St Pierre
Associate3
Chris & Katie Russell
Fri 9 Feb 2018 19:05
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14:44.15N 61:10.68W
We upped anchor and sailed past the capital of
Martinique, Fort de France, towards the top of the island, St Pierre.
This city had boasted to be the 'Paris of the Caribbean' in 1800's and
had been the capital of the island until a devastating massive volcanic eruption
from the nearby Mt Pelee in 1902 destroyed the town, 30,000 people and all
but one of the several ships at anchor.
We anchored on a shallow ledge outside the restricted
area marking the numerous wrecks. Our first impressions of the town
was that it was rather shabby - although this was to change on our
visit the following day it certainly had not retained the charm described in the
pilot book. The volcano had indeed swept most away and left an awful legacy
of destruction - some of which had been retained as wrecked houses or
remains incorporated into 'new' property.
We dodged a particularly heavy shower in one of the
beach side bars and were rewarded with a rather potent local rum
punch
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