01/24/2007, South of Martinique - St Anne
The southern tip of Martinique was very beautiful with the Salines beach and its crystal clear waters. The main roads are well paved and the old Renault Clio 3 door with no AC has some punch left in her :) I can already tell that we won't see as much as I thought we would in 4 days of car rental, as every corner has something to offer. This island is a gem but it is too hot in the middle of the day to do much walking around. Today may have been "exploration day" as fishy Spencer pointed out, but tomorrow will be "full exploration day" as we will attempt to cross the island South to North to get to the summit of the Montagne Pel�e, the island volcano at 1,400m - we should shed about 12 degrees going up (we are told) which should feel very good. Apparently tomorrow's weather is supposed to be absolutely ideal for the summit view, so we must try this.... hopefully the car will make it....
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01/24/2007, St Anne, Martinique
Nous avons pass�s nos 2 premiers jours � s'accoutumer aux m�thodes tropicales - faire la lessive, les courses et � manger. Tout prend plus de temps que d'habitude donc il faurt planifier � l'avance pour pas avoir la dalle � midi. Une lessive prend une heure et 6,50 euros. On la r�cup�re mouill�e et on l'�tend pour ne pas avoir � payer le s�choir. Les �piceries sont plus ch�res qu'en France et moins approvisionn�es mais on peut quand m�me trouver son bonheur. Nous avons lou� une voiture (Clio 3 porte sans clim) pour d�couvrir l'�le avant d'�tre sur Norska dimanche. Aujourd'hui nous avons vu la plage des Salines au sud (r�put�e la plus belle de Martinique) et St Anne, un village typique. Demain si on peut se lever � temps pour �viter les embouteillages � Fort-de-France, nous irons voir la Montagne Pel�e. On adore la r�sidence des �les o� nous mangeons en terrasse en admirant le coucher de soleil sur le port de plaisance.. Absolument incroyable....
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01/24/2007, Sainte Anne, Martinique
Today was a day of "exploration," as mom put it. We walked down that same darn road like we do every day, but this time we headed for the car rental. This was basically a small hut surrounded by a mass of small cars of varying color and model, and with some very skillful driving skills by our rental personnel, we were off! Our first destination was Les Salines, a very nice beach backed by some palm trees. Because of our mother's oh so wise request to wear sunglasses in the water with the small crashing waves, she lost hers and we spent half the time tracking them down. Next, we went to Sainte Anne, a delightful little ocean-side village were we found lunch and Shelby got scared of our dad's food (lobster). We then returned to the hotel and Shelby, mom, and I went for a brief swim in the pool. Ray wings were on the menu for dinner.
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01/23/2007, Le Marin, Martinique
Ok, so when we left Ft. Lauderdale after our Bahamas Shakedown, we had little more than our trusty Penn Senator, a handful of chewed up squid, and some rusty hooks. Not much is what most people would say. But, badabing badaboom, a quick trip to the local fishing supplier and that was remedied. A very nice saleslady showed us the tricks of the trade and allowed us to photocopy the holy book of rigs. Our gear is separated into trolling, spinning, and auxiliary items. Our trolling rig consists of a 17cm hootchy (for you Jay) with an egg sinker, a treble hook, and 150 lb. leader. We have enough materials to construct 5 of these rigs. Our spinning tackle is a little more varied. It consists of 9 bucktail jigs, 5 spoons, over 30 shads, about a hundred assorted hooks, over 50 different sinkers, about 10 floats, crimps, titanium leader, spare line, ball bearing swivels, jigheads, and a lot of other differential things. Our auxiliary gear is every thing that doesn't fit into the previous categories. There is a Hawaiian sling, a spear, hook removers, gloves, a gaff, a lobster snare, and stuff like that. I carved a Dorado into a water melon slice at the hotel. That is what is above.
