Saint-Pierre, Martinique:Risen from the Ashes

View of Sainte-Pierre and Mount Pelee from our anchorage

Pillar in the church ruins

On the northwest coast of Martinique, at the base of cloud-shrouded Mount Pelée, lies the town of Saint-Pierre. The view as we approached from sea was spectacular. Colorful buildings line the shore and climb the nearby hills. Behind them stretch cultivated fields edged by forest. And finally, up the long, green slope, is the cloud-shrouded peak. Utterly beautiful…and utterly deadly. For those of you familiar with Jaws or similar natural-disaster films, you will recognize the bad guys in the Saint-Pierre story. Apparently, though the volcano had started to rumble and spew ash nearly two weeks before the eruption, the good business-folks of the town convinced the new and uncertain mayor to hold off on an evacuation, claiming that they would suffer financially. So instead, nearly 30,000 died when the volcano erupted on May 8, 1902. Only two people in the town lived. Two out of thirty thousand! In addition, merchant ships on the dock and in the harbor sunk, only one managing to get away, albeit damaged. OK, I'm off my rant now. There’s a good day-by-day account here. Evidence of the catastrophe is all around. We walked all over town, uphill and down. The new town is build right around the ruins of the old town. Some new buildings have old stone walls, or are alongside the ruins. Along the waterfront are the stone ruins of the former warehouses. Very interesting, though sad that all those lives were lost for no good reason.

Old stone ruins incorporated in newer buildings

View of town from the hillside church

Interesting building on waterfront plaza

Chris trying to be saint-like as a head replacement

Talk About Laid Back

From our May trip to Culebra...

I loved this sentiment painted on a road-side cart in the village of Dewey on Culebra. I don’t know what they sell, because this was apparently one of those “other” days!

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

Passage to Martinique

We recently had a (mostly) lovely passage to Martinque, with some fantastic views as we passed St. Vincent. Here you go.

Rainbow over the Soufriere volcano on the north end of St. Vincent

Fellow sailor heading north as the sun fades

Chris adjusting a strap near sun set

Sun rise over a relatively calm sea  - nice!

Happy New Year! Let’s Celebrate a Great Cover for Weapon of Vengeance

We know we’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again: We love Noah Stacey, our book cover artist. Though Weapon of Vengeance, Book 3 of our Weapon of Flesh trilogy, won’t be out for a few more months, we just had to give you a sneak peek of the cover. The Weapon covers have provoked strong and conflicting emotions in viewers. At conventions, people have done almost comical double-takes, come over to the table to get a better look, and end up buying the book. Just what a good cover is supposed to do! Alternatively, on the UK Amazon site, one of the reviewers said something like “Don’t be put off by the cover, because the book is great.” To each his own. We love the covers, and we hope you do, too. Enjoy!