|
Home Port Our Logs The Crew Calendar Favorite Links The Boat Photo Album Route and Charts Miscellaneous Stuff |
Larry's LogWe had been underway to Martinique for a total of 9 hours. It was a long day and was made worse by the rough waters between islands. The boat was completely encrusted with salt from the spray and water that came over the deck. WE were completely encrusted with salt from just being out there. After a quick dinner, we took showers and went to bed. There was a small disco that had some loud music that kept us awake some, but eventually it stopped. In the morning, it rained a bit, washing some of the salt off. We got up and listened to the morning nets and spoke briefly to Mima, who was a little further down the coast. We saw that the Saturday market was in full swing on shore. St. Pierre looked like a nice place to walk. We also wanted to clear in so we ate breakfast of our Dominican grapefruit, got the dinghy launched and went in. The town dock had been nice but was destroyed by Hurricane Lenny and there was only a small area to land dinghies. We went to customs only to find them closed. We asked a gendarme if they were opening later but he didn't know, so we just continued with our little tour of the town. We went into the remains of a theater that was destroyed during the Mt. Pelee eruption of 1902. We could see that it was once of grand proportions and the pictures we saw were really beautiful. We were also very lucky to be in St. Pierre that day because the French Minister for all their "Departments" (territories) was visiting. He and his entourage had come in by helicopter and were taking a tour of the city. There were cameramen and press all over and the mayor of the city was also there. It was really nice to be there on so important an occasion. After the theater ruins we saw the prison where the only man to have survived the eruption was found. He was a prisoner in a "dungeon" which actually protected him from the hot gas and smoke. He was found three days after the eruption and was close to death but survived to tell the tale. They had restored the place were he was found - very interesting. Walking back to the dinghy, we got our baguette and then ate lunch on the boat. No brie left but the bread was really good. We ran the watermaker that afternoon and just relaxed, although Diane made banana bread with some of the bananas we got from Dominica. Excellent. The next day, Sunday, April 22, we spoke to Second Tri a bit in the morning since they were due to come in a day after we did. They had left but turned back and moored at Roseau because they had hit terrible conditions going around Scott's Head. Jack reported wind gusts up to 60 knots and 12 to 15 foot seas!! I would have turned back also! They said they would be taking another land tour but they would catch up with us and Mima soon, probably at St. Anne. I was very glad we left when we did, even though conditions were bad they hadn't been terrible. We went into town to walk around a bit and get some croissants and a baguette. At around 11:30 we went back to the boat. It had been raining on and off for the entire morning but it started to clear up by the afternoon. After lunch, we just relaxed and Diane updated her logs while I read. Kind of a slow day. Monday we tried to clear in again. We went in at a little before 8 (the Customs guy was supposed to be there at 6) but still we rang the bell with no answer. So, as planned, we walked to the Depaz Rum Distillery. We had spoken to Tom on Mima and said we were going to a rum factory and he said to get a taste for him too! No problem Tom. I had brought the camera and we both had daypacks, and it was hot. People said it would take about 30 minutes and it did, up a slight incline all the way! But the grounds and the self-guided tour were very nice. They still used steam engines to power the machines that grind the sugar cane and had a little museum with old rum distilling tools. It seems that after the eruption of Mt. Pelee, an member of the Depaz family came back and started the business again. He was obviously very successful and there is a beautiful house on the grounds that attest to the fact. We also did a tasting and found the rum to be very good, particularly the 10 year old variety. Of course, it was also more expensive. They had another that was 30 years old but they weren't doing any tastings of that. On the way back, we stopped at customs again and still no luck. So we went to a local restaurant and had pizza - it wasn't too bad, but very different from what we're used to. After lunch, we went again to customs and since he still wasn't there, we decided to forget it for the day. We would clear in at Fort-de-France, the main customs office when we went there tomorrow. We took some more pictures of the ruins of the prison where the sole survivor was found and some others of different ruins around the town. The pictures of the buildings before the destruction really illustrated the beauty of the place. St. Pierre was the capital of Martinique before 1902. We went back to the boat and made some preparations to get underway tomorrow. We raised the outboard and put it on the stern of the boat and did some other minor tasks. We then just relaxed. |