La Regatta, San Andrés

Waterside is always nice

You’ve got to love a restaurant with such personality, color, a literal boatful of champagne bottles (unfortunately empty), and wine-bottle art. Not to mention that the daily special we got – rice (flavored with turmeric?) studded with numerous large, fresh shrimp and topped with salad greens and crispy leeks – was absolutely delicious.

Boatload of champagne bottles

Woo hoo - free drinks!

Tasty Treats at Los Amigos

Another can-only-get-there-by-boat eatery in Tierra Oscura (not too far from Rana Azul) is Los Amigos. Ernie is a sweetheart who serves terrific food. We’ve had the fried chicken (great), baked chicken (even better), and eggs Benedict (to die for). The burgers and pancakes also look totally delicious. The restaurant perches above the water amidst the mangroves, as does the little village around it. The buildings are connected by narrow planks that the kids obviously learn to negotiate at an early age, given the successful crossing by a toddler we saw wobbling along her way.

Shopping on the French Islands

Waterfront view of Fort de France, Martinique

While in Martinique, we stocked up on some groceries as you can only do on the French Islands. We took the ferry from Anse Mitan to downtown Fort de France to visit our favorite market, Leader Price. It’s crowded and cramped, but boy, can you get some good deals on French food! We paid less than €2 (euros) for a pretty decent bottle of white wine (with crustaceans on the label to boot!), a 240-gram wheel of Camembert cheese, and some of the best chocolate bars we’ve tasted. It cost a bit more for a hard sausage, but it was still less than €3. Of course, when I’m giving the price I say “a” bottle of wine, “a” wheel of cheese, and “a” chocolate bar, that doesn’t actually mean that we only bought one of each. Suffice to say, we struggled to lug our big canvas bag and Chris’ large knapsack back to the ferry, and there was no way we were going to be able to plane the heavy-weighted dinghy for the ride back to Mr Mac.

All aboard the ferry

Lunch at a French Restaurant

Lovely little French restaurant La Marine

Marina view from our table

One delightful bonus to visiting a French island is the food. We lunched at lovely La Marine restaurant in the Anse Mitan marina. Prices were reasonable, despite being in euros, and the food was absolutely delicious. Chris had the mozzarella salad, with lots of greens, mozzarella (of course), olives, tomatoes, capers, and olive oil dressing. I had the carpaccio, exquisitely thin-sliced raw beef topped with a vinaigrette of olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and basil, and a side of thin, crispy, perfectly cooked fries. We also enjoyed our wanna-be dining companion, a cute cat that went as far as poking us with its paw trying to get a taste. Sadly for the cat, we didn’t share.

Little moocher