Sainte Anne - part 2 - warning - photo overload

Two weeks passed very quickly on anchor in Sainte Anne. Once again we were waiting for the weather to be conducive for a good sail across to Dominica. The wind had dropped completely because of a weather system in the Atlantic that was sucking it all out or blowing it in the wrong direction. A four-hour motor to Fort de France was not what we wanted, so we waited!

While we waited we did some touristy things and some provisioning. Have I mentioned that the shops here are amazing? There is so much variety and the prices are fairly reasonable for most things. Wine, Camembert and Baguettes!

McDonalds

The best place to provision 

Parking lot is empty

We had been wanting to buy a SUP for a while. Laura had tried Dave’s SUP back in South Africa and more recently had a go on Claire’s, and loved it, so the mission was on to find one. You may be wondering why we didn't buy one before we left SA. Yes, add that to the list of things, like the fishing rod, we should have bought but didn't really think we would use! 

Laura on Claire's SUP

Making sure Laura doesn't drift off
I checked the anchor as well hence the fins,
mask and snorkel

We celebrated Jim’s birthday on Bully with a delicious bring and braai with salads to share. We had bought some ribs which we boiled for an hour and then left to absorb a smokey barbecue marinade for a couple of hours. They were delicious and fell off the bone! I will definitely never be buying precooked ribs again, even the Woolies ones.

 

Canasta has become a fierce competition between Jim and Faye. Faye is the master player with Jim fighting to beat her. Claire and I are cannon fodder in the aftermath of their wrath receiving black threes and Jim killing the pack as often as he can so that Faye can’t get the cards she needs. It is so much fun that I don’t mind losing.

We all decided that we wanted to see more of the island before heading off. After quite a few phone calls and WhatsApps, we found a car to hire that was big enough to take us all.

With Andrew driving the left-hand drive car on the wrong side of the road, and Ian next to him as the navigator, we piled into the 7-seater, first to Fort de France for a bit of shopping and then on to St Pierre. The roads were good highways, but the traffic was terrible. We felt like we were back on the N2 at home in rush hour Friday evening traffic. 

Google maps kept directing us on the lesser-known roads to avoid the traffic and we had to turn around more than once, but we got there eventually. There was more than one navigator in the car, each with their own version of maps, none of which were the same as the others. It was frustrating for the poor driver having 4 other people tell him where to go. Jim wisely kept quiet in the back seat, having a good giggle that these Apple devices, including Apple Maps,  also got it wrong.

Andrew and Ian

Laura, Faye and Siobhan

Loonies, Jim and Claire in the back

We stopped in Fort de France at the largest supermarket I have ever seen, to get a few things for lunch. It was the first proper mall we have been to since leaving SA. We were all blown away by the variety and size of the store. Even Andrew, who has been in retail for 35 years, said that it was amazing. 

Waiting for Father Christmas

The boot was tiny!!

Entrance to the mall

Trollies where I come from

Then, on to Decathlon. Decathlon was the place to look for a SUP. It is a huge sports shop with absolutely everything related to sport in it. We were with the others so didn't have a lot of time to browse. One could spend a whole day there and still not see the entire shop! We bought a SUP at a reasonable price, along with a new cozzie each for me and Laura.

Decathlon

Merry Christmas Calypso Crew

Oars are a necessity

St Pierre is an interesting town which lies at the foot of Mount Pelee volcano. In 1658 the European settlers killed the last of the Carib residents. The story goes that before the last ones died they cursed the settlers, asking the mountain to take its revenge.

The mountain spent the next few hundred years plotting. In the meantime, the area became known as the Paris of the Caribbean. It was the place to live with the plantations making the land owners super rich. Ships stopped in the bay to buy rum, sugar, and coffee. Life was good.

In late April the mountain started to rumble and on 23 April it belched ash over the town. On 2 May a larger eruption covered the city, killing birds and animals. Over the next few days many people were killed by volcanic mud, lava, poisonous gasses and rocks as the volcano continued to give its warning. Yet, nobody left. Why, you ask. The new governor was being influenced by the landowners not to evacuate the town as they feared they would lose out on revenue should the town be empty. They also felt it would have been difficult to do as roads were narrow and not well kept and the ferries didn't have enough capacity for all the people. As he had only been in office for a year, the governor was under pressure. If he went against the wealthy land owners and evacuated the town, and the volcano didn't erupt, he would lose his job. So he did what any other self respecting governor would do, form a committee with the local school's science teacher at the helm. They decided that, despite the rumblings of the mountain and the occasional lava flow, there was no danger for a fully blown eruption.

Mount Pelée

There were a few hundred people who did not agree and decided to leave but the rest of the people stayed, not believing that the volcano would erupt. 

On Ascension Day, 8 May, 1902, people approaching Fort de France for the church service could see smoke emerging from Mount Pelée. The next moment, the side of the volcano burst open with a fiery vengeance sending a rocket of boiling gas of atomic proportion, down the hill towards the town destroying it within minutes. 

