62) Martinique

Marina du Bakoua, Pointe du Bout, Martinique

14° 33.382 N 61° 03.265 W

I made it to the dive boat at 9am this morning and I think a large portion of French tourists did too.  This is what in the dive industry we call a cattle boat.  When you get to a dive site several tons of flesh and dive gear are unceremoniously dumped in the drink effectively scaring the hell out of the wildlife.  The only sea life left is either too dumb or too slow to get out of our way.  Or, they were just messing with us by showing us who is the boss.  Luckily for the first dive they paired me with a guy from Canada, eh, and he spoke great English.  The best part of all was that he was a very good diver.  We managed to break the dive profile described to us by making it to 111 feet.  The descent was spectacular and I admit I got a little distracted taking pictures.  Besides, that cage that I saw off in the distance wanted me to see it up close.   

  

This dive was very picturesque.  The sponges were large and everywhere; lots of small fish, etc.  Eighty-one degree water at depth was quite toasty compared to Monterey at 52-55°.  After getting back onboard I took off the heavy gear but kept my wetsuit on but hanging.  I was prepared for the surface sit between dives.  I was looking forward to the snacks and pastries and fruit that is common on dive boats between dives.  But, I could not find the goods.  While walking around I smelled alcohol and figured out it was coming from divers.  I thought, well, it’s a French thing.  Then of all things, I see this shelf with a couple dozen plastic cups with, uhm, sugar, a piece of lime and rhum.  What?  

So, between dives and after dives they drink rhum and smoke cigars and cigarettes.  I tried this local concoction and it was horrible.  They use the cheapest rhum and it has to be cut with sugar to get it down. 

Now that the crowd was back onboard I was getting prepared for the next dive.  But, the boat headed back to the dock.  What?  I thought I paid for 3 dives and I thought I was going to dive all day.  Ugh.  What happened at the counter when I gave up the ghost of USD via Visa?  So we get back to the dock and I talk to the leaders on the boat.  One young guy spoke great English and he told me that this boat is not like other dive boats that do multiple dives.  They go out once in the morning and once in the afternoon.  What?  I told him I paid for 3 dives and he verified it and put me on the afternoon dive.  This just proves that I did not fully understand what occurred at the counter when I paid. 

Well, I had 3 hours to burn before the next dive and went back to the boat.  I needed to be back at the dive boat at 2:45pm.  I left the boat early to look for a phone card and go to the Internet café.  Uh huh, closed.  Luckily I had my paperback and read.  It was too far to go back to the boat lugging gear.  Upon reaching the dive boat on time I saw another crowd.  Here we go again.  Moooooo.

  

This dive I was paired with 2 other divers.  They spoke rough English.  And in our discussion I relayed that I dove this morning to 111 feet: roughly 30-32 meters.  They could not fathom that.  They said that on the morning dive they only went to 14 meters.  They were very confused because the dive leaders said it was a shallow dive and I managed to make it a deep dive.  They were still confused.  We agreed to go no deeper than 25 meters and I agreed.  I didn’t want to go deep again.  We did manage to get to 75 feet, though.  They were good divers and that made this a pleasurable dive. 

  

While I was sitting in front of the closed Internet café and reading my paperback Nancy walked by scouting restaurants for dinner tonight.  I was happy that she agreed the pizzeria was the place to go.  She said they planned to go at 8.  I said that I needed to take a shower after the dive and expected to be back around 5. 

On the way back from the dive site the sun was going down.  I was watching it the entire way in and it was very nice.  We were almost back to the marina and just offshore of where the sailboat is and the boat was stopped mid-channel so the entire boat could watch the sunset.  I have never experienced this before and thought it was nice that someone on board knew enough to stop and watch the final sunset of the year.  From the marina I stopped in the Internet café and burned almost an hour and got to the boat around 6:30pm.  I managed to get a quick shower and everybody was ready to go.  I had a pizza again and loved it.  The wine ordered with dinner was not up to speed.  Geez, the red was fresh in that it won a medal in 2005.  I was not much interested in drinking wine tonight anyway.  While sitting there fireworks went off 3 times in the surrounding hotels. 

At midnight the hotel where Clive and Rhonda stayed put on a fantastic fireworks display.  This was the first time I have been that close to that kind of display.  They launched them about 300’ from us and luckily we were not downwind.  I heard the sizzle of the burning pieces coming down.  I even heard one hit the boat and found a small grape sized burnt chunk on the deck the next day.

61) Martinique

Marina du Bakoua, Pointe du Bout, Martinique

14° 33.382 N 61° 03.265 W

Almost everybody left the dock and moved on.

