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We awoke early to a clear sky with small, scattered, puffy clouds. After a 45-minute boat ride north of Anse Chastanet, we arrive in Castries harbor. Castries is the capital of St. Lucia. Next to the harbor, at the north end of the island, is the inter-island airport at Vigie (VEE-gee). Another airport was built at the north end. Both airports were built by the British and Americans during World War II, when these islands were used as supply depots. German submarines and Allied ships and planes fought for control of this area. Today we are flying to Martinique to climb Mt. Pele (PEE-lay), explore the ruins of St. Pierre and look for the ships sunk by the 1902 volcanic eruption in St. Pierre. We finally got our underwater scooters from Customs and will use them today. Due to the plane's weight limitations, we left our kayaks in St. Lucia. Martinique is about 30 miles from St. Lucia. By ferry it takes about 1-1/2 hours, but the channel between the two islands can get very rough and scary. Karen has insisted we fly to Martinique. No boat! Before our plane departs, we take a walk along Vigie beach and hear loud shouting. We go to see what all the yelling is all about. It is a dominoes game! Men in St. Lucia take dominoes very seriously. They yell and slap the dominoes down on the table as they play. In St. Lucia men play dominoes for money. Maybe people here like dominoes because you can play in the rain and not worry about your dominoes getting wet! The trip to Martinique takes 39 minutes and the plane flies as high as 3,070 feet. From the air we see Fort-de-France, the capitol of Martinique, with volcanic peaks nearby, and Mt. Pele far in the distance. When we arrive in Fort-de-France, we hear everyone speaking French. Parlez-vous Francais? Actually, we are in France. Unlike St. Lucia, Martinique is not an independent country. It is a frontier of France like the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico are territories of the US. We rent a small, ugly car and must now get used to driving on the right side of the road again! Forty-five minutes later we arrive at our temporary expedition base in Le Carbet (car-BAY). Le Carbet is on the Caribbean coast about three miles south of St. Pierre. Tomorrow we will try to climb to the top of Mt. Pele, the volcano that destroyed St. Pierre in 1902, and look for signs of volcanic activity. |
We weren't supposed to take pictures in Vigie airport, so I secretly shot this picture of Karen getting ready to board the small twin engine propeller plane to fly to Martinique.
A lively game of dominoes on Vigie Beach.
On the plane to Martinique. This plane holds 19 passengers. See how cramped it is. You can see the pilot and co-pilot sitting in front. If you wanted to you could yell at the pilot to go faster, but he wouldn't hear you, because this plane is very noisy.
Fort-de-France, Martinique. A large cruise ship is docked in town. A old fort sticks out into the harbor on the right. |
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February 25, 2000
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