2014-April 18, Good Friday-Martinique (7-1:30):

Why does planning things for Martinique turn out so difficult?!  I had planned to take the ferry to the other side of the bay and hit a beach, but Ken was paranoid we'd miss the ferry back.  I had read that the ferry dock was only about 5 minutes from the cruise port and was confused since when we were here on the Noordam we had to walk 1.4 miles to the ferry dock.  This time we were docked right by the ferry.  Now I know there are at least 2 cruise ship ports!---The larger Point Simon Cruise Terminal and the smaller one we were at today, Quai des Tourelles Cruise Port.  Anyway, we decided with such a short stop, we would try to go on a taxi tour.  We knew it would be expensive (about 60 Euro/hour), but decided to do it anyway.  The hard part was finding 2 more couples that wanted to do the same tour we did and having a taxi large enough for all of us. 

Our ship docked in Fort-De-France

  After about 45 minutes of waiting around while people haggled about prices and length of tours, we finally got in a group of 6 in a mini van for a reduced rate of $30/person---which was an excellent fare.  
artwork along our route-

First stop was at the replica Sacre Couer  church (smaller replica of the one outside of Paris).  It was a beautiful church and full today---Good Friday.

Then we headed further north.  I found this bull along the road interesting.

The rain forest was lush and beautiful.

Palms along the way.

Found these signs amusing.

 

On the other side of the rain forest, we came to a distillery.

 Seems like many of the islands of the Caribbean have distilleries. 

The grounds of this one were beautiful

I believe this is the residence of the distillery owner.

Soon we were back on our way.  More interesting signs.

On any tour to the north you should end up in St. Pierre.  This is the town that was destroyed by the volcano eruption of Mt. Pelee in 1902.  They claim the only survivor was a man in prison there.  I've since read that another man just on the outskirts of town also lived, as did a young girl who jumped in a small boat and rowed it into a cave.  

 View of the bay from above.

At any rate, the whole town was destroyed.  It had been the largest town on the island.

Driving through the town today.

Looking back at the town of St. Pierre.  Mt. Pelee was covered by clouds, so I never did see it.

 Modern sculpture by St Pierre.

After about 3 hours, we were back at the ship.  This is a view from our lanai looking towards St. Louis fort.  Last time we were docked on the other side of the fort.

From our room looking down towards the ferry dock.   

Another view towards Fort-de-France from our verandah-

Views of the countryside as we sailed along the coast.

 More views from our lanai.

A pan of Martinique as we sailed down the coast. 

Now we were on the wrong side of the ship for sunset, so I went to observation deck to watch it.

 Then off to dinner.  It was too late for the movie after dinner and too early for the Showtime show, so we just headed back to the room.  With 5 ports in a row and getting up at 6 or 7 every morning, we were ready to call it a day early for a change.

I didn't really have a good impression of this island (just the little beach we managed to make it to then) from our last time (and only other time) here, but today turned out really good.  I guess there is more to the Caribbean then just snorkeling!