Today was a very lazy day.  It is now the night of the 31^st and I am trying to remember what I did yesterday.  All the days run together. 

I remember that it rained last night in the wee hours and my roof hatch was open.  Yes, the rain wakes me up quickly.  I did get wet and since I was up I listened to the rain.  When it pours it loads up the mast and rigging and then giant drops fall on the roof.  It’s pretty loud. 

I used up the air in the tanks yesterday and needed to fill them.  I set up the compressor and it blew the circuit on the boat.  We are plugged into shore power and it should have worked.  The U.S. is 60hz and pretty much everywhere other than the US is 50hz.  That’s cycles per second.  U.S. appliances can run on 50 but they might run slower.  It will not destroy them.  Then it blew the circuit on the dock.  The other day the washing machine blew the dock circuit and then we had to ask the restaurant to turn it back on.  So, we then unplugged from the dock and fired up the generator.  The compressor showed an initial spike of 50amps and then blew the circuit multiple times.  It appears there is an electrical anomaly.  As soon as Alan fixes the water maker the compressor is next.  The washing machine is not as important anymore for some reason. 

I was pretty bummed that I could not fill the scuba bottles.  I took one to the local shop and she said they could fill the bottle when the dive boat got back.  I asked when that was and she said, could be now could be later.  I swear that is what she said.  So, I go to the boat and get a bottle and go back.  And, they were closed!  

I go back to the boat and read and did stuff and then walked thru the town and went back to the boat and did stuff…  around 4 I decided to head back up there with a bottle.  I talked to the owner of the dock on my way for some advice on alternate dive shops and after asking a few questions he tells me they won’t fill the bottle.  Nobody will.  This bottle did not have a current VIP (visual inspection of the inside of the bottle that is done yearly and then given a dated sticker) and it was out of hydro.  A hydrodynamic test is done to all compressed air tanks every five years.  They submerge it in a tank of water and fill it to almost twice its rated pressure.  Then they measure the expansion of the metal and the contraction.  If it is in the range then it gets a stamp that is good for 5 years.  A ‘plus’ rating means that the bottle can safely be filled 10% over its rated pressure.  All divers like to have tanks full of lots of air.  Most new tanks are + rated. 

So, the tanks are out of VIP and hydro.  Nobody will fill them because of that and they are aluminum.  It appears, according to Philippe, that the Caribbean does not favor aluminum tanks because they corrode too quickly.  After the 5-year mark they get rid of them.  They prefer steel tanks because they are of the best quality.  But, steel costs more than 3 times what aluminum costs.  I personally have the highest quality steel available at the retail level.  There is a reason why some dive operations use aluminum.  And that is because they are cheap. 

With that said, I moseyed on down to the local dive shop and put my money on the table.  I knew I paid money because I signed the credit card slip.  But, her French and my English told me I didn’t really know what I got.  She said be at the dock at 9.  Easy enough.  At least I had plans for a long day tomorrow.  Cause, uhm I’m going just a teensy bit stir crazy not having scuba at the ready. 

This is the favorite restaurant.  Pizzeria L’Embarcadere.

John, Nancy and I headed to the restaurant that Clive and Rhonda took me to.  This is the favorite spot of all of us.  Good, non-French food and the prices are fair. 

And now a funny little side note about the French.  Across the bay in Fort de France tonight they had a fireworks display celebrating the New Year.  Uhm, it was a day early.    As it turns out, city workers put on the display and they have New Year’s off.  No kidding.  

60) Martinique

Marina du Bakoua, Pointe du Bout, Martinique

14° 33.382 N 61° 03.265 W

I got in the water at the dock to snorkel this morning and realized after my first descent that the sights were good enough and the water deep enough for scuba.  So, I got back onboard and set up my gear.  The visibility was about 20’ and there was lots of small fish, coral and sponges.  It’s always interesting to see what is below a dock and this dive qualified.  Lots of chain, restaurant napkins, bar glasses, 2 fishing poles, dinner knife that John dropped at the restaurant our first meal here, an outboard dinghy motor, etc.  The colors would have been much more brilliant had the strobe gone off.  But, the ambient light was enough to preclude a flash.  All these shots were taken in about 15’ of water directly beneath the boat and the immediate area.  

