#catamaransailing #leopard48catamaran #sailing #saint pierre #martinique
We visited Martinique in January for 2 weeks. This video covers the first week of our travels, stopping in 7 different anchorages. From cities to beaches, Martinique has it all!
LEAVING DOMINICA
Early in the morning, we left Dominica headed to Martinique. Beautiful day on the water. On our way, we spotted whale spouts in the ocean. There were quite a few charter boats out there with us hoping to catch a glimpse of a Sperm whale surfacing. So hard to catch this on camera.
LAND HO MARTINIQUE
5 hours later, the mountains of Martinique greeted us as we sailed along it’s west end. Rainforest mountains always shrouded in clouds. Cliffs along the coast, with 50 shades of green on the hillsides.
SAINT PIERRE
Our first stop was Saint Pierre, a city famous for the 1902 Mt. Peele volcanic eruption where 29000 people died in the deadliest eruption of the 20th century.
Saint Pierre gave us rainbows every day - of course those came after the showers.
On a short dinghy ride down the coast to Le Carbet, we were treated to a wonderful beach bar and restaurant. And other interesting sites.
So deep was the love of the people for the city that they rebuilt, even though the threat of future volcanic activity is ever present. They left several historic sites as they were after the devastation. We visited several during our walking tour. (Pick up your map at the tourist center).
Everything was destroyed. And we walked through the ruins of the
Fort
Church
Colonial Health Center Mental Health Hospital
Prison
Theater
Only three people survived
Ludger Sylbaris, who was imprisoned in a poorly-ventilated jail cell;
Léon Compère-Léandre, whose house was at the very edge of the pyroclastic flow;
A little girl, Havivra Da Ifrile, who was washed out to sea.
FORT DE FRANCE
A calm sail in the lee of the island. Not looking forward to the busy city, we stopped at a small anchorage nearby called Schloechler at Anse Navire where what to our wondering eyes does appear but a Ben and Jerry’s!
Fort De France - we did enjoy the city and were able to complete some shopping for some items we just could not find in the islands. We did not enjoy the anchorage - too crowded for us!
Next we headed to all of the beaches on our way south. There are so many and they were filled with French tourists! We learned that coming to Martinique is a rare treat for them and very expensive.
The beaches (anses) were as follows. To understand our ratings, watch the video!
Anse Mitan - 1 star.
Anse A L'ane - 4 star.
ILet Ramiere - Fort Failure! - 1 star.
Anse Noire - 4 star.
Anse Dufour - 5 star.
Grand Anse - 5 star.
TIMELINE:
0:00 Introduction
0:10 Leaving Dominica - Sperm Whales!
1:30 Saint Pierre
2:00 Fort Ruins
2:34 Church Ruins
3:55 Colonial Health Center Ruins
6:45 Prison Ruins
7:30 Fort De France
7:54 Anse Navire - Schloechler - Ben & Jerry's!
8:36 Fort de France
10:38 Anse Mitan
11:16 Anse A L'ane
11:45 Ilet Ramier Fort
13:36 Anse Noire
15:36 Anse Dufour
16:49 Grand Anse
17:47 Fish helping clean the boat bottom
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Blue Dot Voyages is a Sailing Adventure Company. We recently packed up our belongings, sold our house and moved on to our Leopard48 Sailing Catamaran PILAR, where we are traveling the world. We offer travel advice as well as boat maintenance tips. We offer charter sailing experience trips when we can. Watch our videos and live vicariously through us!
Master Captain: Stephen Bell
First Officer: Dawn Bell