St Pierre, more chic than shabby and oh, so historic.
One of the best parts of being in the Caribbean, aside from avoiding the FREEZING winter conditions at home, is the nightly show as the sun sets to the west.
Sunsets in the Caribbean are nearly always impressive and last nights was even better than usual with a local fisherman out for one last set of his net as the sun set to the west. More about how these industrious fisherman practice their craft a little later in this post.
Of course, as Brenda and I sit in the cockpit or up on deck with a glass of wine, we wonder if we will see the elusive green flash, a momentary pulse of bright green as the sun sets below the horizon. This phenomenon only happens when the horizon is perfectly clear and lasts less than a second. Last night was one of those nights and while I sort of missed the “flash” by a fraction of a second, we got it, a green flash! If you don’t see it in this image, I guess you just had to be there, and we were.
I put the camera on sports mode, taking photos about twice a second as the sun sets. It drops fast enough that you can see it move lower and lower.
And, that iconic flash that, I almost, caught. I’ve done better but you can sort of see the change of color. 
It was beautiful and a perfect way to end the day.
Today, the day got off to an equally impressive start with a parade of showers rolling off of Mt Pele, bringing with it a variety of rainbows. First a partial “bow” against impressive clouds. 
A bit later, a full rainbow. This photo doesn’t really give a sense of the scale. It was really huge. 
And the colors looked brighter in “real life”. This close up gives a better feel for how bright it was. 
The streets in St Pierre, once the capital of Martinique, are a mix of old and really old. In 1902, Mt Pele, in the distance, capped in clouds, exploded with little warning, leveling the city and killing some 30,000 in a brief moment as superheated gas and ash, in excess of 1,000 degrees, rushed down the mountain.
In the aftermath of destruction, not a building was standing, only charred ruins. Some of the remains of these ruined buildings are left as a memorial to that fateful day. 
The destruction was total, leaving not a single building standing. 
Every person in the city perished except a single very lucky guy who happened to be in jail when Pele exploded, and survived. Check out this three minute video of the story of the destruction of St Pierre and one man’s very lucky day.Following the eruption, the capital was moved south to Ft de France, which remains the capital to this day. We will be heading there, I expect, within the next few days so stay tuned on that front.
On that fateful day there were many ships anchored off of the city and most were sunk in moments. The shore drops off steeply off of the beach so today boats have to anchor as close to the beach as they dare. This view from the center of the city south, is more peaceful than that day in 1902. Pandora is anchored way to the south, near the point, as there is a fairly shallow shelf in about 25′ of water so it’s a better spot than near the center of the city.
The problem with anchoring near the city center is that the drop off is so fast that if you were to drag your anchor, even 100′, the anchor and chain would be hanging straight down as you drifted to sea. 
There are many spots in the ruins in the city that offer a juxtaposition of old and older like this lovely courtyard. Notice the sleeping dog near the back wall. Happy Rover.
I particularly liked the way that this home was built into a stretch of old stone wall. Nicely done. 
And, a view of the water over the rooftop. I love steel roofs. 
A few days ago we visited what has become our favorite distillery, Depaz, built into the foothills of Pele. The facility is the only steam powered distillery, I think in the Caribbean if not the world. It sits on the edge of thousands of acres of cane fields. 
Heavy machinery is used to move the ground up cane into the crusher which extracts the juice. 
After the cane is crushed and juice extracted, the remainder is set aside and fed into the boiler that provides steam to the engine that powers the plant. 
If a picture is worth a thousand words, nothing can do justice to this wonderful steam engine like this little video that I shot of the machine at work. At less than 30 seconds, it gives a real sense of this wonderful piece of engineering in action. Enjoy…After extracting the sugar juice it is fermented for two days and then put into a distillation tower that gasses off and then collects the alcohol.
Then the distilled alcohol is put into oak barrels and aged, in some cases for a decade before being bottled. Each year about 10% of the rum evaporates from the barrels, an amount called “the angel’s share”. As a result of this, a bit more is added each year to top up the barrel. So, if you purchase a rum that has been aged for a number of years, some of the rum has been added on a yearly basis to keep the barrel full. In some cases, the barrels that the rum is aged in are discarded Port barrels or other types from the US and Europe. The use of old barrels gives rums a special taste.
These barrels are actually empty, waiting to be filled. When they are full, they are placed on their side. 
The rum business has always been profitable as witnessed by this impressive manor home, once the home of the owners of Depaz. 
