Sunday morning, we rented a car for the week with Jason and Monica of Breathe. Took Dean and Jason by dinghy about 2 miles by dinghy to a dock that was the closest to the car rental place. They still had a 3-mile walk after that. Planned a light day, with a drive up to Carbet, to hike to Waterfall Le Carbet. We got to the town of Carbet around noon, so decided to have lunch first, and lucked out with a really great place with delicious sandwiches called Bokits. A Bokit is a sandwich fried in a pan with hot sunflower oil. They were delicious, but none of us could finish it for lunch it was so large, so took them home for dinner.
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| Huge but delicious Bokits |
Had a nice hike to the falls, which was about a 2-mile hike in, and then back out. It was a good hike, with part trail, part wading in the river.
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| View from the parking area at the start of our hike |
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| Lots of big bamboo along the road. It made a lot of creaking noises when the wind blew |
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| Jason and Kris fording the stream |
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| Pretty hike along the stream, and mostly in the shade |
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| Some parts were deeper than others, Kris chose the rock path versus chest high wading |
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| The Carbet falls |
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| We found a nice pool to cool off in away from other folks |
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| Dean found another pool on the way back to cool off in before ending the hike. |
Monday we went for a hike up to Morne Larcher. This is a hill that is 1565' tall and overlooks to the south. We now refer to the hike as the death march. The trail is only 2.6 miles, half up and half down. It is a steep trail, only goes to 1350', but in that short distance it is like climbing stairs for about an hour straight, stairs of different heights. The trail is basically climbing up the boulder strewn hillside using rocks and tree roots as steps. Our legs were wobbly, and we were sweat drenched by the time we got to the top. Supposed to be a great view from the top, and it was, but the hike definitely not worth it. This is a hike you do for exercise, not for the view, and we would not do it again.
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| From the road looking up at the Morne Larcher - did not look too bad to climb |
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| Still in good spirits at the start of the climb |
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| This is typical of the trail, large boulders to climb |
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| Legs starting to really feel it on the way up |
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| Made it to the plateau, View looking south to St. Anne |
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| View of Diamond Rock from the top |
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| Same trail on the way down |
The way down was better, less aerobic, but still tough on the leg muscles. We were starving at the end of the hike, so stopped for lunch.
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| Not as good as Bokits, but hit the spot |
After lunch, we checked out the Memorial Cap 110. It is a memorial to slavery to mark the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery
in 1998. It is at a sight were a ship carrying slaves ran aground and resulted in many deaths. 86 survivors out of 300 aboard.
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| Statues at the Memorial Cap |
We then made a brief stop at a cemetery. Here they are all family tombs, above ground, and most fully enclosed with glass doors. Interesting to see all the tombs and memorials.
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| A typical tomb |
Tuesday, we needed a break, so a light day planned, of going to the Botanical Garden, Jardin de Balata for a casual stroll, and then to check out some waterfalls near the road - no hiking. The Botanical Garden was beautiful, and had a short tree top walk as well.
After the gardens, we drove a short distance to see some waterfalls, and had our packed lunch by the river.
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| Cascade Absalon |
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| Bridge by Cascade Absalon |
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| River and small falls by Cascades de L'Alma where we had lunch |
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| Le saut du gendarme falls |
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| Fresh water fish at the falls |
After the waterfalls and lunch we headed into Fort-de-France to walk around downtown. Not much to see. We wanted to see the Bibliotheque Schoelcher, which is a library built in France, then disassembled and brought to Martinique, and we did see it, and walked inside, but it was not very spectacular.
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| Bibliotheque Schoelcher |
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| Nice mural downtown. No idea what it means |
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| Downtown Market |
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| Old hotel |
After that we stopped at the Decathalon store in Fort-de-France and did some shopping. Great store with really reasonably priced decent quality sporting goods. Got some new sandals and shirts. Also hit the grocery store on the way back.
Wednesday we headed out for another long hike, but much less elevation climb. On the NW side of Martinique is the Caravelle Peninsula. It has many hiking trails and is a Nature Preserve. Had a nice 6-mile hike, but only about 250' in elevation to do. Hiked to lighthouse and around the coast. Quite the varied scenery, from forest to rocks to mangroves.
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| Caravelle Peninsula |
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| Looking south |
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| At the Caravelle lighthouse |
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| Walking along the rocky east coast |
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| Part of the trail |
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| Trail much different down by the mangrove area |
After the hike we got some lunch to go and ate on the rocks by the beach
Thursday we kept it simple and headed to Le Marin, after enjoying some pastries at our favorite stop in the Pottery Village for some breakfast goodies. We were looking for a special bolt for a dinghy lock, but had no luck, but did get our replacement reef line and blocks that we needed. We enjoyed wandering around Le Marin, and seeing the marina and all the boats.
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| New reef line and blocks |
We made it back in time for Jason and Dean to give the car a wash, fill up with gas and return it to the rental agency, and then the 3-mile walk back to the dock, where Kris picked them up in the dink.
Friday we upped anchor and headed south to St. Anne. Nice to have just a boat day, and it was a motor trip as no wind in the morning, and then wind on the nose getting to St. Anne.
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| Charm motoring to St. Anne - photo from Breathe |
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| Diamond Rock |
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| Morne Larcher from the water doesn't look as high as it felt hiking up it. |
Saturday was another lazy day, relaxing onboard all morning. We defrosted the freezer and adjusted our jury-rigged fan we are using until we get a proper one. In the afternoon we went for a short walk around St. Anne, and some ice cream in the afternoon.
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| Kris working on the fan |
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| Church and square in downtown St Anne |
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| Very yummy ice cream store. |
Today we go hiking again, - have to burn off that ice cream - and then head to St. Lucia on Monday.