Almost 30 000 people burnt to death. There were only two lucky survivors on land. Leon Compere-Leandre, a shoemaker, somehow managed to survive, although nobody is quite sure how he didn't die. He had burns on his body so some believe he jumped into the ocean when the mountain erupted.

The other survivor was Louis-Auguste Cyparis, who had been imprisoned for murder. He had tried to escape and was sentenced to eight days locked in a stone cell. The thick walls of the cell protected him from the deadly gasses. He was rescued three days later and taken to hospital to be treated for burns. After being pardoned for his crime, he joined the Barnum circus where he displayed his burns.

The tiny cell

The tree was still alive

Another cell

Overlooking the prison

Although many of the buildings have been restored, there are still a lot of ruins. New buildings have been built onto the old walls that remained, keeping the houses connected to the past.

The waves in the blue sea crash onto the beach sand which is volcanic black.

Fruit and Veg market

Looks brand new

Old and new combined

One can do a walking tour of the town, going from one historic place to the next. We didn't do it properly, although we saw quite a few of them along our meander.

More uphill roads

There is a stone theatre right next to the prison. I wonder if the prisoners were able to enjoy the music and singing. There were two ladies sitting on the steps and when we left one of them got up onto what could have been the stage, and started singing. Her beautiful voice reverberated around the stone walls.

The no-anchor triangle in the bay indicates where 12 ships were destroyed while on anchor. The wrecks are still there, resting on the bottom of the ocean.

We walked all the way around the town. The different buildings were fascinating. 

Too hungry to wait for the picnic spot

We stopped off along the way back to have some lunch. We could see the sea over a massive wall, with the sea a million miles below us.

Near the dinghy dock is the much needed dumpster where cruiser throw all sorts of rubbish. I found two boat chairs like the one in the picture below. Absolutely nothing wrong with them bar a few stains on the covers. Nothing a bit of a wash can't remove. They cost a fortune back home and I scored two for free!

One man's rubbish, another woman's treasure!

We took the SUP ashore the following morning for a paddle. After being lambasted by a local who leapt out his hammock on the beach, we did some practicing. The local told us we weren't allowed to beach our dinghy where we did, right below a sign of a propellor. He said people walk on the beach and it would get in the way, we had to put an anchor out and leave it slightly offshore. Fair enough. He went on to tell Andrew that he didn't like all the cruisers in the bay because he couldn't see the view! We also had to hear about the taxes that he pays and we don't, for things like rubbish collection. The mayor of St Anne had been going on about this as well and had even removed the railing on the dinghy dock so that cruisers wouldn't be able to tie up their dinghies there. We understand that each island has a problem with rubbish, however their argument about the fact that we bring in rubbish is moot. We spend a lot of money buying food from their supermarkets, so the rubbish would be on the island whether a local dumped it or a cruiser. I would have liked to have seen more recycling bins. 

I digress, we were on the beach one fabulous Saturday morning trying out our SUP. Andrew duly put the dinghy in the water with an anchor to keep it off the beach for the walkers. The hilarious part of this is most of the people were doing their walking waist-deep in the water! Our dinghy still got in the way!

Claire and I went for a couple of good walks around the town and slightly beyond. No, Brandon, we have been terribly slack and have not been running. However, a brisk walk is just as good!

Christmas decor up on trees in the town square

Street art

Murals on the street walls

Inside the beautiful church

Hurricane damage?

The cemetery with family mausoleums

You may wonder why there are never any people in our pictures. Well, there is a complete shutdown called Sieste over lunch time, sometimes until 3pm! So the town is empty and most shops are closed. It is the best time to walk and get excellent pictures.

 

We had another lovely long hike in the reserve. We were all exhausted after our 14km walk but it was lovely to connect with other yachties. We met a couple of US people who have sailed down the ICW and they had some good advice for us.

We won't mention the mens nudist beach we had to walk through to get to our destination!! 

Laura's eyes were covered!

 

The evening before we left Sainte Anne we connected with Adrian and Nicky Bush and their kids who had sailed from the Med. Adrian, who is a friend of Trevor and Luanne, met up with us at the yacht club before we left South Africa. They went to the Med and bought their boat, a Fountaine Pajot Helia 44, there. They had some engine troubles and were hoping to get it fixed in Martinique. They had only arrived the day before so were not planning on leaving anytime soon. Hopefully we will bump into them again some day.

The Bushs and the Henshilwoods

White wine come in plastic bottles to go with our plastic glasses! It really isn't bad wine.

It's empty? Again?

We had a fairly uneventful sail to Fort de France where we checked out of Martinique. The anchorage was very rolly with ferries going past at great speed every half hour. There were times we had to hold onto our coffee mugs and things in the sink crashed from side to side. 

The obligatory sunset boat pit

I loved Martinique and could have dropped anchor there till past Christmas. However, other islands call and we spend the next few days hopping frantically from island to island, heading for Saint Martin where we will spend Christmas with our friends.