WORLD TOUR STORIES Alex and Taru sailing around the world.Travel blog. Lifestyle blog. Sailing blog.

Showing posts with label Caribbean - Martinique. Show all posts

Le Paradisio

One of the best restaurants we've visited on Martinique is Le Paradisio, located by the beach of Cap Chevalier. With a 10 minute drive from Le Marin, this atmospheric restaurant is a great escape from the marina area and could be perfectly combined with a days' rest under the inviting palm tree forest by the water. The menu is French with a dash of Creole influence and their fish and seafood dishes are, like they say, to die for....

See some of our photos from that beautiful beach here.

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A walk in the mountains

We were in the petite town of St Pierre, Martinique, the other day. That's the city which had a volcano eruption for a hundred years ago or so where all population of 30.000 except two people died from the dangerous ashes, within minutes of the eruption. This Mount Pelée volcano is still active, though it is not considered to be a big threat at the moment. Anyway, this town has a great anchorage for us sailors just next to the center of the village and we always make a stop here before heading North up towards Dominica, Les Saintes or Guadeloupe, it makes the passage shorter and it is always a nice place to stretch your sea legs for a day or two. Usually we hang around in town, checking out the offerings at the market, walking by the beach or visiting the artisans on the small streets of the village. This time we decided to get out hiking in one of the high volcanic mountains surrounding town. A trek that we knew would take around 3-4 hours.

Finally half way up.. luckily we brought enough of water. It is deadly hot to walk like this on steep hills in the middle of the day in 35°C/95°F.

Beautiful views over the town and the famous Mount Pelée in the background. Our boat is just under the leaves in the left of the picture.

We continued to walk our way up the hills. Pretty soon up at the top. Unfortunately we hadn't thought of how hungry one could get while walking like this. Hadn't brought any food. Maybe a bit of chili peppers straight from the bushes, anyone?

We thought it could be a good thing to walk through a grassy field. That's until we realized that the field belonged to someone... This guy didn't look too friendly and he studied us with this particular face all the way until we had left his ground.

Another one. Thought I'd shit my pants when I heard noises in the grass and saw this huge head popping up like one meter away from where we were walking.

We continued our walk and now I was dying for food. We found this dude laying on one road like a watchdog. "Why don't we have some goat for lunch?", I suggested. Alex didn't quite agree. "I didn't bring my rifle baby, besides he got a yellow necklace, it seems to me like he belongs to someone". Alright then, we continued our walk. God, was I hungry.. and so disgustingly sweaty..

We walked and we walked and finally we saw something, was that only an imagination or was that really a broken hose laying on the ground, spraying out fresh cold water? Yes it was. We refreshed ourselves for a while. So incredibly good and energizing in the oppressive heat. All refreshed and happy we continued our hike up the hill. When we finally found .....

A banana tree! The joy, finally some food!

Alex got up quickly and pull down a good cluster of fruit.... only to find out they were rock hard and completely non-edible at this time. I cried for a while and then we decided to call it a day and walk back home to eat. The camera battery died in the minute of picking down the bananas so I can't show my tears, sorry. Luckily we got a hitch back home and what had taken us about three hours to walk up took around 9 minutes to get down.

Just a regular day of our lives..

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Morning

Looks like it is only in the anchorages of the French islands where you'll find many boats during hurricane season. We got happily surprised last night when we arrived here to Anse Mitan and realized that the whole bay was full of boats. With actually people in them. Good with a change of view, normally we're used to be one of only 1-3 boats anchored during this dead season, on the other islands around.

By the way, we have totally forgotten to put a track on our travels this past month, but now it is possible to follow us once more. Just click here to follow our route and to see our current position.

5:30

One of the many fishermen you might meet if you are up early in the mornings. This encounter was made outside of St Pierre, Martinique a couple of weeks ago.

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In Martinique

Beautiful sunny day in Marin, Martinique today. We're awaiting parts of Alex family to finally arrive here this afternoon and then to leave with them for a week of sailing in St Vincent and the Grenadines. I guess it will be quite quiet here in the blog for the next few days but I'll try to give you an update if and when I find the time. For now it's all about family time and quality relaxation. Have a good weekend you all.

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Early morning in St Pierre

This is the Mt Pelée volcano which erupted and destroyed the whole city of St Pierre in 1902 and killed almost all of the population of 30.000 people. Before the eruption, the city was called the "Paris of the Caribbean" and was the commercial, cultural and social center of Martinique.

We had a very brief stay here in St Pierre and are now on our way up towards Guadeloupe. Bad weather and a bit rainy today so we'll pass on the stop in Dominica for this time. Rainforests and waterfalls are best enjoyed when it's sunny. 75 miles to go to Les Saintes today, hoping to have some sun for island exploration tomorrow. I feel like snorkeling!

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On the sea again

First stop: Anse Mitan some 20 miles away from where we started. We left our berth in Le Marin so late yesterday that we felt like ducking into a convenient anchorage pretty close by for the night. Today was the first time since we arrived to Martinique that we slept to as late as 9 am. Every part of your body and mind gets fatigued by the movements of the boat and the natural exercises one are doing while sailing exhausts many of your muscles. This being the first time we sail and tack this much with our Caos for six weeks and the first time sailing in a long time makes you always very very sleepy. Sailing is a fantastic way of keeping your body in balance and I don't know of any exercise form which allows all of your muscles to work simultaneously in such an efficient way - and for many hours in a row.

We had some company on our way to the anchorage last night. A big pod with adults and small babies. Always a pleasure to get visited by the dancers of the sea. Today we'll be off again and as we've decided to take it easy for the next few days, we will be making a few stop here and there before we arrive to Guadeloupe. Maybe the volcanic city of St Pierre and perhaps we will also pay a visit to the rainforest in Dominica. Let's see.

