Vesna has been anchored near Marina du Marin in Martinique after moving on from Saint Lucia following an extended, but much enjoyed, stay in Barbados. We liked Saint Lucia more than we expected to; the people were just as friendly as the Barbadans and Rodney Bay marina was nice with free wifi that Reuben and I enjoyed playing games on.
While in St Lucia, we embarked on a guided tour of the island which took us to the market in Castries (the capital city of St Lucia), a waterfall, the Pitons, and a chocolate factory. The shoppers in the group enjoyed the Castries market; however, I thought it was a bit smelly and the shop vendors all seemed to be selling the same thing. I did enjoy seeing the city from a hilltop vantage point, although the drive up to the said vantage point was a bit wild. We were all amazed to hear that five cruise ships could supposedly fit in the Castries harbor when it appeared to be almost full with just a single small ship.
Leaving Castries, we continued on our tour through the jungle like countryside before stopping for snacks and drinks, and to play with a python. We continued on to see the St Lucia’s most famous landmark, the Pitons, and have lunch in a nice restaurant with a good view of the volcanic plugs, also known as sugar loafs. After lunch we crammed back into our van and drove to a waterfall where everyone but me and a few others went swimming in the frigid water. We then decided to endure another long drive to the chocolate factory. However, our efforts were in vain because tours needed to be pre-booked. It was a bit disappointing, but we still had a very fun day. The drive back to Rodney Bay was long and everyone was feeling drowsy, so we all tried to nap in the crowded van.
We were all excited to move on to Martinique where there were apparently sim cards with a 50-gigabyte limit that covered most of the Caribbean; to me, it sounded amazing. The sail over to Martinique was short but not very enjoyable. We dodged a flock of catamarans heading south to Saint Lucia and sped on through the 1.5-meter waves hitting us on the starboard side. Even after some seasickness medicine, I didn’t want to stay downstairs on my PC. Dad and I are the only ones on the boat to have never thrown up from seasickness and I intend to keep it that way.
Arriving in Martinique, we anchored in Saint Anne and were happy to find that our old UK simcards worked because we were in a French overseas region, and therefore Europe. We dinghied in to check in at a café then Dad drove back to the boat to do some work while the rest of us walked around the town of Saint Anne. We went to a quaint restaurant overlooking the ocean for lunch. Despite its nice appearance the menu was small, and we had to wait about an hour and a half for the food to come out. The food wasn’t that great and definitely not worth the wait. We still enjoyed walking around the town though and we got some good ice-cream.
We later moved on to the mooring field near Marina du Marin and rented a car to do some in land touring with our friends from Otoka. The first day of driving we went to find a waterfall in the lush jungle. We didn’t find it, but we did enjoy hiking along the jungle trail. After our hike we were all hungry, so we drove to a very good French bakery called Paul. The next day we drove to HMS Diamond Rock and visited the prison in St Pierre that housed the only survivor from the catastrophic 1902 eruption of Mount Pelee. On Monday, which was the last day we had the car, we went canyoning. It was fun rappelling down waterfalls and jumping into the river from high ledges. The water was cold, but nowhere near as cold as when Reuben and I had gone canyoning in Corsica.
