2012-11-11 Martinique:

Today we were at the port of Martinique.  It was much more commecialized then the other islands we went to.  They aren't dependant on tourism and it shows.  
Cruising into the port.

Here's a view of a small part of Martinique from our cruise ship. 

This port was more difficult to do a self excursion.  We had hoped to take a taxi to a beach about 30 minutes away and do some snorkeling.  Unfortunately, the taxi drivers here wanted 60 euro/hour and wouldn't just leave and come back.  They wanted to be paid for the whole time we snorkeled.  We had talked about doing just an hour long taxi ride, then be dropped off at a ferry port to ride over the bay and walk to a beach on the other side since.  But the driver then said we had to book him for at least 2 hours.  At that point, we took off on foot to the ferry. 

Along the way, we passed this fort that we saw from our verandah earlier-Fort St. Louis.  It is a fortress on a peninsula at Fort-de-France.  Today the fort is both an active naval base and a listed historic site of France.



 

 We also came across this ceremony.  That's when we remembered it was Veteran's Day, or Armistice Day in France.

 pretty flowers along the way

  We came upon a ferry port and waited in line only to find out that port was for ferries to other islands.  The ferry we wanted was another 1/2 mile or so down the road.  Another person walking near us was wearing a pedometer and said the walk was 1.4 miles from the cruise port.  It was a pretty nice walk, though.

 We waited about 30 minutes for the ferry which was suppose to run every hour.  While waiting, I thought it would be nice to grab a drink from McDonald's across the street.  I was surprised to find it closed, along with everything else in the area because it was Sunday.

 While waiting, I took a few more pictures from the immediate area.

 Don't know what this statue is for, but I thought it was pretty neat.

 Map of the center of town.

 On the ferry.

After our 15 minute of so ferry ride which we paid $10/person rt for, we had another walk to the beach.  I figure that walk was about another mile, but it was more like a residential area then a town.

Finally reach the beach (I believe we ended up at Anse Mitan).  It was pretty.  Lots of little restaurants/bars along the beautiful beach.

I knew the snorkeling wouldn't be any good, but I was surprised to see there were some critters there.

 The water was probably about 82 degrees and very calm and clear.  We spent a couple hours here.

 It even rained a bit while we were here.  It was the only rain we really encountered the whole cruise--at least during the daytime.

looking back towards the beach from the water.

On the way back to the ferry dock, we tried to shop a couple of the shops  that happened to be open.   Found out a lot of people there don't speak English or take the US dollar. 
 I liked this style of painting.

 got a kick out of this Star-Wars like bathroom.

 We did find an ice cream shop that did and I got a Light (not diet) Coke and a soft serve pistachio and mango cone for $7.  Don't know what happened with the return ferry, but we waited well over an hour for it. 
wandered around the marina a bit taking more pictures.

Back on the other side, we were walking back when a taxi drove up and the driver said he would take us back to the cruise ship for $2.  Once we got in, along with a few other people, the charge mysteriously became 2 Euro@. 

For our first time to Martinique and not knowing what to expect, we ended up having a good time.