We left Dominica the day after the Appreciation Dinner. Heading south for Martinique means we are leaving the Leeward Islands and entering the Windward Islands. Also, since Dominica was the farthest we ventured last season, this is new territory for us on Pratique!
We arrived in Saint-Pierre, Martinique in the afternoon, and quickly discovered that the anchorage is beautiful, but tricky since the depths fall off very quickly from the shoreline. This means all the boats occupy a narrow strip along the shore--too close is too shallow, and too far off is too deep. After re-anchoring once, we found a great spot close to town.
St. Pierre anchorage, Mt. Pelee in the background
Full moon at sunset, St. Pierre
At the tourist office
We quickly learned about Saint-Pierre's history. Before 1902 it was called the "Paris of the Caribbean" but in 1902 the town was completely destroyed by a volcanic eruption from Mt. Pelee. Except for two people, the entire population of 30,000 was wiped out by the toxic gas that flowed from the volcano into the town.
Remains of the front stairway of the Grand Theatre
We learned about the lone survivor within the center of town, who was a prisoner in this dungeon:
Dungeon of Louis-Auguste Cyparis
He survived only because the ventilation of his cell was so poor that the gas from the eruption wasn't strong enough to kill him, and he was found alive four days later. He later became a celebrity, touring with the Barnum & Bailey Circus as "The man who lived through Doomsday."
Further south along the west coast of Martinique is the large Bay of Fort-de-France. We took a few days to anchor in the city's busy but convenient anchorage.
The old Hotel de Ville
Susan's favorite store display
I get buzzed at Hair Star in Fort-de-France
Next we jumped across the bay to visit Anse Mitan and Les Trois-ilets, and we celebrated Susan's birthday at La Villa Creole restaurant, which was a really nice find. Around the corner and further south we snorkeled at both Anse Noir and Anse Dufour, and then we moved on to anchor overnight in Anse d'Arlet.
Next morning, on to the south coast of the island! We rounded the southwest corner of the island and passed spectacular Diamond Rock
Le Rocher du Diamant
We had a spirited upwind sail to Ste. Anne and Le Marin, where Pratique spent the better part of four weeks!
Le Marin
Ste. Anne, looking out to the dinghy dock and the anchorage from the church.
Diamond Rock is in the background to the left
Both Ste. Anne and Marin are cruisers' paradises. Ste. Anne's anchorage is a vast swath of 10-20' of water over mostly sand, and you can basically close your eyes and pick a comfortable spot and not be anchored on top of any other boat. The village of Ste. Anne is quaint and very friendly.
The Cul-de-sac du Marin is a very sheltered harbor with hundreds of slips and moorings and a lively town with lots of services. While there we took advantage of an invitation from new friends Margaret and Dave, to tour the east side of Martinique by car. They are guests of our friends Peter and Mary on Rubicon, and have spent a lot of time in Martinique. We drove up north to the Caravelle Peninsula and to the ruins of the Chateau Dubuc, an old sugar plantation with a great self-guided tour and hike:
One of the many ruins of buildings to explore at Chateau Dubuc
This next one was of interest to us. I'm thinking what's left of the "infirmary" is the broken foundation rather than the little wood shed:
"Hospital"
Most of the self-guided tour of the grounds was by a fancy programmable headphone set, but there were several older "sound monoliths" scattered around that provided some very funny (unintended) audio presentations. Here are two of them--Try to translate the Franglais to English yourself:
Listening to one of the audio presentations. Keep it together!
Next stop was a very well done banana museum called what else but "Le Musee de la Banane" As opposed to our beloved "Banana-ville" on Guadeloupe, this was the real deal. A long, winding trail leads past innumerable examples of the world's banana varieties:
Back in Ste. Anne it was time for Susan to fly home to meet Rachel for a two week "Spring Break from B.U. and Pratique. I had to fend for myself:
Night 1: Pasta and sausage dinner!
Fortunately, not long after "Night 1" alone, some of the other cruiser friends we had met came to my rescue early:
Night 2: Big spread and a night of "10,000" with friends
Many thanks to Barbara and Tom on Kalani, Mark and Donna on Persistence, Phil and Judy on Rum Runner, and Wayne and Mary on Meander for taking good care of me during Susan's absence!
Barbara sets the camera up while Wayne looks on
One of the challenges while island cruising is staying connected. In Le Marin I signed up for a local hotspot service, but I found out quickly that while on a mooring at the Marina the hotspot doesn't work--I suspect the marina blocks it so you have to pay for their service. But I already paid for two weeks, so the only solution was to jump in the dinghy and motor down the channel to connect! Here is one of my first selfies ever!
At float in the channel, but well connected!
Now you know why it is so hard to keep up with this blog in real-time!
