St Pierre

Hi everyone,

We have been in St Pierre for nearly a week now.  The weather has been mostly foggy and windy with occasional periods of sun.  Despite the fog the temperature is quite mild.  We've explored the town and the nearby small island of Ile aux Marin.

Sampling the local brew

St Pierre & Miquelon (SPM) has a population of about 6,000.  St Pierre is the largest town.  Ferries connect St Pierre to Miquelon and also to Fortune in Newfoundland.  There's a daily flight from Paris plus other local flights.  Tourism is an important part of the economy which was originally all about fishing.  During US prohibition SPM made a lot of money smuggling booze into the US.

Zen Again alongside the St Pierre Marina wharf

The town of St Pierre is very pretty with colourfully painted houses.  The bakery on the Place de Gen. Charles de Gaulle opens at 0600 and the bread is usually gone by 0730.  Well worth getting up early for their baguettes and pastries!

Mural on the side of the St Pierre Information Office

Typical St Pierre house

Mariner's Memorial on the waterfront

Waterfront boathouses

Lighthouse

Tidal rocks

Dories with launching ramps and manual windlasses

The Heritage Museum is worth a visit.  Interesting exhibits and explanations of the island's history.

Barbara of OCC sv MediaVaS discovered us at the wharf and invited us out to a whisky tasting.  The OCC sv Leventeias came along too.  The distillery has just produced its first whisky (which needs to be aged for at least 3 years to earn the title).

We took a 10 minute ferry ride to Ile aux Marin, a small island near St Pierre.  The island is now a museum with a few residents and small guest houses.  Some of the houses display exhibitts and there are many placards explaining the island's history (in French and English).  We spent several hours exploring.

We've spent much of our time here preparing Zen Again for her next passage.  We will be heading towards Flores in the Azores which is 1200nm away and should take 9-10 days.  We have a good weather window for departure tomorrow (Sunday).

While here we video-conferenced into Fremantle Sailing Club Cruising Section's AGM.  We were very pleased to be named Cruisers of the Year. 

While we're at sea you can track our position here.  We may post blogs along the way.

Trust all's well where you are.