Ah, Martinique!
05 December 2010
The French Do It Right.
12-4 A perfect sail north took us to Anse D'Arlet on Martinique. We had planned to go to St Anne but this is where the wind deposited us. We hate to use the engine if we can sail, so we will stop at St Anne on the way back south. This is a picturesque village, fitting for a postcard. We need to clear into Martinique so will need to move in the morning, we will return some day to explore this lovely town.
12-6 After moving around to Anse Mitan we cleared customs and had a Cafe Au Lait and a Croissant at a quaint sidewalk spot to do a bit of people watching. A woman walked up to us and started talking and I had to tell her that we do not speak french. That prompted the man behind me to ask where we were from. It turns out that he has is staying here, has a home in France and another in Texas! He has offered to show us a bit of the interior and we are excited to have our own personal tour guide! We meet him back at the Baguette Shop in a few days.
We have moved the boat to the other side of the point and are anchored in Trois Ilet. A charming town not yet overrun by tourists. There is a golf course over looking the anchorage but no one seams to be playing today. A ferry runs every hour over to Fort de France, the main town on Martinique, and the largest city in the Windward Islands. We took the ferry and walked around, watching throngs of bustling people. We spent a good deal of time looking in book stores for an American/French translator but to no avail. Oh well, we do have our Wordless Traveler, a guide with pictures to point at to express what we are looking for.
12/11 Today was the day we met Allan to take us sight seeing. We went to Habitation Clement, an old Plantation and Rum Distillery from the 18th century. The old distillery was used until 1988, now a modern facility is located at a different location. We did see large cask storage buildings with thousands of liters of rhum that were maturing for at least 3 years, some up to 15 years. After a tour of the grounds we had a rum tasting in the visitor center and had some of the best rhum we had ever tried. They produce a special Orange Rhum Liquor for the Holidays and it was like heaven! We do not dare open it before Christmas Eve or it may not last....
12/13 Yesterday we moved north to St Pierre and toured more of the ruins from the 1902 volcano. This is another charming town and yet again my opinion of Martinique has been escalated.