Anse a l’Ane

We wake up refreshed having both had the best night’s sleep for ages.  There was a little bit of rain just as we went to bed but the boat just bobbed around a bit, lulling us to sleep.

We decide to catch the 10am ferry to Fort de France to check in with customs and have a little look around.  Fort de France is probably the largest town in the Caribbean – a bit of civilization does you good every now and then.

We sit inside the ferry to escape the sun but almost immediately regret this as the heat inside builds up very quickly, as does the rather pungent aroma of bodies!  Towards the end of the journey one of the staff opens a forward door and air suddenly flows through.  I wish he had done it earlier.

We disembark the rather ramshackle ferry and look for the chandlery where we can check in.  When we arrive, the check in system is the far more user friendly do-it-yourself computer system.  No duplicated forms here.  Mike completes it in minutes although the French keyboard makes it a pain.  QWERTY does not exist, AZERTY is the layout, which, if you are a touch-typist, means you do lots of deleting!  However, as he looks when he types, he can still do it quicker than I would.

As we are in a chandlers, a quick look around means that you spend the best part of 100 euros on little bits.  The nice Canadian lady working there gives us some local information before we go off exploring.

Fort de France is the capital of Martinique, and as I have already stated, is the largest city in the Windwards, but I have to say, it is a bit of a disappointment.  There is no real centre.  Good shops (and I mean expensive Parisian fashion shops) rub side by side with one euro type shops, and grotty cheap clothes shops.  We went into a couple of the Caribbean equivalent to the pound shops in search for a sink plug.  Who buys giant orange plastic rearing ornamental horses, and the unbelievably unrealistic plastic flowers?  These shops abound with them along with the most ghastly ‘art’ I have ever had the misfortune to see!  Still, we found a plug!

There was nothing photogenic about Fort de France;  in fact, I struggled to find anything to take photos of at all.  Here’s a few.

Photo:  L’Ancienne Hotel de Ville (old town hall)

Photo:  The beautiful Bibliotheque Schoelcher (library)

 Photo:  The War Memorial

Photo:  Fort de St Louis 

Photo:  The waterfront at Fort de France

We have a lovely lunch at Lina’s, but to be frank, two sandwiches, a beer and a fruit juice for over 21 euros is not exactly cheap.  But nothing is cheap in Martinique.

Hot and tired, we board the ferry back to Anse a l’Ane.  As we get off I am amused to see some people so eager to get on that they clamber up the side of the ferry and over the roof.  It’s only when I notice they are all dripping wet and in swimwear I realise that it is not their intention to ride anywhere.  They use the ferries as diving boards, leaping with gay abandon and gleeful screams into the water by the dock.  The captain just ignores them.  If this was the UK, the health and safety people would have a field day!

I am too lazy to cook in the evening, and we just relax before showering and sleeping.  Tomorrow is major cleaning day.  Hurray!