After the wedding (which you can read on the post from Saturday 30th April), we spent a few more days in Dominica before we left for Martinique.
We took Rob, Catherine, Dominic and Christopher to Champagne Beach, one of our favourite snorkelling beaches (another is the bay in Pigeon Island, west coast of Guadeloupe). I could've stayed out in the water until I was as wrinkly as a prune from head to toe; it was simply a marvellous experience drifting along, inhaling fresh air from my snorkel and watching the vegetation sway lazily along with the current, and the fish racing around in schools, or else resting peacefully on a sponge or a rock. Due to the volcanic activity underground, there were also tiny bubbles floating to the surface in thin files (kind of like the bubbles in champagne, which is how the beach got its name), which was quite mesmerizing.

Rob, Catherine and the boys left the boat in St Pierre, Martinique for the airport back home on Saturday, leaving Paul, Mum and I alone onboard.

We decided to do a bit of tourism of the lethal volcanic eruption in St. Pierre. If you didn't know about it, it happened in 1902, and killed tens of thousand of citizens. The government failed to evacuate the island after over a week of warning signs that it was likely the volcano would erupt. The local merchants asked the government not to evacuate the town as they feared it would disrupt their earnings after being unable to sell to anyone. The government gave in to them and they along with 30,000 residents were killed the only survivor being a prisoner who was saved by the thick prison walls. We saw the remains of a theatre and the prison. Most of the signs were translated into English, enabling us to learn about the modern history of the buildings. It was quite amazing seeing the ruins of the buildings after the eruption.

After St. Pierre, we headed to Fort de France, stocked up on provisions from the supermarket, and then Port Marin, where we met Totem, a kid boat of three: Siobhan, aged eleven; Mairen, aged fourteen; and Niall, who turned seventeen before we departed from Martinique to St. Lucia, where we are now.

Siobhan and I became good friends, though I got on well with Mairen, too. I didn't see much of Niall, though. I liked their parents as well. Siobhan and I had great fun watching movies and drawing manga (Japanese comics). It was a shame to have to leave them so soon, but hopefully we'll see them next year at some point.