01 Jun 2008, St Pierre, Martinique
As you can see from the photo we are anchored under a stunning volcano off a quaint little town of about 5,000 inhabitants. After exploring ashore we found out the incredible story of this place and the 1902 eruption of Mt Pelee the volcano.
On 7th May 1902 St Pierre was a city of 30,000 inhabitants, with a cathedral, an 800 seat theatre, wide boulevards etc etc. It was the largest city in the French West Indies and known as the Paris Of The Caribbean.
By 8am on the 8th of May, all but one person was dead and the town completely destroyed, after the side of Mt Pelee exploded and a cloud of superheated toxic gas swept over the town with a force equivalent to 40 Hiroshima bombs.
The only survivor was a prisoner in solitary confinement at the town gaol, which is sighted under a cliff and one of the few buildings not completely destroyed. He was found 4 days later by rescuers and later toured with PT Barnum as a sideshow displaying his burns.
The town museum has a few artifacts from the explosion, most notably the molten and bent remains of the cathedral bell, the harbour has the wrecks of about 20 ships that were in harbour on the day of the explosion, and a few stairways and the foundations of the theatre remain in town - that's it, everything else vanished.
If you want to see a photo of the town post explosion take a look at Mt Pelee Album
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29 May 2008, Iles Des Saintes, Guadeloupe
We have just spent a cracking 10 days or so in Guadeloupe, with the exception of losing the Champions League final that is - watched the game in a tiny bar tabac with a huge TV screen, no joke it was half the width of the building!
A wonderful place, Caribbean island charm but part of France, so baguettes, wine and funny little cars as well.
We managed to get a couple of dives in at the Jacques Costeau underwater park - not sure what the park signifies as we watched fishermen hauling nets on the reef, but still some great diving.
From there we sailed down to Iles Des Saintes, three tiny islands just off the south coast. We are at Bourg a small village with no traffic, a boulangerie and a Napoleonic fort. A few days of pottering and now we will head on to Martinique.
We have caught up with about 6 boats we were in the Bahamas with as we now all start to funnel down the island chain towards Trinidad.
On the blog front have added photo albums to Picasa, there is a link on the right hand side of the page.
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19 May 2008, Redonda
We are currently sailing from Sint Maarten to Guadeloupe and have just sailed past a large rock - see photo.
The words, bizzare and strange fail to do justice to this place, a very brief excerpt from the history of Redonda may get you intrigued
"The island of Redonda has been known ever since Columbus as a marker for ships and lately yachts sailing up and down the Eastern Caribbean. But very few people have landed as the island's sheer cliffs plunge straight down into the sea. Ferocious surf and swells pound the one boulder-strewn beach.
Nevertheless, there has been a Kingdom of Redonda for 118 years!
The story began in 1865 when a quarter-Irish Montserratian trader named Matthew Dowdy Shiell was sailing his ship past a lump of rock near home named, by Columbus, Nuestra Señora de la Redonda. His Free Slave wife had already presented him with eight daughters and finally a son was born. Shiell was, of course, over the moon about this so being partly descended from Irish kings and a romantic sort of gent he promptly annexed the island so that his newly born son, Matthew Phipps Shiell, could one day become King of Redonda.
On his fifteenth birthday the boy was crowned King Felipe I of Redonda by the Bishop of Antigua. He promptly elected to drop one "l" from his name. Ten years later the British Government officially annexed the island declaring it to be a dependancy of Antigua. But the act of annexation was also declared not to have affected the sovereignty vested in Shiel, and the British Colonial Office tacitly admitted his claim."
For more on how it then became a monarchy passed through generations of literary types and how you too can become an Arch Duke of Redonda try these links!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Redonda
www.redonda.org/
www.antiguanice.com/redonda/
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