A blustery day on Thursday, March 27, resulted in a boisterous sail to Martinique. The waves were tall and choppy but smoothed out a bit after 3 hours as we approached St. Pierre, our destination. St. Pierre, known as the Paris of Martinique, was the first capital of Martinique and appeared to have been very much a first-class European city in the late 1800s. However, in 1902, the island's active volcano, Mt. Pelee, located just above the city erupted. At that time, little was known about volcanoes so although there were warning signs, they were thought to be meaningless. As a result the city of 30,000 people was decimated on May 8. Even the ships in the harbor were destroyed. Only two men survived, one a cobbler; the other, Cyparis, in prison for murder who later became a Barnum & Bailey circus star, survived for four days in an underground cell. The city is now populated by about only 4000. There is an interesting museum regarding the city before and after the eruption.
Moving on, we loved the market at the dock. Lots of fresh, colorful vegetables, fish, meat and other goods. We bought some fresh tuna--delicious! We're sorry we're having to buy fish though. Our fishing has yielded nothing for quite awhile. Of course, also, fishing is not permitted everywhere.
After St. Pierre, we sailed south to Grande Anse d'Arlet, a beautiful wide bay with a gorgeous beach. Stayed overnight then went on to St. Anne, a nice little town outside Le Marin, a huge sailing community in Martinique. After two days, we moved into the Le Marin area in order to avail ourselves of the stores selling cheap wine, French bread and cheese. Of course, the object of our stay was to sample wines and stock up on those we liked. It's the last good chance to buy French vin de pays at good prices. So, we were there for a week or so.
One day we rented a car and drove up to Fort de France, the largest city on Martinique as well as its capital. It turned out to be disappointing--huge, dirty and run down. However, we enjoyed the ride and were struck by the excellent roads and the beautiful countryside. We crossed the interior to go to the east coast which we had heard was seldom visited. Although the ride was enjoyable, the day turned rainy and cold. Vauclin, the town we drove to on the east coast, turned out to be sailing center for the French. Despite the nasty weather, there were one or two fellows parasailing and windsurfing.
We left Le Marin on Wednesday, April 9, to head to our next island, St. Lucia.
Above are pictures of the DePaz Distillery, a street view of St. Pierre, Jus'Now from a St. Pierre street, a view of the Le Marin harbor and the sugar cane fields.
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