Tropical Diversion: Martinique

We made it to Martinique on Friday and stayed in St. Pierre Friday night. In 1902 the volcano on Mt. Pelee’ erupted and wiped out almost the whole town of St. Pierre. There were 30,000 living there at the time and about 1,000 escaped and 2 men lived through it. One was a cobbler and the other was a prisoner that was being held in a concrete cell. He was still burned pretty bad though. There were probably 12 boats in the harbor and all but one of them was demolished. The one that made it through limped away with a few passengers. There are several buildings remaining that were made of concrete and they have rebuilt some of it but not much.

Saturday we sailed down to Fort De France which is the capital of Martinique and a largely populated area. It was awesome because we met a huge pod of dolphins on the way and they swam with the boat for a while. It’s so fun to watch Lexie with the dolphins because she is so fascinated with them. Max is oblivious. I don’t think he even sees them in the water or even when they jump out of the water or maybe he just doesn’t care.

We were going to head out today (Sunday) and sail straight to St. Lucia with our friends on Cosmos Mariner but when Wes went to start the port engine it wouldn't start. He thinks the water pump is out so we may just be stuck here in Fort De France for a few days.