Saturday, December 13, 2014

Touring Martinique with Jorge & Kim

CS'ta Time at anchor in St. Pierre, Martinique

Together with Jorge & Kim, we rented a car to explore the interior of Martinique. We are at anchor together in St. Pierre, which sits below the Mt. Pelee volcano. The guidebook describes the views from Mt. Pelee's summit as stunning; so we decided to drive as near to its'summit as we could. We were rewarded with a spectacular view of ....

  cloud!

From there, we drove down to the east coast of the island, and chose the left fork which took us north along the coast. We came upon a banana plantation and processing plant. The staff didn't seem to mind our presence, and took some time to chat with us. 

banana plantation
(the bags deter birds and bugs from the fruit)

transporting the banana stalks to the processing plant

an impromptu tour given by staff

picking and sorting the bananas

discarding the empty stalks

washing the fruit

grading and labeling 

boxing for overseas transport

rejected bananas become cattle feed

Afterwards we followed the coastal road northwards to Grand Riviere, where we stopped for a delicious lunch. As near as we could decipher, we had ordered the daily special (which included desert). We wondered what it would be. We were served a tasteful creole fish dish. Desert was a choice of flans, all good.

Grand Riviere

The road ended at Grand Riviere, and so we retraced our path southward along the coastal road, and back up into the mountains; choosing a southern fork, then a westward secondary road through more rain forest, back to St. Pierre on the west coast. This island is incredibly lush.

a crossroads in the clouds

overhanging bamboo

vines from the sky

From St. Pierre we followed the coastal road north to its' end point, then back tracked to Le Precheur, where we enjoyed a cold one.

 fishing boats at Le Precheur

one last brew together

We had a memorable last day together, which ended with tears and hugs. Jorge & Kim are traveling north and returning home. We've decided to linger in the Caribbean for another season, and are heading south to return to Grenada for Christmas with our family who are coming to visit. 



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