Nice view. I can imagine Mr Depaz sitting on the front porch, perhaps sipping an old fashioned rum punch, feeling pretty proud of himself, master of all he can see and such. The manor homes on these estates are always sited upwind from the factory. As you can imagine, boiling sugar water and the near constant crushing of the cane gives off a sickly sweet smell of molasses. Not something that you’d want wafting into your home, day and night. 
Following lunch at the Depaz restaurant with some friends, Brenda and I opted to walk the 1.5 miles back to town. Down hill all the way and rain showers kept us from getting too hot. It was a very nice walk. 
Brenda has a new straw hat that she has decorated with a lovely scarf. I finished the ensemble with some fresh flowers plucked along the side of the road.
It’s always a treat to see what grows in people’s gardens and long the roadside. How about a mix of orchids and bougainvillea?
Ok, so back to the fisherman I mentioned at the beginning of this post.
In spite of the fact that the next piece of land to the west as we look out to sea, is probably Honduras, it’s fairly settled along this coastline. However, before dawn each morning the rocking and rolling begins when the many small fishing boats head out to fish.
In many cases, they are fishing for pilchards, or large sardines. These 8″ long fish are considered a local delicacy that is sold in the market every morning, fresh from the boat, along with a good variety of other options. Yesterday I purchased a good sized chunk of tuna. See the tuna “mother” off to the right of this photo? That was where the tuna I purchased came from. It was yummy. 
Also in the market, a huge variety of local vegetables. We are particularly fond of the tomatoes, very different from the bio-engineered tasteless variety that are available in the US during the winter. 
So, these small boats head out to fish, early in the morning, often very close to where we are anchored. The boats generally have two fisherman on board. First they toss bits of palm fronds onto the water which will bring the fish to the surface.
When they see a promising school of fish, they power in a large circle, paying out their purse net over the side. 
This boat did their work right in front of anchored Pandora. 
After securing both ends of the long net together, they pull on the draw string that closes up the bottom of the next, trapping their catch. Notice the guy on the left who is beating the water with an oar, to scare the fish back into the middle of the net to keep them from escaping under their boat before the net is fully secured. 
They then pull one end of the net back aboard, slowly closing in on the school.
The net gets smaller and smaller as they draw it aboard.
As the net is brought back aboard they carefully pull the individual fish and toss them into a basket.
It is an amazing process to watch these fisherman pursue their craft. I expect that with the exception of using outboard motors, not much has changed for generations.
St Pierre has a long history and it is hard to imagine the horror of that day in 102 that captured the attention of the world.
We aren’t sure how long we will remain here but for now Brenda and I are enjoying spending time in St Pierre, what was once called “The Paris of the Caribbean”. It’s still lovely and a nice mix of not to shabby and pretty chic.
That’s about it for now as Brenda and I are heading to a local Gauguin museum with our friends from Higlander.
More to come…
Perhaps it’s the magnificent scenery of the tall cloud shrouded mountains looming over the quaint villages that make visiting here so special. We won’t think about the more than 30,000 that died in 1902 when Pele, this peak and still active volcano, blew it’s top and wiped out St Pierre in few scalding moments. 
Is it the near hourly rainbows that we see in the mornings and late afternoons as the showers in the nearby rainforests pass through the anchorage?
Those short lived showers are a great way to keep Pandora salt free after a sporty run between islands. We buddy boated with our friends on Highlander to get here a few days ago from Les Saintes.
Everyone wants a photo of their boat under sail and I got a few great ones of Highlander. 
What’s not to love about a view from Pandora of St Pierre in the late afternoon light?
Or, perhaps the passing of a classic Cornish Crabber as she sailed into the harbor in Les Saintes.
Or, the view of the harbor from Fort Napoleon. 
Ok, perhaps it’s the turquois waters of the nearby reefs that makes these islands so special. 
Or a visit to a nearby beach. Ok, the view to the left was sandy but not quite a dramatic. 
Complete with swaying palms. Admittedly, it was, as Brenda woud say, “blowing a gale”. 
If you like spying local color, look up and see a hefty iguana, feeling pretty proud of himself seeming to say “hey, what you looking at buddy? You can leave now!”
But, the best part of all, and what makes visiting most any island, is time with fellow cruisers, fellow Salty Dawgs, that hang out much of the season together. “everybody into the pool!”
Whatever it is that makes cruising in the Caribbean great, it’s surely better in the French islands. Ok, it’s at least as good as most any place other than enduring the cold up north, here in the French Islands.
Off to the north is the big island of Guadeloupe and the view is pretty spectacular in the late afternoon. 
This morning I was greeted by a partial rainbow. It was very windy overnight with a series of strong squalls moving over the island. 
