St. Pierre, Martinique

Ron’s sister Kelli arrived on February 5th into Fort de France, Martinique the day after we said good bye to the Fowlers. We had a lot fun with Fred, Kendra, Dylan & Justine and even with eight of us on the boat it didn’t feel crowded or too small. It was great having them aboard.
Our sail from Fort de France to St. Pierre was very pleasant with very little sea. Even though the winds were light we managed to sail most of the way (15 miles). Along the way we were entertained by a pod of about 100 dolphins. A number of dolphins performed aquabatics. They jumped doing flips and twists in the air and standing on their noses with their tails out of the water.

Alex and Jenessa purchased a double air mattress while shopping in the Caribbean's biggest mall and pumped it up while enroute. When the sailing slowed down to about 1 – 2 knots they strung out a couple of lines and jumped on the air mattress to be towed behind us. There was lots of screaming and giggling as they figured out the best position and method of being towed. This kept them amused for quite awhile.

We are anchored approximately 100 yards off shore and have had Kelli off snorkeling already. The water depth under the boat is about 15 feet and Alex spotted a shell she felt she had to have. We were able to get it after a few taxing descents. Even though the bottom is sandy and fairly devoid of life, nearer the dinghy pier we were able to spot juvenile French anglefish, a spotted moray eel, balloon fish, and many more of our regular species.

St. Pierre is the site of Mt. Pelee. Mt. Pelee erupted in 1902 killing all but two of the thirty thousand inhabitants. We did a walking tour of the town and were able to see the prison cell where one of the survivors was found 3 days after the eruption. He survived because he was in solitary confinement in a very small cell that looked almost like an oven. We are off to do a hike that will take us to a statue on a hill and into a butterfly garden. We also hope to get up to Mt. Pelee and to an equestrian centre to give our horse addict a fix.