Martinique

May 16, 2009 – Leaving Martinique for St. Lucia

To say that I didn’t much like Martinique may be unfair, but of all the places we’ve been so far, it’s definitely my least favorite. It was a contrast to all the cute little colorful villages we’ve visited thus far. We anchored off of Marin, all the way at the southern end of the island. It reminded me a bit of the Cote d’Azur (the French Riviera). There were many apartment buildings, many more cars and while it remains rather small, had more of a city feel to it. It is a huge marina, catering very much to yachts. I was also surprised by how very French it is. I expected that since it is a marina, catering to yachts, it would have a greater variety of nationalities.

What it did have was a café/bar right next to the dinghy dock that had free wifi (well free with a cup of coffee and a croissant). So Ryan, Warren and I spent a few hours there both mornings reconnecting with the world. Ryan and I are realizing how much we depend on the internet for quick access to any information. We’ll be watching a movie and want access to IMDB (that’s what we do at home – it’s why it takes us so damn long to get through a movie).

I finished Angels & Demons last night. I enjoyed it the most of his books (though haven’t read his first one yet). I think I’ve made amply known my feelings about DaVinci Code (ahem, bullshit)! But this one was good. Though I suspect that part of my enjoyment of it came from my lack of knowledge of Illuminati and Vatican history. I did go to wiki Illuminati the other morning while we were on the internet and after reading the first sentence it became very clear to me that I needed to stop reading if I was going to enjoy the rest of the book. He takes HUGE liberties with history. Yes, I did feel that Langdon’s superhuman survival of what? 3 or was it 4 death experiences was a little over the top, but I suspended my disbelief and let it go.

But back to Martinique…

And the diving SUCKED! It became so apparent why marine reserves and conservation and strict fishing laws are so important. While Ryan and I whine about having to pay to dive in places like Saba and Dominica and St. Lucia, I’ll happily pay if it means that some sort of guidelines are in place to conserve the reef structures. I’m not sure that one really needs to have something to do with the other, but certainly Martinique is a prime example of what a mistreated reef looks like. It made me sad more than anything. You can tell that the reef was working hard to have a chance but was just being pushed back by human stupidity.

And fishing. We did a dive yesterday and we saw a fishing trap right there plopped on top of a reef – fuck the coral and sponges that were sitting underneath. Martinique has apparently had a few world wars between divers and fishermen and what we’re seeing is the compromise, I guess. I understand that fishing is an important part of the economy in societies that make their living off the land and sea, but surely there are ways to regulate it so that it is minimally invasive to the reef. And that really didn’t seem to be the case here. We’d read in the guidebook to be aware not to start the third world war and leave any fishing equipment alone, but really I just wanted to move that damned thing onto sand.

Oh, we saw a dead sea turtle at the surface - we approached it thinking it was a mooring, stared at it for a while then it came to me what it was - headless, legless, but very much a sea turtle. From the looks of it, whether it died of natural causes or not, it had had a good long life.

And now we’re off again – en route to St. Lucia.