The first thing that comes to mind when I arrive here is that it looks like a seaside village in the Mediterranean, well at least what I imagine that would look like, as I have limited experience with such places. Having said that, it feels quite French. Last night Brenda and I went out to a favorite restaurant. She had duck breast and I had octopus. They were both quite good followed by crème brulee. Yum. 
This archipelago of islands is only about 20 miles from Pointe de Pietre and yet has a very different feel. As lush as Guadeloupe is, this island is very arid, more so than most of the others in the area. The islands are just not tall enough to wring out much rain from the trades.
We’ve been here for a few days already and aren’t sure if we will leave soon for Martinique, about 70 miles from here, or wait until the next weather window, perhaps by next weekend.
The group hiked up a well paved road that got steeper and steeper as we gained elevation. The view of the harbor below was amazing. 
If you zoom in Pandora is in the middle of the harbor. 
Off to the right of the harbor are many local colorful fishing boats. The light blue along the edge is shallow water. It’s very clear water. 
On the eastern or windward side of the island, not so placid, with waves crashing on the rocky shore. 
Zoom in and you can see the beautiful textures in the rocks and foam of crashing waves. 
Our friend Mark, from Roxy, takes pictures with his iPad and I could not resist getting a photo of him concentrating on the perfect shot. 
While I was looking at the local color, they were busy watching me. Goats are a scourge on most islands, eating everything in sight. As a result, many native plants can never gain a foothold so much of the island is defoliated. 
So, here we are in a charming harbor, unsure about what’s next. But hey, what’s the rush?
As a result, there is a constant parade of rain showers, carried by the easterly trade winds. As the winds move up the eastern side of the island, the steep rise in elevation cools the air, the dewpoint drops and it rains and the showers are carried over onto the western side of the island. The rain is very light but perfect for forming rainbows all day. 
As we moved down the coast, early the next morning, on our way to Pointe de Pietre, the water was glass calm in the lee of the island, with a row of clouds marching into the distance. The moment reminded me of a little steam train chugging it’s way over the horizon. 
Pointe de Pietre is the largest city in Guadeloupe and while it is a popular stopping point for cruisers, the water isn’t all that clear as it is a very industrial harbor.
As you climb higher and higher up the mountainside, the going gets a lot steeper and much of the time it’s first gear all the way. As you get higher up, the roads are barely wide enough for one subcompact car and the switchback turns are sometimes a 45 degree pitch and the car can barely keep going, even in the lowest gear.
A riot of green everywhere. 
There are certainly orchids in the upper story of the huge trees but most are not in bloom this time of year. I did spy some delicate orchids, not currently flowering affixed to branches in the clearings, where sun could penetrate. In the dense forest, there isn’t enough light near the ground for most orchids to grow properly. 
There were a few orchids in bloom like this delicate bletilla. 
Along the way there are a number of overlooks. Brenda and our friend Lynn were enjoying the view, while taking a rest.
This day we had rented three cars and traveled together for much of the day. We only got lost once or twice…
After our walk in the rainforest, we stopped at a lovely spot for lunch and after that, a distillery where we were treated to a number of tastings. It’s hard to say if it was the rum or the presenter that was the most entertaining. She was quite a character and after listening to her share thoughts about each rum in her wonderful French accent, none of us left empty handed. 
It was a long day, nearly 12 hours, and the driving up in the mountains, with it’s twists and turns was tiring. However, it was a great way to spend the day and it sure beats snow.
The view of the harbor here in Deshaies Guadeloupe was wonderful.
With the large cliff on one side of the harbor and the mountains out in the distance, the wind can funnel through the harbor and can get a bit iffy when the trade winds are up. The view of town is especially nice in the afternoon when the sun is setting to the west. 
The other night we had cocktails, or “sundowners” as they are called in the cruising community on board Kalunamoo. Amazingly we all saw a “green flash”. This is when the sun dips below the horizon and shows a last moment burst of green, a sort of spark. It’s impressive and not very common. Sadly, I didn’t have my camera so no photo…
This afternoon I decided to take a short walk up to a swimming hole on a stream that leads into the harbor. Much of the walk was on cement path. It was very peaceful.
Along the way, as I followed the stream, I passed some very nice palms.
There were also some really big trees. The vegetation here is much more lush than in Antigua as the island gets a lot more rain. 
After a very short walk off of the trail, and a scramble over the creek, I was rewarded by a lovely little pool. I stopped to cool off and put my feet into the water for a time while I enjoyed the sounds of the water running over the rocks and into the pool. I could see quite a few fish swimming around below.
I’d have liked to head back there with my bathing suit but am not sure if I would have the nerve to dip into water that is quite that cold for my tropical accustomed body these days.