Gone Sailing: Life in Martinique and Car Rental!!

Over the past weeks, we have been doing a bit of hiking with Kristin and Terry from "Silk Pajamas". We walked along the Bay de Anglais side of southern Martinique and found it dry, scrubby with very rugged ground. There seemed to be geologic formations that we hadn't seen before and the power of the waves against the cliffs was quite awe inspiring. The hike, lasting 7 hours included a lunch along the beach.

Over the past 2 days, we rented a car and drove the distance to St. Pierre with the hopes of finally making it to the top of Mount Pele, the volcano that erupted in 1902 killing all citizens of St. Pierre except for 2 people. The drive straight up into the clouds along the narrow road with switchbacks and vegetation rubbing both sides of the car took about 20 minutes. With the steepness of the drive, we had to maintain a minimum speed to keep our traction making us constantly wonder what was going to happen if or when we met another vehicle coming down! We actually did meet a small truck right on a switchback and it passed us before we knew what happened. You have to love instinctive reactions, luckily everyone drives on the right here.

After a nice rain shower, we left the car and headed up the trail. The air became cooler and cooler as we trudged along, up...up...and up! The wind was howling and every once in awhile, the clouds would envelope the top of the mountain spitting windy rain at us. About 2/3 of the hike or 85% of the height of the mountain, and after Kristin nearly got blown off the trail a couple times and Dawn decided that the very top of this mountain/volcano wasn't on her bucket list, we turned around and headed back down the way we came. Laurie accepted the defeat, knowing that he wouldn't see into the depths of the volcano due to the mists anyway. It would seem a few days later, that Laurie has put the climb back on his bucket list, so it awaits us for another year!

On the second day of the car rental, we drove up the beautiful east side of the island of Martinique. Because we always sail on the west side of all islands, it was pleasant to see the rolling, breaking seas of the rougher side. We hiked, dined well, complete with roosters crowing at our table and saw fields of banana and sugarcane. Today, Laurie and I have decided to make a final trip into the grocery store and the chandlery and leave Saint Anne and head around to Grand Anse D'Arlet, saying farewell for now to Kristin and Terry.

So sorry about the gaps in our blog, but we're having trouble finding Internet in Martinique!