So now when we're back on the sea again, remember that we won't be able to answer much emails and comments as when we were locked up on land like in the last couple of weeks. We are now back to how we love it - on the sea and closer in touch with the nature, far from Internet and communication with the rest of the world. Our satellite broadband serves us only for important weather reports, a blog post every now and then and also for possible emergencies.

To follow our route when you don't hear from us, you can always check in on this Spotwalla link or on the sidebar here to the right.

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Next move

Finally the package have arrived and we can continue with our travels. At one point it felt like we would never get away from Le Marin, Martinique, but luckily that wasn't the case. What is so amazing with this cruising lifestyle is that you are free (as long as you don't wait for necessary deliveries that is) to go wherever you wish, point your bow to whatever direction you feel like and choose whichever fantastic beach, anchorage or harbor in whatever country you'd like to bring yourself, your home and all your precious belongings. I don't know if you guys who doesn't sail can imagine this, but just the fact that you're having your complete wardrobe along with you on each of your travels is incredibly convenient. And your own bed, your own kitchen, your own everything is with you and makes your life comfortable, safe and secure - wherever in the world you might want to drop the hook.

The immense sense of freedom is definitely the best thing that we gave ourselves when we casted off from Barcelona for five months ago. Just like I earlier mentioned, there are a few times and periods when one miss things from the past, (especially when you find yourself locked up like we did in this last week) but that goes with every life change I assume. No matter how bored one can feel for a second or two every sixth week or so - there are still absolutely nothing, nothing which beats this life we have chosen as ours. The endless amount of possibilities we have when choosing how to and where to live each and every day, every second of our lives is the greatest of gifts we have given ourselves and each other.

So today we have tied up to the dock again to finalize some last details on the boat before we can change place, country and island again and move on up North through the Caribbean sea towards Antigua with a first stop in Les Saintes, Guadeloupe. We will be leaving Martinique tomorrow morning and I can't with words describe how much both me and Alex have been waiting for getting out to sail our dear Caos on the ocean again. And now when the new satellite device is back with us, we'll make sure to bring you all along with us on the tour.

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In the mangrove

Mangrove - the constellation of trees and shrubs which grow in many tropical, salty parts of the world are fascinating and beautiful. They are found in coastal environments protected from high energy wave action and what might just look like intimidating bushes and branches in a wild mixture with an inviting wetness calling for mosquitos and creeps to perfectly establish themselves, are in fact more interesting than that when you get into them for real. These botanical amphibians which has one foot in the air, one under water are particularly fascinating for the fact that they can stand the very high level of salt in the water, the choking mud in which they grow along with the tropical heat surrounding them - all features which wouldn't let most other plants to stay alive for too long. Mangrove forests are among the most productive and biologically complex ecosystems on earth as they make an important home to many different bird species, frogs, snakes, shellfish and loads of oysters, shrimps, several type of fish and millions of mangrove crabs. The trees form a beautiful saline woodland, or a swamp if you prefer, and the perfect braiding of branches and trees are spectacular. The trees also have a complex root system which allows them to survive in the intertidal zone and the special ultrafiltration system helps them to keep most of the salt out.

From a sailors perspective, the mangroves in the Caribbean can also be useful and the strength and stability of the woodland habitat is often used to tie up sailing boats to save the boats from hurricanes running through the area and this is how it could look:

You just simply run your boat straight into the swamp and tie it up in different trees and branches. Very convenient.

The first photos are taken close to Petite anse des Salines and the two last ones are from Le Marin Martinique, an anchorage which is said to be a safe place to leave your boat during the hurricane season. It's a hurricane hole, as they call it.

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Postcard from Carib

Some of you love them, a few of you hate them but either way it was a very long time since there was a bikini pic featured on this blog. Six long days ago, to be perfectly precise.

So with this simple postcard we would like to wish you all a very pleasant weekend, wherever you are in the world.

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More beach life

If you for a single moment doubted on the amazingness we experienced the other days when on beach exploration in Les Salines, here's some more images for you.

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Freedom

A life without a Blackberry or an iPhone is such a wonderfully relieving and fulfilling life and I'm glad they're all finally gone from our surroundings. Hello privacy! Do you have any idea of how many hours per day you gain by not being in constant touch with other people/your email/facebook accounts/twitter updates/blogs/news all.the.time? I'm thinking it must be something like 4-5 extra hours given to you each and every day when getting rid of the phone. The unconscious stress which evolves within us when constantly being reachable is one of all of those evil little things most of us just accept and keep living with in the modern (destructive) society - but let me tell you that nothing feels better than to cut old habits like those. I have thrown out so many bad old habits from my life lately and I feel so light. I feel free, you know what I'm saying? This above pictured moment shows the only type of phone communication we're having nowadays, along with some occasional Skype sessions with dear family members and friends of course, and the best thing is that it's completely up to us when we feel like being in touch and not. No beeping or ringing every minute from every corner, just a visit to the good old booth every once in a while. This is one of those things that we've discovered gives a new peaceful dimension to our lives. It's simple but oh so rewarding. Much more time for real life.

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Boat of the day - Drumbeat

This is one impressive yacht we ran across the other day in Le Marin, Martinique. S/Y Drumbeat, a luxurious superyacht produced by Alloy Yachts. The 174 ft ketch was constructed and launched in New Zeeland in 2002, according to the constructor's website, and has a total sail-area of 1139 m2/12.220 sq ft. Beautiful, isn't she? /T