Fort de France

Saturday 24th  / Sunday 25th February

Martinique is a French island situated in the heart of the Caribbean archipelago between St Lucia and Dominica. Typically French, yet typically tropical.

We decided to explore the island by car, so Kev and I set off as soon as we were berthed to search for a car to hire. This proved to be easier than we thought and we were back at the ship within the hour to pick up Val and Jane. It was just as well that Kev was navigating as the road signs weren’t much good!

After an hours drive we stopped at a roadside coconut stall and I tried a fresh coconut for the first time ever! Delicious!

Val was telling me that certain birds like to eat them as well, but she couldn’t remember the name!

We had a great drive up the central mountain through the rain forest and back down to a bar on the other side of the island. I was driving, so just to keep everyone on their toes I dropped one of the front wheels down one of the very deep gutters that they have by the side of the road, that woke everyone up! As I was driving I didn’t have any time to take photos, that had to wait until we reached the beach.

What a lovely beach it was too, this was the place that Kevin and Val set of for a couple of years ago and didn’t make it (more later)!

The beach was so quiet considering it was a Saturday afternoon, and it was great to stroll in the warm water taking in the atmosphere.

This is the spot that several years ago Kev and Val arrived at by bus whilst on another cruise. Kev is the king of organising his own tours whilst travelling and never normally leaves any stone unturned.  However, on this occasion he had forgotten to find out what time the bus returned to the ship. When the driver told them the bus returned at 5pm and Val knew that the ship sailed at 4.30pm Kev realised he had a problem. When they couldn’t get a taxi Val began to panic…………. so to cut a long story short this is Kev hanging his head in shame and Val demonstrating how they got back!

Sunday morning we set of to explore Fort de France only to find that everything was closed! The only thing open was a bar which had run out of white, red and rosé wine and the coffee machine had broken. So I thought that I would have a practice at taking a few selfies with Cormac and Mary, I think I need to do a bit more work!

The French influence on the architecture is plain to see……….

Martinique is a lovely place,  you really do think you are in France, the only way to tell you are in the Caribbean at this time of year is by the weather!