Thursday, May 14, 2015

'Waiting for Weather' in Martinique

Martinique is a favourite island of ours and a great place to be while "waiting for weather." The native Caribs called this island Madinia - Island of Flowers. It is the largest of the windward islands, and is a part of France (yeah, patisseries!). It is mountainous and lush with great trails, and also has excellent roads (& they drive on the 'correct' side of the road) and a strong economy.

We stayed a few nights in St. Pierre, a very scenic anchorage with a view of Mt. Pelee. We rented a car from 1pm, so we had use of it for 2 half days. In the mountains to the south of St. Pierre, there is an extraordinary walk along the Canal de Beauregard. Built by slaves in 1760, this canal brought water around a steep mountain to supply the distilleries of St. Pierre. It's an easy walk, as long as you're not acrophobic, for you walk along the outer canal wall, which is about 18" wide, and the panoramic views are often dizzyingly precipitous.

 Walking 'on the edge' on Canal de Beauregard





panoramic views

best not to look down!


We were way high! See those tall palms below...


rice paddies??

After our walk, we drove in the countryside where there was much cultivation ... bananas, sugar cane, tomatoes, etc.

bananas

tomatoes!

We stopped to harvest some mangoes which had fallen to the ground ... Gil couldn't resist.

an embarrassment of mangoes

On the following day we drove north of St. Pierre until the road ended and then we continued on foot along the trail to Grande Riviere. We came to the ruins of Couleuvre Plantation, just inland from Couleuvre beach. 



steam generator

distillery

remnants of the vats


Couleuvre beach

wild orchids on the trail

Back in the car, we headed up Mt. Pelee as far as the road took us, but that was into the clouds, so no pictures of what may have been a spectacular view. 

From St. Pierre, we sailed to Anse D'Arlett at the southern end of Martinique, where we staged ourselves for our departure south. Our wait for weather was coming to an end, and it was almost time 'to go' again.

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