Last day with the car so we head out at a reasonable time. Turns out we bought the wrong coffee pods so on the way we stop back at the mall to return them and buy a bunch more.

Off we go for the nice drive, stopping at Le Marin for a look around. Funny, it’s just as we remember it. There are some chandlery things we could do here but don’t, we just walk around a bit. We try to find a cafe, they’re around but we don’t find something suitable so we just head off to Plage des Salines, apparently the most famous beach in Martinique.

Christy and I have passed this beach a few times and from the sea it always looks deserted as there are never more than one or two boats anchored here. But it’s actually pretty busy and we are happy to find a (tight!) parking spot near the beach. Glad to have a small car.

We walk the beach a bit and find some shade. The girls go for a walk down to the south end where there appears to be an old restaurant. I go for a long swim, hoping to break lose this bad neck/shoulder issue I have. Nice swim, neck problem remains.

This is truly a gorgeous beach – pure sand the whole way, maybe a mile long, and shallow everywhere. Great for swimming and perhaps two yachts anchored here. I think it could be pretty wild for overnighting here if the wind was from the wrong direction. Perfect today and maybe Christy and I will try next time we’re around here if conditions are good. (As I’m writing this I notice there is a “Petrified Beach” nearby so another place to explore.)

After a bit we wander over to a tarp-covered restaurant in the sand that is recommended on google. Have a very good lunch then mosey on back to the car for the trip back towards Fort-de-France.

We’re going to stop at Anse Mitan to shown them Point Au Bout but unlikely we’ll be able to stay for dinner as we need to get the car back to Europcar by about 5 pm.

We get the LAST parking spot at Anse Mitan, very fortuitous as a car is just leaving when we’re about to quit and search elsewhere. Stop at the very nice ice cream shop, I defer while everyone else indulges.

We walk out to the very strange Point au Bout (reported earlier in this blog in December) and then back along the beach to the car.

We leave.

Drive the car back to the rental, all is well. The shuttle takes us back to the airport where we catch a cab back to Milu. We’re all grateful for semi-hot showers.