Martinique 2018 - The Land Of Cheese

KC own Boulevard Beer Tank 7 beer

April 2018

This pic is for sv Just Imagine

We are back in the land of cheese!  And wine, and pain du chocolate, and baguettes, and coffee, and cheese.  YES!  Also good chandleries.  This is the primary reason we came back here to stock up on provisions and also boat parts, spares and upgrades. 

Polde and Tom

Annika and Bruce on the hike

Of course we are also getting caught up with cruising friends.

Old friends - sv Tango (Stefan and Annika)  and sv Imagine (Kurt) - New friend sv Shiraz (Thomas)

Caliber 40 LRC - sv Honey Ryder and sv Lost Loon (Nancy and Mike)

And meeting new cruising friends. 

Hiking

And exploring.

Bocce Ball

 And trying new things.  

Bocce Ball

It's all good.   

Bill (sv Tootaloo)

Another fabulous sunset

Bequia to Martinique 2018

Our St Vincent and Grenadines flag or what is left after two months

March 2018

After two terrific months in Bequia, we weighed anchor and sailed for Martinique.  It seems to us that Bequia has really taken their game up a notch or two.  I would encourage any cruisers to spend more time there.  I would encourage land people to make the extra effort and go visit Bequia.

It was a full moon - aka dark so we didn't sail straight through to Martinique like we had planned but inside stopped overnight in Rodney Bay St Lucia.  We pulled in after dark, put up our yellow Q - quarantine flag and left first thing in the morning.  There is a lot of theft against cruisers going on in St Lucia.  Until something is done to change that, we are choosing not to spend ANY money there. 

sv Imagine - our friend Kurt ahead of us

sv Imagine - our friend Kurt behind us 

We had a fantastic sail from St Lucia to St Anne Martinique, sailing the whole way.  We have never had the right wind angle to sail the whole way in from St Lucia.  What fun! 

Sundowners in St Anne Martinique

Sundown

New Friends - Martinique

Remember my favorite Carnival lady?

And her Carnival loving husband?

3-30-17
Back in February we did carnival in Sainte Anne Martinique.  There was one local couple that we saw each day.  They quickly became my favorites.  They dressed up each day and participated to the fullest.  You could just tell they were living life to the fullest and loving it.

Last night they and another couple were in one of our favorite places.   I stopped by their table and tried to chat.  Only one guy spoke a small bit of English, the others did not.  Our French is pretty much non-existent.  However, through drawing, gestures, and Google Translate, we were able to communicate.  Eventually Tom and cruiser Randy joined us.

But then it was closing time.  No worry.  They invited us back to the holiday villa they were sharing.  Randy bowed out and headed back to his boat.  Tom and I followed our new French friends to their villa.  It was a short walk, right across from the fish market here in Sainte Anne.

And it was lovely.  Just the perfect size.  We sat on the back patio drinking "punch" and "talking" some more - drawing, gesturing, acting out, Google Translating, as well as snapping pics.  It was fun.

They are all from mainland France. They have been over here for the winter.  Sadly, they are headed back to France tomorrow.

Different sash - the plot thickens

At the end of the evening, Michelle got out her sash from Carnival and we took another round of pics and had some big laughs.

Miss Penn Sardines

This is one of the best things about cruising, meeting interesting people.  

From Carnival

Modern Art - Martinique

Foundation Clement Modern Art Gallery

In the Caribbean?  Yes!  Even the building was modern and kewl!  This gallery (Foundation Clement) is located on Habitate Clement, an old rum plantation and factory that is now a historical sight.

The entrance

Just to back up, we like modern art.  It is my favorite style of art.  I don't care what some say.  I find it intriging and thought provoking.

The current show

The current exhibit is on loan from mainland France's National Museum of Modern Art in Centre Pompidou (LOVE that place).  The best part of viewing a French art exhibit is that unless you are fluent in French, you cannot read the titiles (for the most part) and the description.  You are left to see the pic as you see it. This is how I believe ALL art should be!  If it were up to me, no art would EVER be titled.  Why?  Think about it....when you go to an art exhibit, you look at a piece of art and you see what you see.  Then you look at the title, description (if the artist has offered one) and general info about the piece.  Now you look back at the piece of art, it looks different doesn't it?  It looks more like the title and description and not what you originally saw.  However, this doesn't happen when viewing a non-English art exhibit.  Hurray!

Artful gang

Anyway, art soapbox aside, it was an impressive art gallery and an impressive show.  "Action and Material - A Different Abstraction"  focuses on abstract art that developed in Paris at the end of World War II 1945 to 1965.

Chatting it up

Then we moved outside to the sculpture garden.  Magnificient as well.

Interesting piece - I like it

Part of a mirror installation - kewl

The pieces stuck to the modern theme.

Those are freshly plowed sugar cane fields in the backgroud - powerful image I think

Some pieces were serious, some not.

I really like this piece

When we first arrived at the car park, there was a group of local school children in the sculpture park.  It probably wasn't as peaceful then but I like the fact they were there learning.  I am not good with kid ages but I would guess - 3rd or 4th grade.

Peaceful

It was late afternoon so the sun was on the far horizon.  I think it would be interesting to come back and visit at different times of the day and see how the light plays on these pieces throughout the day.

Fun

Lovely setting.

Purple power

Even the grounds had an art feel

The rhum factory is interesting as well.  Different than other rum tours we have taken.  It had more of a sophisticated, well thought out feel vs some old, musty, smelly rum factory.  Someone did a fantastic job all the way around in terms of designing the total Habitate Clement experience.

Old tanks made into stairs

Of course the French are tres chic.

Old rhum factory parts

The tasting room was too crowded so we just moved on.

On display or displayed as art?  Hum?

Photos on the wall (real rhum workers)were so moving.  It seems they could/would talk to you at any moment

Banana Museum - Martinique

YES, you heard that correctly.  There is a banana museum in Martinique.  And yes, it is kewl!

Impressive stats, eh?

We visited while our friends were here on holiday.

Look at the shape of those bananas

A tour bus arrived at the same time as we did.  The tour bus guide said we could join their tour - in English.

It started with samples of different local bananas.  YUM!  The banana business is huge here in Martinique.  The whole east side of the island is field after field of bananas.

More odd shaped bananas

There are something like 1000 different types of bananas in the world - eating, cooking and ornamental.

These looked like spaceships or a Venus Flytrap

There are 400 banana growers on Martinique.  They sell at a commercial banana market.  Most get exported to mainland France.  There are four dedicated container ships that ship these bananas to France.  I suspect the ships return to Martinique filled with French wine and cheese - at least they do in my dreams.  Ha!  

Here in Martinique, they use crop rotation to help the soil.  When it is time to rotate, they plant pineapples.  These are so sweet, they taste like candy.  Bananas and then pineapples- what is not to love!

Couple of "bananas" to be sure

It was an interesting stop.