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Sailing in Le Marin
The largest yachting harbor in the Lesser Antilles, and the multihull charter capital of the eastern Caribbean.
Why here
Le Marin is the largest yachting harbor in the Lesser Antilles and the only place in the eastern Caribbean with a cruising school built specifically around multihulls. Most Caribbean schools teach on monohulls and treat the catamaran as an add-on module, which is backward given that the overwhelming majority of charter boats leaving this harbor are cats. Here the training boat is the boat you will actually charter. The cruising ground runs south to St Lucia and the Grenadines and north to Dominica, so a week of instruction covers real inter-island passages in the trades rather than day sails.
Best months
Le Marin sits at 14 degrees 28 minutes north, inside the Caribbean insurance hurricane box, which runs through November 30 inclusive. Charter companies routinely market an earlier reopening, and that is a commercial decision rather than a meteorological one. December is the first clean month. From December the northeast trades settle at 15 to 20 knots and the sailing stays consistent through to spring. The passage between Martinique and St Lucia crosses open water with real swell, which is the point of coming here, and which catches people who expected sheltered island hopping.
Getting there & around
Fly into Martinique Aime Cesaire International at Le Lamentin and drive about 40 minutes south. Martinique is part of France and the European Union, so the currency is the euro and EU citizens need no visa. The honest constraint is language: instruction here is francophone first, and while some instructors work in English you should confirm that before booking rather than assume it. Le Marin is a working charter base with chandlers, sailmakers and provisioning, so it is an easy place to be based. Courses are liveaboard. The multihull school is a commercial operator rather than a federation club, so ask what paperwork you leave with; the local club is the FFV route and teaches to the French grades.
Skill levels: beginner, intermediate, advanced
Schools & guides (2)
ACM Caraibes
SchoolCatamaran charter operator and cruising school based at Le Marin, also operating in Guadeloupe. Runs an ecole de croisiere teaching on multihulls rather than monohulls, which is unusual in the Lesser Antilles where most schools treat the catamaran as an add-on. Instruction is francophone first.
Club Nautique du Marin
ClubSailing club and ecole de voile at Le Marin, affiliated to the Federation Francaise de Voile through the Ligue de Voile de la Martinique. Teaches to the French national grades and is the federation route in the harbor, as distinct from the commercial charter schools alongside it.
Also good for sailing in December:
Torn between Le Marin and Tobago Cays for December?
A plan settles it for your skill and budget, same-day.