These Islands are called the "Windward Islands" because when the ships sailed to them, they would have to sail on a windward course...
or more into the wind.
| It's getting near June and we sail to French Martinique to anchor in the bay at St Pierre in view of Mt Sofierre a still active volcano. We were glad it was dormant while we were there since we had sailed past a closed down Monserrat due to a recent erruption and ash was flying all over the Caribbean. This volcano made for a lovely view and we hiked about 1/3 the way up it to visit the Depaz Rum distillery. Like we needed more rum!!! We still left with 6 bottles that got heavier as we walked back to the boat. After a few days we sailed on to Fort de France but with nothing to do in the largest city in the Caribbean, on Sunday, we decided to go to Trois Ilet, a beautiful cove with 3 islets, hence the name. | We walked a long way to see the family plantation where Emperess Josephine, wife of Napoleon, was born. We also discovered an seemingly abandoned old botanical gardens that we crept into and had a lovely walk around the overgrown greenery and flowers. The statue of Josephine below is in the square at Fort de France and it was decapitated because she opposed the freedom of the slaves for the benefit of her family sugar plantation. Her name was chiseled away and the bloody paint is still worn by the marble. Her opinions did not go over well with the newly freed slaves and this was how they expressed themselves!!! |
