Our first taste of the civilized Martinique was the courteous and efficient professionals at customs and immigration. No hassle. No fees. No interrogation. One simple form completed on computer. Lots of S’il Vous Plait and Merci and De Rien. What a welcome difference from the English speaking islands further south! There is no litter, no loud music, no insects, no beggars and no stray dogs, which we experience too much of on the English speaking islands.
The carnival at St Anne is a modest affair compared to those in larger communities, just about our speed. Featured lots of men in drag, a goat being BBQ’ed in a grocery cart during the parade and plenty of music from traditional instruments.
The street market in St Anne has adequate vegetables, if not the full selection found in Bequia. The spices and flavoured rums are as spectacular as the vendor’s garb. The mixed fruit smoothies, made on the spot, are outstanding as are the crepes.
Martinique is a “department” of France (roughly equivalent to a “province” in Canada). The culture is markedly continental French, to our benefit in the restaurants (cuisses de grenouilles a la Provencale), patisseries (pate de coco), and boulangeries (foie gras de canard). Good french wines are as economical as the excellent Martinique rhum. They have an easy tolerance of our weak french and we got along fine in their language.
Met interesting cruisers from many places and enjoyed the beach-front cafes of St Anne as much as the excellent Belgium Beers on Tap at the internet cafes. Skype worked well here.
We departed St Anne on Feb 9 and sailed around the south side of Martinique to the Baie de Fort du France 20nm to our next anchorage at Anse Mitan. We remained at anchor there for over a week to visit the Cane and Rhum Musee, the birthplace of Josephine Pagerie (wife to Napoleon), the abandoned and overgrown Parc des Flores, and the ruins of Fortin de la Pointe du Bout.
Of course, important time was reserved for beach sitting with our books, french wine, baguette and pate!
From Anse Mitan we took the ferry across the Baie to the City of Fort du France, where Catherine got a Tres Chic coiffure after making her request in French. She’ll keep a cool head now!
We were disappointed to find the Jardin de Balata not recovered from Hurricane Dean, but glad that the hummingbirds remain. Similarly, the downtown Botanical Garden (Parc Floral et Culturel) is still hurricane devastated. The famous la Savane is being dug up for a massive plumbing project. We found the city buses to be economical and easy to use, with the local riders happy to help us find our stops.
On Feb 18 we sailed further up the west coast of Martinique 15nm to anchorage at St Pierre, where the anchor holding is excellent but the gusts coming down from Mt Pelee damaged our sun shade.
We enjoyed two significant celestial events here. There were clear skies for the total Lunar eclipse and another night for the passage of the Space Shuttle just de-coupled from the International Space Station. These two were clearly visible with naked eye, one following the other still in the same orbit.
The history and ruins of the volcano eruption of Mt Pelee are intriguing. Le Rhumerie de Depaz has a wonderful self-guided tour through their facility, ending at le Resturant le Moulin a Cannes which has the best feroce d’Avocat & Noix de St. Jacques A l’Estragon (scallops) in our experience. Catherine will be trying this in Cape Breton!
The internet café at St Pierre has a most magnificent harbour view and a splendid selection of Belgium beers. I love the graphics on the bottles of the Begium ale le fruit defendu.
We departed St Pierre on Feb 23 and sailed around the north end of Martinique 40nm to the windward (east) side of the island. Cruising on this coast is difficult because it is a lee shore and the ocean swells roll in without interruption from Portugal. The harbour entrances are narrow passes through off-lying reefs and sand banks, calm once inside but entrance requires “eyeball navigation” under good light with moderate swell and wind. There are few navigation aids, but many uncharted and unmarked hazards. Be prepared to stay inside the reef if the sea makes up. Don’t even think about making the passes under cloudy skies or at night!
The reward for overcoming these navigational challenges is a nearly deserted cruising area with clear waters, lovely beaches and many fond blancs. We saw only one other cruising sailboat in 12 days, so, of course, there is no “yachting infrastructure”! There are abundant anchorages inside each of the several bays, to provide protection in any wind condition. It was easy to seek wind when needed for generating electricity and to avoid wind when it’s velocity increased. On the east coast visitors are even more dependent on their french speaking ability than elsewhere in Martinique. English is just not known, even in the tourist information office.
In each bay on the east coast there are numerous small islands, each with protected anchorage and beach. Many of the islands are public with walking trails to hilltop views or ruins of former inhabitation. Goats, sheep & iguanas are free range.
We returned to St Anne on Mar 10 to complete our circumnavigation of the island of Martinique and 2 days later departed this lovely island after a too short visit of 6 weeks.
We shall return!
Eunoia and Madeare, aboard s/v "Charlotte D"
"The idea of a good society is something you don’t need a religion and the threat of eternal punishment to buttress. You need a religion only if you are terrified of death." Gore Vidal