 

Clive, Rhonda and I agreed to meet at the pool for beers and sunset.  This turned out to be a very pleasant sit.  On my way to the pool a young lady approached the rear of Amor Fati because we were flying an American flag.  She was born and raised in Livermore and we immediately struck up a conversation.  She was on a large catamaran that was anchored about 300’ from us.  She moved to the Azores over a decade ago as that is where some of her family is originally from.  She is crewing on the cat across the Atlantic and around the Caribbean.  She is the lone girl among 5 guys of German and other nationalities.  They crossed the Atlantic from the Cape Verde islands in 15 days.  Catamarans are known to have very good speeds.  They too were short on water and had to ration.  On the other hand they saw lots of sea life.  Onboard was the owner of a whale watching/dive shop, etc and somewhat of a marine biologist.  They saw a blue whale, misc other whales, orcas, dolphins, caught tuna, Dorado and even a marlin!  I must admit they were a ragged looking bunch.   Anyway, I told her I was on my way to meet up for drinks at the pool and invited her to come along.  It’s nice to hear what other people have to say about their neck of the woods and what they think is interesting.  Her description of the Azores is nothing like what I thought it was.  Apparently, it is lush, populated and quite prosperous.  It’s a bit far from CA and unlikely that I would ever go there on a vacation but it was fun hearing about it.

During our sit at the bar it rained offshore and then after dark it rained where we were.  It rains everyday and every night, but not much.  It’s like Hawaii in that it rains for very short periods.  Dinner was great!  I have been drinking beer and eating pizza on my quest west and this little place on the adjacent marina next to the ferryboats produces a fantastic pizza.  It rivals anything I have ever had.  Tomorrow night I think I will try the local Tex-Mex BBQ or the ribs at the pizza joint.  It’s all about eating on vacation.  Why is that? 

  

 
 

59) Martinique

Marina du Bakoua, Pointe du Bout, Martinique

14° 33.382 N 61° 03.265 W

I picked up my laundry this morning.  It was the size of a large sleeping bag and cost 60 Euros!  That is about $71 USD!  This place is way too expensive.  The same load in Gibraltar cost 10 Euros.  At least I have a clean load of sheets, blanket and clothes that will last me about 2-4 weeks. 

I met up with Clive and Rhonda at 9:15am at the pool this morning.  We planned to go on a very long drive today to sight-see.  Since I was flush with Euros I was able to splurge and get some pastries at the local bakery.  Mmm, donuts.  We planned to make a large circuitous route up the west side, thru the middle and then back down thru the middle of the island.  Food, small towns and tourist attractions were on the list.  I’m not sure of all the names of the places but generally know the location. 

Where Josephine was baptized.

At the restaurant for lunch we were served bread and water to start.  I always expect at least butter or oil or something.  Uh, uh.  Not here.

Saint Pierre.

The steps led up to the ruins of a theater originally built in 1786.  Several renovations and huge loans the management was unable to pay in 1900 led to the closing of the theater in 1901, just a year before the tragedy.  Directly to the left was the site of the prison where a tenant became famous as the sole survivor of the eruption.  There is speculation that Louis Cyparis was perhaps not the sole survivor of the catastrophe, but his destiny led him to be presented as such as a part of the American Barnum’s Circus.  The thickness of the walls of his cell was believed to have saved his life.  The eruption in 1902 of Montagne Pelée caused not lava to flow downward but a gaseous cloud with debris at a rate of 250 mph.  This cloud is what killed approximately 30,000 people.

   

Montagne Pelée in the background enshrouded by clouds as taken from the main entrance to the theater.

 

  

Theater and prison remains, respectfully. 

 

After touring this town on foot we wanted to visit one of the many rhum distilleries on our way to the mountain.  The Depaz Distillery self-guided tour was fantastic.  All the signage included English and the footpath was laid out very well.  The ambiance of the plantation imparted decades of history.  And of course, the tour ended in the gift shop.  We did our part to relieve them of a couple shots at the tasting bar and a couple bottles for the road.  Mine will go home with Clive so as to prevent it from evaporating as we go southwest.  I learned the value of high quality rhum and am sad that at home we are force-fed poor quality stuff and look forward to savoring the good stuff.

 

The water that runs across this plantation is plentiful and pure.  They still use it to generate all the electricity needed for the property.  Due to the quality of the water the quality of the rhum is one of the highest.  Agriculture in this particular area benefits greatly from the natural terrain and is an obvious reason for the length of its success.  

 

We decided to go to a restaurant that Rhonda found in a guidebook that was located in
Anse A L’Ane, a couple miles south of where we were staying.  The signs on this island make it very difficult to find things when they are missing.  We could not find the place and while standing on the curb in front of another restaurant on the beach a guy comes out.  He’s all smiles while speaking French to us.  Clive tried to respond and then the guy responds in French and slides into perfect English.  He was just messing with us.  We asked him for directions to the place we were looking for and he says it was closed.  But, my place is open.  Uh, huh.  So we went in and had a great meal.  The atmosphere was peaceful and the food was very non-French which made it all the more enjoyable.  We’ll never know if the other place really is closed or not.