minutes we are wet, but we are behind the fishing boat “Great Story” and are heading towards the marina together.

Andreas makes sure that when darkness falls, we adjust our lights accordingly as a “towed vehicle”, which brings us the attention of some sailors lying at anchor, as we will find out the next day. Meanwhile, the unexpectedly large catch is being filmed by the fishermen with their mobile phones and we imagine that one or the other waft of grass smoke is blowing our way. Now we prepare the fenders and lines so that when we arrive at the jetty we can quickly stop and moor the ship. To be on the safe side, we also clear the anchor in case we run into problems during the manoeuvre. We want to inform the marina about our arrival by radio, but outside of the opening times (Sundays until 1 p.m