We’re up early as usual. I go over the boat to make sure she’s ready to travel. Alternator belt seems to be holding pretty tight with the new lock washer.
Soon enough we’re on our way – winds are still light and there is not enough to put up the sails until we’re well away from Anse d’Arlet and out in the Bay of Fort-de-France. We motor sail to start and make 5+ kts for most of the trip, dropping the motor after an hour or so. The wind is fickle the whole way.
The scenery is beautiful, Mt. Pelee and the surrounding pitons are spectacular. As we approach St. Pierre, we can see the anchoring area and we get a decent spot, maybe a little further from town than we’d like but pretty good. Our dinghy is very slow with 4 people so going long distances takes time.
We’re hoping to see if we can check out today for Monday’s departure. We want to get an early start for the fairly long ride across to Dominica and if we have to hit C&I first that would be a problem. We dinghy in, tie up to the ubiquitous Martinique pier (these are great, they’re all the same and every town has one). Find the customs off pretty easily and funny enough, they’re open on Sunday so don’t need to do anything now.
Christy and I wanted to climb Mt. Pelee but Scott and Carol have declined that so we will wait for another time. Like much of Martinique, there is almost NO information on tours or even taxis here. At least we would need a taxi to Mourne Rouge to start the hike. It’s early, only about 2 pm but the tourist office is closed and won’t be open again until Monday, after we leave.
We wander the streets a bit until we stumble on the 1902 volcanic eruption museum we were looking for (it’s Martinique, it’s hard to find). E$8 each but in the end pretty worth it.
After the museum, we find a nice cafe and have a coffee, very good. Then wander down to the U Express where we get some groceries.
Back on Milu, Christy makes dinner and later we try to watch a movie. Turns out the TV HDMI cable rusted out so can’t connect my notebook to the TV which also has a vertical line through it. We watch Amsterdam on my notebook.