Read: Bahamas Shakedown or Refit or Caribbean or en Francais
First Night on Norska
Catherine
01/29/2007, St Anne, Martinique

After checking out of the residence (and hearing horror stories from the owners who lived 20 yrs on a boat with their children), we had a very nice lunch at Ti Toques and watched the yole race finish. We left Le Marin and motored off to St Anne for a quiet and breezy night. Shelby dove the anchor (holding was great and water at a perfect temperature). Simple dinner (avocado, bloody steak and local very sweet pineapple) Spencer scared the pee out of Bill last night when he went to the bathroom outside (a big no-no), and we thought we were boarded by strangers (after all the warnings from the residence owners). I am typing this post from the St Anne internet cafe, having a harder time than Shelby adapting to the French AZERTY keyboard. After lunch we will have a long sail to Grande Anse d'Arlet, see how my mom does under sail. She leaves tomorrow for Paris. One funny thing about Martinique is the Xmas signs and Santa Claus stay on until now.

Caribbean
Theft and creole wedding
Catherine
01/27/2007, Fort-de-France

Sorry no picture today.... We were all ready to set off for our last exploration day (before we return the car) except we could not find the camera...we looked and looked until we realized that the way we found our backpacks in the car the day before after a short hike was more than the result of poor organization of our part. Our car had been searched by others and the camera was a casualty of the event. The silver lining was that Fort-de-France was today's destination, one of the most provisioned cities in the Caribbean (called "the Paris of the cara�bes"). After coughing up the cost of a decent digital camera (mucho ouch here), we went ahead with our plans and enjoyed the market with its wonderful spices. We learned the hard way that Fort-de-France pretty much shuts down after 2pm on Saturday and given our late departure after the camera search, all stores were closed when we were done with lunch. Nevertheless we did see the Napol�on's empress statue with her head cut off (by vandalism from those who despite the fact that her husband re-instituted slavery), as well as some amazing architecture. We took my mom to the Jardins de Balata, a botanical garden where cr�ole wedding pictures were being taken - Shelby decided on the spot that's where she will get married and Spencer left with a hummingbird skillfully made out of bamboo by local kids. Tomorrow we are returning the car and departing from the much enjoyed r�sidence to move in Norska. End of vacation-style....on to adventure-style.

Caribbean
The beach, the conch, and the asparagus thing
Spencer the fishy
01/26/2007

On this day of heat and sun we went to the beach to have some fun. Actually, we split up in the morning. Papa went to the boat, Shelby stayed at the residence and boldly faced the laundry monsters with her bare hands, like Theseus and the Minotaur without the string, while I went with mom and mamy to the market. Mamy got some fruit, while mom and I went provisioning at "Leader Price" to get stuff that didn't need refrigeration. We all met back at the residence for lunch, and then went to the beach to windsurf, except there wasn't enough wind to do so. A really nice person showed me how to find lambi, or conch. I valiantly went gallivanting into the water in search of lambi. I luckily found one, and I made a little sand fort with a pool of water so it would not run away, while I went after some more. But, in my absence, the evil tribal natives of the Garolagita tribe kidnapped it and roasted it alive! Well, not exactly. But someone did steal it from its little fort. But I got some icecream and I felt better. We then proceeded to hike up a little trail to the giant asparagus plant thing, and then we hiked down it (a lot of people forget to say that part). After a little watch-Shelby-drive-the-car humor we went back to the residence and mom and papa went to get dinner while we ate ours, so they got home and got to eat dinner after. Ooooooohh, and also, papa got these really cool high power binoculars, and you watch people like a mile away. In addition to that, he made us drink rum. No, wait. Actually, he made us drink the rum after he showed us the binoculars, which he did before the rum part. This rum is giving me a headache.......

Caribbean
Exploration Day 2
Catherine
01/26/2007, North of Martinique

The car did make it to the longest exploration day on Martinique, but I have never driven on roads as winding as those north of Fort-de-France. Good thing I was driving as the back passengers did not look too good - they could have played jello like they never had, but somehow did not feel like it. The traffic jams South of Fort-de-France are just like they say in the guides - bumper to bumper from Rivi�re Sal�e to Fort-de-France. The North part of the island is lush with humongous bamboos. The climb to Montagne Pel�e is very steep which makes for a great view, especially when it is not caught in the clouds as it most often is. We got lucky, thanks to the R�sidence des Iles's owners who alerted us of the incredible weather day. The road back from St Pierre to Fort-de-France pleasantly goes by several seaside village right by the beach. Finally Mango Bay in Le Marin is a must stop with great food, great service. We asked for mojito with little sugar and those babies knocked our socks off, rare to have such strong drinks in France. It was packed but we got served in record speed, another thing rare in France :) Today if we can get the kiddos to wake up, we'll see the East side of Martinique and maybe do some windsurfing.

Caribbean
Anyone want to hike an active volcano???
Shelby
01/25/2007, Mount Pel�e, Martinique

Another lovely day in Martinique. Our very first "early" departure (around 7:50....hey, it's early for island time) to the still active volcano Mount Pel�e, the same one that killed 32,000 people in St. Pierre on May 8, 1902. On the way there we were fortunate enough to meet Mr. Incredible! (no, he wasn't in his super suit......but he was a big man wedged in a very small car!) Halfway to the volcano, we stopped at a replica of Le Sacr� C?"ur. There we lighted candles for baby Zach and for Ms. Vlachos' family. After many hairpin turns through the mountains (with some queasy passengers) we finally made it to the summit. Within 5 minutes, we began the climb.....and I'm not kidding when I say climbing, it was all uphill with some steps that were at just the right level to sit at. Thank goodness we had water bottles, because man was it hot.......at the bottom. When we finally hit our turning around spot we had our heads in the clouds.....literally. Since there was no spot to stop and have lunch, we turned our tails around and raced down to the sandwiches that anxiously awaited our arrival. After the hike, we took our tiny car and drove to St. Pierre and took a pit stop at a Earth Science Museum (which consisted of education films and science projects-not a bad break from being scrunched in the car). Finally, we headed back to Le Marin and stopped at Mango Bay for some well-deserved dinner. The adults kicked back with a mohito, while the kids dug into some lovely pasta....mmmmm. After a good night's rest, we're thinking about just taking it easy tomorrow...

Caribbean
Exploration Day 1
Catherine
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....

Caribbean
Sainte Anne
Spencer
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.

Caribbean
Fishies Beware
Spencer the fishy
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.

Caribbean

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