Sun 1 Apr
Up AM early. Intention to visit Fort de France town docks by bateau for fuel, and then depart for the old town of St Pierre further up the coast. Abort the fuel idea as too difficult, but we have a pleasant sail northwards past pleasant green and cliffy landscapes. Gusty. By early afternoon, we drop the pick off the pier at old St Pierre. The bay is dominated by Mt Pelee which destroyed the town in 1902. 30000 died in a pyroclastic flow. Pompeii of the West Indies. Town reconstructed from the ruins but now a bit tatty in places. Nice pier and nice sunset. Anchorage very rolly. Went ashore and tried to walk up to statue of virgin Mary on cliffs but got tired and fell down and yawned instead. MB shat on by noisy bird. Town very full of cars driving round in circles so difficult to walk without falling into the monsoon ditches. Exhaust-less stripped down yoof driven scooters rend the night air. A few bitches (canine) wander around. Back on board, MB produces hot curry followed by too many nightcaps and too much philosphy.
Monday 2nd April. More exploring ashore. Town nicer than I first thought and some of the ruins are quite spectacular, as is the view of Mt Pelee. One of the only survivors of the superheated pyroclasstic flow, out of the 30,000 population, was a bloke in his little stone prison cell. Saw the cell and stood inside it. Very haunting. Weather strange most of today with rare and quite extreme ONSHORE westerly gusts and a big rolly swell. Anchor is pulled hither and thither over the bottom. Suspect this is all heat generated so decided to stay aboard for mid part of day until things settle. Watched a big new Canadian yacht trying to anchor. 5 attempts. Skipper (Aft) screaming at Wife (?) on bow. They had a long domestic argument in cockpit afterwards. Painful to watch.
Despite the strange weather (which does eventually settle down), we still manage to get water from ashore and do shopping. Les does his annual dhobeying session. One of the ladies in the open air fruit and veg market was very kind and gave us free stuff to taste and to take. Especially banannas.
Another couple of beers ashore PM with the beachside bitches at our feet. Pleasant evening and golden sunset. Beautiful stars. Rolly night at anchor. Banging doors and crashing crockery and that sort of thing.
Tomorrow we finally leave French Martinique, the last of the Windward Is, and head north to Domenica, a rather wilder and less touristy place than most of the other big islands.
tootle pip old things
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