We had a raucous sail from Dominica over to Martinique. We woke up in the morning intending to stay for a couple more days in Roseau but the weatherman said the seas between the islands we going to build to be very large and uncomfortable for the next week, so a not so quick trip to customs to check out and off we went. Off the tip of Dominica the winds were blowing close to 30 and the seas were already becoming steep. We couldn't imagine what it was going to be like the next day.
We arrived in St Pierre, Martinique on Saturday of Easter weekend. Very few shops were going to be open before the following Tuesday. What was open though were the restaurants on the beach. They all had very loud stereos and tried to drown each other out. This made for quite a cacophony out on the water. Fortunately, by 7:00pm, they all shutdown and it was quiet again.
The one big redeeming aspect though, we were back again in the land of baguettes and chocolate croissants. Yum!
With the folks on Cutter Loose, we rented a car again and drove around the northern part of the island. Much like Dominica, Martinique is Volcanic in nature. This means roads going up the side of nearly vertical mountains with lots of twists and turns and switch backs (Tom really misses his "Red Racer" at times like this) that make driving very slow. Just as well, the scenery is spectacular.
On the way back down, we stopped at a Rum distillery for a tour. The plantation and distillery had been wiped out in the volcanic blast that killed 30,000 people and destroyed St Pierre in 1902. The lone surviving relative of the original owners moved in and rebuilt the entire operation. The operation of taking raw sugar cane and converting it into rum is very fascinating. Almost nothing is wasted as they use the sugar cane husks as fuel for the boilers that drive the cane crushers and heat the juice in the stills. The ash that is left over is spread back on the fields as fertilizer.
Off to Fort de France, or so we thought. The boat, Wind Swept Dreams, came on the VHF to tell us that the authorities were clearing the harbor of anchored boats due to a Transat race (trans Atlantic). So, off to Anse Mitan across the bay. Yeah! Cary's favorite stop so far. Beautiful bays to swim, little boutique shops, and new cruiser friends from Portland on Wind Swept Dreams. Anse Mitan is a small version of the French Riveria including topless, and sometimes bottomless, women much to Tom's delight. He has become so acclimated that now he hardly notices.
Hitch hiked our way to the Empress Josephine's, of Napoleon, plantation where she was born. Very interesting history. She went to France at 16, married, widowed, courtesan, married Bonaparte. She is called the grandmother of Europe as her lineage is still in royal families.
Took the ferry across the bay to Fort de France which is actually quite a nice large city - lots of shops with the latest Parisian neon colored fashions, a library designed by Eiffel and transported to Fort de France, and a huge open air market.
Yoles are sailing canoes specific to Martinique. 12 men in a boat with large brightly colored square sails balancing on boards moved from side to side with three men on the tiller. This is a graceful ballet of precision team work and lots of yelling.
Our last stop in Martinique is Ste. Anne/Marin. Arrived just in time for a music festival with a variety of performers, provisioned, grabbed our last French baguettes and croissants before checking out to move on to St. Lucia. All British from her to Grenada.