Road Tripping With 'Banyan' - Day One
12 December 2013 | St. Anne, Martnique
Lynn
"Hey Dave, Ken and I are thinking of renting a car to do a little tripping and a little shopping. You guys interested in joining us?" Well, as it so happens, Alexandra and Dave on 'Banyan' had the same idea, and were one step ahead of us, as they already had the car, we had just beaten them to the radio call.
So, the four of us piled into the diesel powered Peugeot and decided to head towards the Diamant area of the island, which isn't all that far away from St. Anne. Ken and I had seen some of the area while negotiating the local bus system, but never with the opportunity to really have a chance to explore it - bus drivers don't tend to stop for photo ops, except maybe in Grenada. First stop was in le Marin, as Dave was looking for a couple of boat items. It was so much easier getting there by car this time. Ken's blistered and beaten feet were grateful for the break.
After the le Marin stop, we continued on to the Nature Preserve area that takes over a decent chunk of the island in the southwest. We have been moored here before, in Grand Anse d'Arlet, but there are some places the dinghy can't get you to, or are a little too far to walk to. We stopped in a little town by the Grand Anse Diamant, a big beach area, and picked up the "doings" for lunch, a poulet boucane, and the obligatory baguettes. Poulet boucane is chicken that is prepared in a barbecue/smoking combination. Coals and cane stalks and leaves create the heat and smoke, and a whole lot of flavor. Add in some "sauce chiens" (no, it does not have dog in it), a creole sauce with onion, some other diced veggies and herbs and spices, and you have a meal fit for four cruisers with an appetite. We carried that with us a little way before devouring it.
We stopped at a memorial to a ship wreck by Anse Cafard. An unidentified slaver ship had anchored off the treacherous lee shore, and ended up wrecking. The white crew all perished, as well as some of the captured Africans, but 86 of the "cargo" survived the ordeal with the assistance of a plantation owner and his slaves. The memorial is of large human shapes, from the torso up, done in white (the traditional Caribbean funerary colour) in a triangular shape (to depict sails) and it is oriented to face 110 degrees on the compass, facing the Bay of Guinea where the slaves would have been loaded onto the ship. The survivors were eventually sent to French Guyana, as their status was a conundrum to the local authorities, and they didn't want to create a group of people with a unique status (they couldn't be slaves, but were they free people?). It has a quiet "wow" factor that is very striking.
Next stop was at a view point of the famous "Diamond Rock". This is the rock the English set up as a base for 17 months to create havoc on the French back in the early 1800's. According to the info provided at the viewpoint, it really was never registered as "HMS" (an English naval vessel) and there was no mention of the rum caper that lead to the English losing their rock.
Our lunch stop was at a trailhead that I knew well, as it was at Grand Anse d'Arlet. We sat on the steps in the shade and enjoyed the meal.
We drove along the south side of Fort de France Bay, and made our way towards Fort de France. We figured a trip to La Galleria may be useful to all of us. Alex and Dave knew nothing of it, or the HyperU supermarket there, and I knew that there were a couple of things that Ken and I could get accomplished there. We all had mostly success. After that was a trip to the Intersport sporting goods store. Dave was looking for a U-bolt bike lock to replace the one that died for their dinghy, and Ken and I are always looking for clothes or shoes that work for us.
We managed to find our way back onto the highway, and headed back south to St. Anne. It was a good day, and we got back in time to catch some of the sunset.