Prison ruins - Saint Pierre - Martinique The prison was typical of architecture in the nineteenth century. Prisoner Louis Cyparis, imprisoned for murder in a stone cell, was perhaps not the sole survivor of the catastrophe when the Mount Pelee volcano erupted in l902, 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 were believed to have saved his life.

Saint Pierre - Martinique From Anse Mitan we enjoyed a pleasant sail north along Martinique's west coast to reach Saint Pierre, at the foot of Mount Pelee. Anchor to Anchor - Feb. 5, 2009 - Anse Mitan to Saint Pierre, Martinique - 13.7 miles - 4 hours On May 8, l902 the eruption of Mount Pelee completely destroyed the town of Saint Pierre, also known as the Little Paris of the West Indies. Most of its 30,000 inhabitants perished, with the exception of a single prison inmate. We spent a week, along with our friends Robin & Sandra (Ngoma) exploring the area. We visited the museum which is dedicated to the l902 eruption, as well as ruins of the prison and theatre. Of interest we noted the old cobbled streets throughout town as we could see where the fresh water from the mountainside formerly ran down their centre to supply the town. The charred boulder ruins were visible everywhere. Post-disaster buildings have been built onto old structures, so many new buildings share at least one wall with the past. Ruins also form garden walls, and some have been tidied up as historical icons. On the water-front a replica of the original financial centre has been re-built.

Sacre-Coeur de Balata Cathedral - Martinique High on the mountainside over-looking Fort-de-France is a duplicate structure of the cathedral that looks down from Montmartre upon Paris. We spotted it as we travelled by on the public bus. Even though we'd paid our fare to go all the way to Fort-de-France we hopped off as we couldn't miss the opportunity to visit such an amazing cathedral.

Ponds - Martinique's Jardin de Balata Located within the botanical garden grounds are 3 ponds - each a garden onto itself. Afloat on the surface were a multitude of gorgeous blooms and greenery. It would be an understatement to say the gardens were spectacular. We felt privileged to have the opportunity to stroll the magnificent grounds.

Jardin de Balata 10 km. up the mountain north of Fort-de-France is a spectacular tropical botanical park teeming with indigenous flora that evokes Martinique's original designation as "Madinina" - the island of flowers. This extraordinary garden comes complete with 3 ponds, a view over a tall stand of palms to the sea, shaded paths through lush ferns and a profusion of orchids growing in unique tree stump planters. The grounds are over-flowing with tropical species including torch gingers, antheriums, begonias, parakeet flowers and hibiscus.

Sight-seeing with "Ngoma" - Martinique We enjoyed a lovely day of exploring in the company of our friends Robin & Sandra (off of Ngoma-Zimbabwe). We took the ferry from Anse Mitan across the bay to Fort-de-France, and rode the communal taxi (T.C.) 10 km. up the mountainside to the botanical gardens. Afterwards we caught the public bus down to the cathedral and then again to Fort-de-France. With just our French language translation book to assist us we surprised ourselves at how easy it was to get around.

Sugar Mill - Pagerie plantation On the plantation property, adjacent to the home and kitchen are the partially restored ruins of the Pagerie sugar mill. The family lived in the mill after the home was destroyed by fire as there was no money to rebuild.

Empress Josephine's childhood home (Trois Ilets, Martinique) Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte married Josephine Beauharnais (born l763). She was the daughter of a Martinique plantation owner (Pagerie). We visited the Museum de la Pagerie which is located at Trois Ilets; the birthplace and home of Josephine until she was 16 years of age. At that time she travelled to France for a pre-arranged marriage. She had 2 children before her husband was beheaded for treason during the French revolution. She falsified her documents and married Napoleon, in spite of their 6 year age difference. At that time it was against the law for a woman to marry someone younger than herself. When they were married Josephine was 33 and Napoleon was 27. Their documents falsely show them both to be 28. She was Empress of France from 1804 to 1809. Napoleon divorced her as their marriage was childless and she was unable to give him an heir. The museum is located in the former estate kitchen. In it we saw Josephine's childhood bed, a passionate letter from Napoleon and many photos, drawings etc from their life together. The plantation home burned down and all that remains of it is the foundation.

Anse Mitan - Martinique Our next rendezvous with our friends, Robin & Sandra (Ngoma-Zimbabwe) was at Anse Mitan which is one of the original tourist sites in Martinique. It is located across the bay from the bustling capital city of Fort-de-France (pop. 120,000). While hiking to Musee de la Pagerie we passed Martinique's only golf course "Golf de I'Imperatrice - Josephine". The 18 hole course was designed by Robert Trent Jones, Sr. Also along the way we saw houses that were roofed with the locally made, very unique, fish-scale tiles. When we went sight-seeing with Robin & Sandra we left our boats anchored in Anse Mitan and rode the ferry for the 3 miles across the bay to Fort-de-France.

Snorkeling - Anse Chaudiere - Martinique We enjoyed 2 days of wonderful snorkeling while tucked in behind the fish farm, located at the south end of Petit Anse D'Arlet (Anse Chaudiere). While there we delighted in floating atop a field of yellow cushion stars (dark green accents). Directly under the boat we clearly sighted on 2 occasions the "uncommon" flying gunard (sea robin) as he dug in the sandy bottom. In the water along the rocky beach were colourful corals veritably teaming with a nursery of juvenile reef fish. Along with a multitude of brightly coloured fish, sightings of note were: juvenile gray angelfish, bright yellow and blue trumpetfish, clear jelly fish, blue-spotted cornet fish, peacock flounder and 2 sand divers. As well, we drifted over a small (10" diameter) sea turtle as he attempted (rather unsuccessfully) to hide beneath a rock. It's not often we have the opportunity to see such a variety of unusual fish all at one time.

Diamond Rock - H.M.S. warship? In our travels to further explore Martinique our route took us between Diamond Rock and the southeast coast headland. As the story goes: In 1804 Napoleon was master of Europe, but the British still had naval supremacy and largely controlled Caribbean waters. However ships were always scarce and some bright fellow noticed that Diamond rock was just about where the British would station another vessel if they had one, so they commissioned the rock as a ship. It was quite a feat to climb the steep, barren, snake-infested pinnacle and equip it with cannons and enough supplies and water for a full crew of men, but they succeeded. For some l8 months H.M.S. Diamond Rock was a highly unpleasant surprise for unsuspecting ships sailing into Martinique.