Martinique

Peejay
Paul and Pat Marriage
Thu 25 Feb 2010 00:01

14:36.0N 61:04.2W

 

Midnight – one leg working ok – so cup of tea and some ginger nuts and we got the anchor up and set off for Martinique. 75 mile trip down the windward side of Dominica – should get there before sunset. Good old Margery and her powerful flashlight got us safely past all the shallow water lobster pots in the dark and out into deep water.

 

We took it in turns to sleep and made good progress, dropping the anchor 18 hours later at St Pierre on the West coast of Martinique.

 

St Pierre from the boat

 

 

St Pierre is right at the base of Mount Pelee. This volcano blew up spectacularly in 1902 and wiped out the town and most of the 30,000 inhabitants. Volcanoes seem to be a recurring event in this trip!

 

Mount Pelee from the boat

 

 

St Pierre is a pretty little town with a lovely seafront area. Clearing customs and immigration was just as easy as Guadeloupe. Vive la France.

 

The seafront – St Pierre

 

 

We stayed a second night and explored the town

 

Church in St Pierre

 

 

With one and a half legs now feeling ok we pushed on further South to Grande Anse D’Arlet. This was a delightful bay with good visibility in the water and a huge variety of marine life. Great snorkelling before we headed into Fort de France – the capital.

 

The Fort that dominates the Fort de France

 

We went exploring.

 

School kids judging by the skirts

 

 

The surprisingly named police station

 

 

Two suspicious looking characters hanging around outside the police station

 

 

Not many people know the skipper has a business here

 

 

The Schoelcher library

 

Cooling off after a hard day sightseeing

 

Next morning both legs were working again so we treated ourselves to breakfast ashore.

 

Crepes all round

 

Martinque was nice but we all agreed we preferred Guadeloupe. The people there seemed friendlier. Maybe it was just that Fort de France was bigger and more hectic than Point a Pitre. The beer was good though.

 

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This beer’s talking to me – it says what’s wrong with your left hand

 

 

Nothing actually – see!

 

 

 

 

It was time to head North again before things got silly and visit the Isles des Saintes