Blogs from Fort-de-France, Martinique, Central America Caribbean

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Saturday June 23 - School ended on a busy note. The week before, we had the Duke of Edinburgh International Award, so I was away for four nights, Tuesday - Saturday, camping with kiddos. I left again on Sunday to go to the Polar2018 conference in Davos for two nights, coming back late on Tuesday evening. Wednesday we finished our classes and Thursday was the Idols talent show. Then it was a rush to get my classroom in order, books inventoried, etc before starting the summer packing. Friday was our last day of work, ending with a bbq, and then by 2pm, I was heading home to continue packing before heading out to watch and support Jeroen in the company run. We ate and got back late only to have me frantically packing away at the ... read more
France
Paris
Paris


We visited Barbados but for us it was a sea day. We slept in, enjoyed coffee and juice in the room, had a leisurely breakfast and headed to the aft pool area. There are very comfy couches and chairs there and because it was a port day is was not crowded. We read there and probably napped a minute of two and then headed to the spa for our massages. Later it was time for happy hour, then dinner and a walk around the ship before bed. Just a wonderful lazy day. Next day we visited Martinique. Believe it or not the main attraction in Fort-de-France Martinique was The library. We decided to just wander the town and see what was on offer. Our first stop was the Cathedral, not to be confused with St. Patrick’s, ... read more
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Fort-de-France, Martinque


Today we need to start with the conclusion of yesterday’s story. We published early or we probably would not have gotten it done at all. One thing we failed to mention is that a large percentage of the land on St John’s Island is a National Park. The land was purchased by one of the Rockefellers a long time ago and was then donated to be a park. As such there are strict rules for development and very limited commercialization. In some cases that has led to delays in repairing hurricane damage. We saw one beachside resort which had a lease on some land, but the hurricane had wiped out everything except the cement works – all but the basic shell had been washed back into the sea. Since there was only 2 years left on ... read more
Joyce and Jerry
Make some noise
Main Piazza at Midnight


Le 08 mars, 2014 Bonjour, Cela fait déjà 1 mois que nous sommes ici en Martinique. Après avoir passé quelques semaines à Sainte- Lucie et d’y avoir fait nos provisions et visité la capitale qui est Castries (la pauvre) et la baie de Marigot (la magnifique) nous avons dû remonter en Martinique pour accueillir mon frère François pour une semaine et le père de Carole pour deux semaines. Et si nous revenions un peu sur Sainte-Lucie; L’entrée se fait habituellement au nord de l’île c'est-à-dire dans la baie de Rodney. L’endroit est très touristique avec hôtels 5 étoiles dont un Sandals et marina tout confort. Après quelques jours de magasinage et de 5-7…., nous décidons de redescendre un peu vers le sud à ‘’Marigot Bay ‘’à 2 heures de Rodney. Nous n’y avions jamais été mais ... read more
Baie de Marigot
Marigot
Martinique


Martinique We sailed the 20-mile journey to meet up with Caroline and Paul on Juno. It was a tight fetch across from St Lucia and we aimed to for the large, secure bay of St Anne. The contrast from the other Caribbean islands was quite extraordinary; from the dinghy pontoons, the shops that actually had something in them, to the lit, paved streets – it was clear that we were in a department of France, albeit one that was filled with sunshine, the holidaying French and sat square in the Caribbean. We had made plans to have a few days with the Junos prior to them disappearing to Antigua to fly home for work. Juno is a stunning Oyster 575 and Paul ensures that she is immaculately maintained. Their life involves 3 weeks a ... read more
Boys reach for the sky
Statue of Empress Josephine
Lashes or vimpers!


It's a long haul from Seattle to Martinique. We stopped in San Juan at El Convento hotel in the old town before boarding the small plane for Fort de France. Not so far away a new hotel awaited us: La Suite Villa, a sweet French Caribbean perch with some of the best food I have ever eaten served in their restaurant, Le Zandoli. The owners, French expatriates, are interested in both the local and international art scene. A painter from Quebec, Niko, arrived for an exhibition while we were there. She specializes in work featuring women's faces. img=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L8r8Z13lUCk/TouE7xp1dVI/AAAAAAAAACM/LZ2rWRYLWPQ/s320/P307... read more


Déjà presque un mois de passé! Hé bien oui, nous avons finalement quitté Ste-Lucie. Mon frère et sa femme nous ont quittés le 8 janvier; nos vacances se sont terminées pour un temps. À notre grande déception, nous n’avons pas pu aller en Martinique, la mer et les vents s’étaient ligués contre nous, il faudra que mon frère revienne pour la Martinique! Nous avons donc marché un peu (à cause de mon pied et du dos de Roseline), les visites se sont restreintes aux abords de l’île Pigeon, la plage, le marché de Castries et une soirée chez des amis venus en vacances dans leur famille. Ce fut une très agréable soirée sans compter que, de la terrasse où nous étions, nous avions une vue directe sur le mouillage au pied de l’île Pigeon dans Rodney ... read more
Un autre « sauvetage de bateau »
Même en vacance il faut travailler
La vue sur le mouillage de Rodney Bay et de l’île Pigeon


Fortunately for us while we were in Martinique our friends on Snowbird were also there. We decided to share a rental car and do some exploring. High on Martin’s list of places to see were some rum distilleries and that sounded interesting to us as well. After picking up the car we headed off to the Pottery Village. This is where the tiles are made for the roofs that we saw in Trois Ilets. We understand that they are also used in Grenada so hopefully we will see those when we get there. The red clay used for the manufacture of the roof tiles is also turned into utilitarian objects such as mugs and plates and creative home decorations. The village contained many other shops as well which were interesting to visit, but we decided we ... read more
The entrance to the city
The water front
An impressiive library


Who said cruising was going to be laid back, relaxed and without deadlines? We want to set the record straight on that right now. There are times when it has been relaxing with time to sit to read a book for pleasure, listen to iPods of NPR , watch the sunset and enjoy the company of other cruisers, but there are other times this is far from the truth. Since our two weeks spent in St. Martin we have been on the move. As mentioned in our last blog we did make it to Montserrat and wound up spending two wonderful days exploring the island and meeting some of the people that live there. After our great visit there we left early (6:15AM) and headed to Deshaies, Guadeloupe. We were pleasantly surprised when we came into ... read more
Leaf Cutters
A great hike
Orchids




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