Day 8 - Martinique

Today we visited Martinique by virtue of the fact that Dominica suffered too much damage this year thanks to Hurricanes Irma and Maria. And what a privilege it was to visit this lovely island.  Martinique is a French island that uses Euros. Tourists are able to use credit cards in the downtown area. 

We booked a private tour through Tours by Locals with Maria C.  A few months ago she presented us with some options and my family chose to hike a volcano today - Mont Pelee. 

The Regal Princess arrived in port at 10 am and we met Maria at 10:30. She took us to a local bakery that was open on this statutory holiday. We purchased lovely fresh sandwiches (cheese and ham were the only options) and put the, in our backpack for later. After a 40 minute drive we got to the North of the island and our starting point for the hike. We climbed about 400 metres in elevation that was particularly steep. In Canada we would consider this hike a scramble that you very much have to use your hands to clamber up. After about 1 1/2 hours we got to the point where we could do another steeper trail that was a loop. Because we were climbing in the misty rain and had no views of the mountains due to constant cloud cover, JG, P and I all voted to turn around at that point. J would have kept climbing but I knew I didn’t have a hope of completing the hike and making it back for the 6:30 pm all aboard call. 

So we turnedaround and headed back down. As I get older I find the steep descent of a hike more chsllenging than  the ascent!  Leaving at this time allowed us to return to the car by 3:30. Maria left the rsi forest ar3 and we headed towards The town of Saint Pierre. There we found sunshine and a view of Mont Pelee. We learned that the last time the volcano had erupted was in 1902 and the lava spilled onto the prison in the town of Saint Pierre. One man, Cyparis,  survived by living in solitary confinement in the prison. 

She offered to stop at the beach in Saint Pierre but we were all tuckered out and keen to head back to the ship. We did do one last stop at the hospital in the Fort de France (the town where we docked). The hospital has the most splendid view of the island, the town and the pier. 

We returned to hr ship around 5:30 and thanked Maria for our splendid day. My family hustled up to the dining room to eat but I took time to shower and headed up to the buffet to eat. I enjoyed a bit more freedom in my menu tonight. 

With college soccer on  MUTS tonight J and I were happy to enjoy the movie Wonder Woman in our room tonight!  We have an early start with Grenada tomorrow morning!