Profile
Blog
Photos
Videos
Today we started the day with no real plan.
We headed up to breakfast and by now, my appetite was waning a bit. I felt so full, I could burst. I did get some grits and bacon and a cup of coffee at first. I sat a while and then felt I could eat a bit more. LOL. Hope had her usual omelette and bacon.
The ship was cleared and we headed out. We hopped a little shuttle the ship had set up for transport to the port area. It was a bit away. Once there, we were guided through turnstiles and into the port shopping area.
Martinique (French pronunciation: [maʁ.tinik]) is an insular region of France located in the Lesser Antilles in the eastern Caribbean Sea, with a land area of 1,128 square kilometres (436 sq mi) and a population of 386,486 inhabitants (as of January 2013). Like Guadeloupe, it is an overseas region of France, consisting of a single overseas department. One of the Windward Islands, it is directly north of Saint Lucia, northwest of Barbados, and south of Dominica.
As with the other overseas departments, Martinique is one of the twenty-seven regions of France (being an overseas region) and an integral part of the French Republic. As part of France, Martinique is part of the European Union, and its currency is the euro. The official language is French, and virtually the entire population also speak Antillean Creole (Créole Martiniquais).
Martinique owes its name to Christopher Columbus, who sighted the island in 1493, and finally landed on 15 June 1502. The island was then called "Jouanacaëra-Matinino", which came from a mythical island described by the Tainos of Hispaniola. According to historian Sydney Daney, the island was called "Jouanacaëra" by the Caribs, which means "the island of iguanas."
When Columbus returned to the island in 1502, he rechristened the island as Martinica. The name then evolved into Madinina ("Island of Flowers"), Madiana, and Matinite. Finally, through the influence of the neighboring island of Dominica (La Dominique), it came to be known as Martinique.
I thought there would be several folks around offering tours, but that was not the case. We asked a few of the ladies standing at the tour desks, but when she came back from checking with a few drivers, no one wanted to take out just 2 people, so we walked on down and watched some folks making some type of video. They were all men, dressed wierdly, One tall man even had on a white bikini. I thought they were shooting videos with the passengers leaving the ship, but I really couldn't identify anyone from the ship.
Hope and I walked on down the pier, stopping at several of the vendors there. Some of the ladies had absolutely beautiful and unique items. I purchased some rubber jewelry. Believe it or not, the stuff is cute.
I was glad we'd packed our rain ponchos, because it rained off and on. Heavy at times. Passengers of the ship were all trying to duck under the makeshift tents the vendors worked under, but not everyone could fit.
I asked Hope if she wanted to take the shuttle boat (vedette) across. Notice I said, "shuttle boat across." Of course, I didn't know where it was going, but thought it would be something to do. We asked the man where does the shuttle boat go and of course, he didn't speak English well, but pointed and we followed his finger pointing. We lined up and waited for the shuttle boat to come back to retrieve us. There were vendors on the little dock selling dried plaintains and drinks and other wares. We asked a young man standing there, how much was the trip and he explained that it was $7 for the roundtrip. The incoming shuttle boast arrived and we hopped aboard. A young couple sat directly facing us and I don't know why they sat there. Them sitting there would definitely hinder my picture taking. I was saved by the rain. They got up and moved, During the 15 minute ride, the rain stopped and I was able to take some great shots.
While tendering across, our ship was testing the lifeboats. I'd never seen them actually in the water. I don't know if both sides of the ship's lifeboats were in the water, as we could only see our side of the water.
We were just nearing Pointe Du Bout, when the young man began collecting the $7 and giving us tickets to return.
Most folks on the shuttle boat were heading to the beach, but Hope was in need of a bathroom. I guess I was so into shopping, I hadn't realized she said that the porta-potty on the corner accepted EUROs.
We wandered over to an information booth and Hope asked the young lady there about a bathroom. She didn't understand and I said, "toilette?" She also stated that the toilette only took coins.
We wandered on down and peeked into some local shoppes. Everyone had to convert our USDs to EUROs, but we managed.
In one shoppe I was glad that a Rastafari was in one of the stores, as the shopkeeper had a variety of homemade beverages, that I needed descriptions of the ingredients and a few translations for.
We headed over to another shoppes and the woman asked me if I spoke French and I replied, "comme ci, comme ça (so-so), juste un peu (just a little). We both smiled and we paid for our stuff and headed out.
We passed a small bakery and I wanted to purchase a couple of turnovers, but they didn't accept USDs nor American Express. They also seemed to not want me in there, but later it was explained to me that they don't speak English and just don't want to be bothered with people speaking English. They speak frenchcreole.
After shopping, we headed back to the pier. I took a few photos while we waited for the shuttle boat. As more people walked up, the small area became quite full and we knew there was going to be a push to get onto that boat.
We boarded and this boat was kind of different than the one that brought us over, actually seemed smaller. I headed to the upper deck in hopes of snapping a few more nice photos.
After we arrived back into Fort De France, Hope headed back to the ship and I putzed along. There was a very nice band playing for our farewell. I listened for a while at the music and their dancing. It was very nice and quite entertaining.
We rushed to get dressed, as tonight was another formal dinner night. I was hungry and ordered a double shrimp ceviche. Our dinner was nice and we walked around a bit. Hope ducked out to run over to the 30 minute watch sale and came back with about 3 or 4 watch sets. The ship boasted this huge "Chocolate Diamond" sale and we picked in a couple of the on-board jewelry stores, then I headed to the cabin and left Hope, Gigi and Erma to their shopping.
I cannot run with the big dogs, so I stay on the porch!
- comments
Cathy nice! :)
Valerie sounds so fun!