Waiting

We’re still in Martinique waiting on a good weather window to head to Bonaire.

It has been quite rainy and windy here so we decided to rent a car and get off the boat for a couple of days. We drove up the west coast to St Pierre for a day, then shopping and an afternoon at the beach.

Breakfast at a waterfront pastry shop:

Then up the coast to St Pierre. St Pierre was founded in 1635, destroyed by hurricane and storm surge in 1780, and again in 1902 by volcanic eruption. In May of 1902 the entire city was destroyed and almost 30,000 people killed in just a couple of minutes. We had a nice time in spite of the gloomy weather. We walked around the town, visited the volcano museum (pictures not allowed), had a nice lunch then took our time driving back.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint-Pierre,_Martinique

Dark volcanic beach sand:

Nice building downtown, I think it was a bank:

Ruins from the waterfront:

St Pierre looking north, Mt Pelee obscured in the background:

From there we headed to Creve Coeur mountain and the ruins of an 18^th century sugar refinery:

http://www.sainteanne-martinique.fr/EN/visite-les-ruines-de-creve-coeur_10785.html

We did some shopping, stocked up for our trip to Bonaire, and headed to the most amazing beach for the afternoon:

We brought lunch, went swimming in the warm clear water and when we needed shade we sat under these:

…with this guy:

We’re planning to depart for Bonaire on the 8^th, weather permitting.

Until next time…