On Martinique’s Atlantic coast, sailing can be a little technical, with swells, trade winds, coral reefs and small passes giving access to privileged anchorages… That’s why we strongly recommend that you equip yourself with the Martinique Nautical Guide, an essential work for exploring bays, islets and white bottoms.
If you wish, you can also schedule a day trip on a sailboat with Dénébola, who will be delighted to tell you more about the Bay of Robert and its islets.
When Jérôme Nouel arrived in Martinique in 1972 as a Voluntary Architect for Technical Assistance, he acquired a small sailboat (a 6.20m Sylphe), based in the Baie des Flamands, with a solid European background in ocean racing and cruising.
A glance at the nautical charts leads him to conclude that the island’s windward coast must offer magnificent anchorages and a constant wind to explore them under sail.
But why do the few sailboats sailing at the time stay in the lee of the wind?
Answer: the local yachtsmen we interviewed described the north-east of Martinique as a dangerous sailing area reserved for a few fishermen.
After scouting from land, Jérôme, aided by his wife Nicole, systematically explored all the passes and bays on this coast, probing areas ignored by nautical charts with a simple hand probe.
They came across the last yawls fishing under sail, the last rafts propelled by pole above the cayes.
At the time, there were no markers other than a few stakes put in place by fishermen, or the békés who frequented the islets.
Jérôme spotted alignments for crossing the passes, which he illustrated with sketches and notes.
He reproduces these instructions and tips with the equipment from his architect’s office for sailor friends who want to discover this part of the island under sail, where outcropping cays abound.
Around 1980, the departure handouts became a small binder sponsored by Trois-Rivières rums, covering the entire island’s coastline.
In fact, Martinique is an exception in the Caribbean, offering a large number of anchorages accessible to sailors all around its periphery, which its two neighbors, Saint Lucia and Dominica, lack.
Jérôme receives his royalties in the form of 2 x 220-liter barrels of rum, which he treats his visitors to for a few years.
When Trois-Rivières terminated the contract in 2000, Jérôme resumed self-publishing with maps still drawn by hand. Reproduction is painstakingly done on a photocopier, and confidential sales are managed by “word of mouth”.
Given the success of this one-of-a-kind book, which is still, at the dawn of the 21st century, the only guidebook describing over 120 anchorages around Martinique, complete with recommendations on how to approach them, Jérôme decided in 2005 to invest in a more professional publication.
He rented a small plane to take aerial photos of the entrances to each anchorage, had accurate color maps redrawn by a cartographer from the UAG, and added general information on sailing conditions, local weather, current regulations, buoyage, as well as what a sailor can discover of the island from each anchorage: historic sites, hiking trails, visits to the seabed, not to mention the list of services on offer.
This Guide Nautique de la Martinique is a substantial initial investment. A thousand copies are printed every 5 years by a very good local printer?
It is on sale for around 55€ at the large Cultura bookshop (Z.I. Californie in Le Lamentin) and at Shipchandlers (Sea Service in Fort-de-France; Le Ship, Caraïbe Marine and Clipper Ship in Le Marin).
It is regularly updated by an update sheet listing corrections and additions.
Its latest edition, published in 2015, is still the reference work for discovering Martinique from the sea and from a sailboat, and is still unrivaled by other nautical guides that only briefly cover Martinique in the midst of the other Caribbean islands.
Obviously, the Guide Nautique de la Martinique is not intended to replace the official books and charts published by the Services Hydrographiques de la Marine, which are indispensable for sailing, but it is a valuable aid to discovering the island’s riches.
Jérôme’s local yachting friends feared that this book would bring a host of sailing boats to the côte-au-vent, spoiling their little corner of paradise.
But curiously, unlike the côte-au-vent, the number of sailboats hasn’t increased too much.
So, for almost 50 years, this guide has satisfied a large number of local sailors and visiting boats. Jérôme has received nothing but compliments and thanks, which is exceptional in an environment often prone to criticism.
Considered a local specialist, Jérôme is sometimes asked by journalists from specialist magazines such as Voiles et Voiliers and Voile Magazine to take them out to report on Martinique’s magnificent windward coast.
These articles reinforce Martinique’s reputation as one of the most beautiful sailing spots in the Caribbean.
For this book, Jérôme Nouel was named Chevalier de l’Ordre du Mérite Maritime by the French Minister of the Sea in 2021.
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