Our stay on Martinique was both dull and exciting. Because of the strike, we were unable to do virtually anything. On the other hand, the strike itself offered some entertainment. We had looked forward to shopping in a French supermarket and buying an assortment of cheeses, sausages and olives, not to mention good French bread. Accordingly, we made our way to the supermarket in Marin as soon as we could. Alas! We got there as it was closing. We returned the next morning but it was closed due to the strike! Well, eating out in France is not so bad. We made our way to Anse Mitan and our first stop was the 8 à Huit grocery store. The shelves were bare except for ketchup and mustard and the like.
Lunch was interrupted by a group of 10-12 rough looking young men who burst into the restaurant crying, “It’s closed now!” The restaurant staff all withdrew to a central part of the open air restaurant and closed themselves inside. Most of the patrons got up and left. We remained seated as did a French family with little children. The strikers didn’t bother them or us. Apparently they refrained from bothering the family because of the little children and apparently they avoided us either because they thought we didn’t understand or because our foreign-ness exempted us. At any rate, we remained seated until they left and paid our bill--those who left did so without paying.
The trip to Martinique was not a total loss. In the first place, we sailed past HMS Diamant which was the backdrop for numerous photographs of sailboats on our previous trip to the island 5 years ago. Claudia and I had stayed at a nice hotel in Diamant with a gorgeous view of le Rocher Diamant, a rocky outcrop that the British commissioned as a man-o-war during their rivalry with the French for control of the Caribbean. I took a lot of pictures as boats sailed past. Now, I was sailing past and presumably someone was taking pictures of me!
The anchorage at Anse Mitan also had special meaning. It was in front of the beach that Claudia and I had visited 35 years earlier. It was where we first saw cruisers sailing in, dropping anchor and dinghying in for drinks. “What a way to travel!” we said. Indeed, it is. Anse Mitan is also the source of one of our travel “treasures,” a large piece of brain coral that we found on that same trip.
We wanted to rent a car but the rental agencies either had no vehicles or no gas. So, we were basically stuck at Anse Mitan since there were no busses or ferries running. We were finally able to find a taxi to take us into Fort-de-France where we needed to go to get our exit papers. The entire city was closed! Shuttered! Except for pharmacies and bakeries. Apparently bread is considered as essential as medicine. Actually, the place where we had to go to check out was half open--its shutters were drawn, but there was personnel inside. Additionally, the city market was open and fresh fruits and vegetables were available.
On our way back to Anse Mitan, the taxi driver took us to a distillery that was open for the tourist trade. We learned a bit about making rum and bought some rum in their shop. Afterwards, we were disappointed to find the museum at Empress Josephine’s childhood home closed. It was closed the previous time we tried to visit 5 years ago.
A couple of days before we left Martinique, the people on one of the boats in the anchorage left for a weekend sail. Their anchor rode ran pretty close to our boat and they managed to drive over our anchor rode, catching it and wrapping the rope around their propeller. Fortunately, the daughter of the owner of the boat was a diver and lived nearby on the island. Still, it was a bit touch and go as she worked to separate our line from her father’s propeller shaft.
The day we chose to leave was supposed to have winds from the East or East-north-east at about 18 knots. The seas were supposed to be less than 6 feet out of the East-north-east. This would have been a beautiful trip as we were basically headed south. The wind, however, came at us from the Southeast and the seas were much higher than 6 feet. We’ve been in this part of the Caribbean for weeks and this was the first time we saw winds from the Southeast! We got back to Rodney Bay after sunset, anchored in 8 feet of water close enough to the Sandals resort to enjoy their music from the boat.
Back in the marina, there has been a steady stream of boats from Martinique. People are coming here to fill jerry cans with fuel and to go grocery shopping.
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