A little too rainy, a little too windy to take the old dinghy across to Isle de Cochon for repairs as it needs to dry and we want to leave it there overnight.

Today is Fat Tuesday and we here there is a parade in the main city, although all businesses will be closed. There are conflicting reports as to timing of said parade but we think it is early afternoon so we dinghy into the port area by where the big cruise ships and ferries park. There is a dinghy landing with one other dinghy there – wish we’d brought our stern anchor but should be ok here. Double locked up before we leave.

The town is a bit of a ghost town since everything is closed although in the little park by the port there are a bunch of market tents and people milling about. Clearly they are preparing. We walk around the streets a bit until we get near the main road that runs through town. There are a few security (cops?) people blocking the road so we ask them what time the parade starts. 6 pm they say, which probably means 7 pm if past experiences count for anything.

It’s 3:30 pm and I’m not prepared to wait 3 hours for a parade, the flavour of which we’ve already seen twice. We head back through the streets towards the dinghy landing. People are definitely ramping up, the most noticeable evidence being the ubiquitous whip-crackers who have these massive whips the make such a load snap noise it hurts your ears if you’re too close.

We get the dinghy and return to Milu, Christy drives as operating the dinghy kills my neck. If we hear the parade going crazy maybe we’ll return.

Thankfully for me, Christy does a little carnival research and finds that, though the idea is centred around Christianity, the roots of carnival are satanic, which explains a lot of the imagery and debauchery around the event. That kills it for her which is a big relief for me, I did not want to go back to town.