Monday 30 April: Oooph!, April is over already. We’ve been cruising for 4 months now. In the Med that would be our season almost over, but here we are still raring to go …. And a long way to go yet.
That said, today is absolutely horrible. The sky is dark and it’s raining like in Scotland …. as in non-stop and no sign of it stopping. This means our cockpit space is also reduced because the rain gets into the aft end. Clearly it’s not a beach day. But on the other hand, it’s a good day to go and see the main town Fort de France.
In a period where the rain eases a little, we dash ashore to catch the ferry across the bay. Timing is perfect. As we leave Cloudy Bay, the ferry is approaching in the distance. No sooner have we tied up the dinghy, than the ferry is there on the dock and we jump aboard. It’s a 20 minute ride, but we already know that following our trip to the hospital yesterday!
First stop is the fort itself, which stands high over the harbor, protecting it from the English. But, of course it’s Monday and it doesn’t open on a Monday, so game over on that one.
We walk into the old town instead. The streets are narrow and half filled with old colonial looking buildings and half modern. Inside a covered market we sit and have some lunch – Creole food. By the end of the meal, Darius is asleep (peace descends!) so we split leaving our guests at the table while we go off to explore.
Lots of small boutique shops, some with very nice clothes. Oana even buys a few things for once.
We are also on the hunt for a nice coffee. Everything here is very French, excepting that there are very few cafes or places to eat. But eventually we do find a nice coffee in a small modern mall, and more importantly, Oana finds cannele – her favorite French cake. Needless to say she is in heaven ….. for the 1 minute the cannele lasts!
By 4:30pm we have seen all the streets at least once. Venturing outside of the old town does not look very interesting and in any case it’s raining again. So we take the ferry back. Half way back, the rain is so heavy that it’s almost a white out – we can see neither of the bay’s shorelines. Luckily it all stops before we get off again back at Anse Mitan.
Funnily enough, it’s actually quite interesting watching all the anchored yachts roll all over the place as the ferry passes. We imagine that it must actually be quite good fun being a ferry driver in that respect …. As long as you are not on the receiving end of all the wake.
We wait for Teo and Geta, who took an earlier ferry, in a bar at the end of the jetty and have a cocktail. Seems appropriate on this dull day. Eventually, they appear claiming to have had the best coffee ever in the nearby Creole Village. Of course, it would have to be better than the coffee we had!
Back at Cloudy Bay, once Darius is in bed, Teo and Geta go for their first swim off the back of the boat.
Then after dinner a chess challenge is declared. After 5 minutes Glen takes the first game and Teo is determined not to suffer such a loss in the second game, which takes about 4 hours. Next time, we will add a rule: each move must be made within 5 mins. By bedtime it’s done, Teo wins and its 1-all. Decided to be played tomorrow.