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01/23/2007, Le Marin, Martinique
Today was a productive day at trying out local things and getting equipped for fishing. No fancy breakfast this morning, but we decided we had to go get croissants tomorrow.. too good to pass while we are here. We set off with a list of daily things to do - from laundry (drop a load for 6.50 euros and pick it up wet an hour later) - to getting lunch things at the local market. We bought a fish called "bourse" (red snapper we think) that we were told tastes like chicken. We figured that may help Shelby start liking fish. We also got something that looked like a Chernobyl zucchini (huge), and a very heavy watermelon (I carried it back - can you tell!). The fish did taste like chicken to all of us but Shelby - bummer. The zucchini was no zucchini - more like a gourd - did not taste too good either, but we were pleased to make a discovery. Spencer went to the fisherman shop where the lady was incredibly nice at explaining to him what he needed. She had a cuban reel (called 'yoyo') that you put on a winch while you are trolling so that you don't have to monitor your fishing line, but Spence settled for several colorful skirts (squid-looking plastic thingies) as dorado are attracted by very bright colors, and a kit to make his own lures. She was so nice she lent him drawings on how to make your own lure, which we went photocopied to return back to her. It is so refreshing to see how trusting folks are here. Shelby has been taking naps after naps - makes us wonder how hard school is pushing those teenagers. We don't hear much English spoken here, it is French everywhere - some very easily understood, some too creole to understand - I find women easier to understand. Tomorrow we will rent a car to see more of Martinique...
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01/22/2007, Le Marin, Martinique
Le vol de Porto Rico � Fort-de-France nous a permis de voir toutes les �les que l'on verra pendant notre voyage - de Porto Rico � la Martinique. A l'a�roport, nous avons retrouv� Mamy et apr�s 35 min en taxi, nous sommes arriv�s au Marin o� nous avons annul� notre d�ner vu que tout �tait ferm�. On s'est rattrap� au petit d�j en terrasse avec des croissants et de la baguette bien fra�che.. hummmmmm.... Apr�s �a, nous avons �t� v�rifi� que Norska �tait bien l� et en une pi�ce. Pas de probl�me de ce c�t�-l� comme le capitaine du port �tait absolument g�nial, professionel et en plus sympa. Pour trouver du pain, c'�tait une autre aventure. Apr�s 2 heures de marche sous la chaleur des tropiques, nous avons finalement trouv� la seule boulangerie du Marin. Victoire!. On reste cette semaine � la R�sidence des �les (vue de la baie du Marin du balcon de la r�sidence) qui a wi-fi pour s'accoutumer � la vie des tropiques.
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01/22/2007, Le Marin, Martinique
First day of vacation! (not including the plane rides) How wonderful it felt to sleep like a rock and for at least 10 hours! We were going to need a good night's rest for the big day that lay ahead of us. First, we had a very cute breakfast on the terrace with a gorgeous view. And man those croissants and baguettes were to die for! We then went to the Capitainerie to visit Norska, who was wedged between two mega-yachts. And we thought OUR boat was big and comfortable! Then we went on the daily adventure. To find bread. And boy what a tiring and hot adventure it was. Sweat was pouring down our faces, our feet black and blistered, and we could barely walk.....ok, not that drastic, but it definitely was a HUGE change from the mountain of snow found in every cul de sac in Boulder. And now we are ready to treat our tastebuds to the wonders of wonderful, sweet, and ripe tropical fruit!
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01/21/2007
A quick breakfast and we were off to the airport, again. No problemo with the one way ticket deal. After staying 25 minutes in the plane and the engines going on, off, on, off we received clearance for takeoff. Through the magic gypsy windows, we saw our trip backwards. That was, seeing the islands from Puerto Rico to Martinique. Lunch had Mamy (my mother's mom) at the gate and we heroically hailed a taxi. 30 minutes later, we found the Capitainerie closed, so we missed out chance to see Norska, so we'll have to wait till tomorrow. Papa was bummed, and we finally found out if our tequila was abducted by the Homeland Security Inspector. I went for a quick swim in the complementary pool, and we missed out on dinner, because it is sunday and everything is closed. In case you're still wondering about the tequila, it's still there. We plan to give it to the dockmaster tomorrow for unloading Norska for us.
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