MARTINIQUE! August 23- 27th

Martinique reminded  me of how diverse the islands seem to be.  It wasn't surrounded by white beaches like Barbados, nor did it have incredible waterfalls or rainforests as plentiful as St. Lucia.  Martinique, as a territory of France, seemed far more developed with a noticeable amount of concrete, fast highways and 2 airports.  It was quite obviously a part of France by much more than the language and if I had to guess, I would say it is probably also the most productive of the three islands thus far.  Due to the above, for me, it had much less of a Caribbean feel.

Port coming into Martinique from St. Lucia

Port in Fort de France - arriving by ferry

I was lucky enough to be invited to my good friend Courtney's sister in laws  place for my first night and subsequently her going away party.  Stephanie and 3 of her friends had moved to Martinique for 4 months in order to perform research for their thesis papers in order to complete their Masters Degree in Ottawa, for International Development.  At this party, I met many of her welcoming friends and wound up spending the next few days hanging out with them.  While the waves wouldn't compare to Australia, Karim and I visited a beach up north and went surfing for my second afternoon and on the third day on the island, I rented a car and visited all of the recommended locations I could find along the island, including mostly beaches and communities.

Fort de France-  Library

East Coast - heading south

The beaches were not white like Barbados, instead, many were black or dark in color due to the volcanic ash which formed the island.  While this black sand has in places washed away, for the most part, the sand was considerably darker than that on Lake Superior back home or anywhere I have seen in Australia.  However there were some light brown beaches, but I did not think any of them seemed 'white', but this might be because I was in Barbados not long ago....

The people were very friendly, with a large part of the expat community coming from France, as one might expect, many were living on the island for only short periods of time.  

Unlike Barbados, the island did not have a large tourism community, but did have pockets of resort like areas which I imagine would be more filled during the tourist season.  However, there also were not many vendors selling souvenirs or locals looking to sell a tourists anything for that matter.  They did however distill the greatest number and types of rums than the other two islands, and I am not even sure how many they make as I was unable to sample them all, except to say that it had to be close to a dozen.

Coffee stop

I was told they get the rare leatherback turtle but that the hawksbill was far more common and went snorkeling at a few beaches to try my luck but I didn't find any.  The marine life did however seem comparable to Barbados, but with fewer fish.

Church in Ste Marie

graveyard in Ste. Marie (maybe 20 % of the town)

After traveling south and then heading east along the coastline, I ended my day tour in Ste. Marie, which reminded me of my home town, by name only.  This small, quiet community was quite quaint, but I would like to emphasis the "quiet" characteristic of the town.  I drove around, stopped for a swim at the black sand beach and then walked around for a bit.  There wasn't much going on.  Some locals were playing dominoes on tables along the streets and others were out fishing, not at all unlike the rest of the Caribbean, in this sense.  There was a large church and a massive graveyard next to it, which I found to be no coincidence in the sleepy town.  After a quick walk and a bite to eat, I was back in the car and heading home for the night.



I am not able to make a slide show of the places I visited just yet with the computer I am borrowing, but I will be sure to as soon as I can and add it when possible.  Until then, I hope you enjoy the photos I have added!