{"id":12297,"date":"2022-02-18T12:35:38","date_gmt":"2022-02-18T17:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=12297"},"modified":"2022-02-18T12:36:59","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T17:36:59","slug":"st-pierre-more-chic-than-shabby-and-oh-so-historic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=12297","title":{"rendered":"St Pierre, more chic than shabby and oh, so historic."},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 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,\u00a0 we wonder if we will see the elusive green flash, a momentary pulse of bright green as the sun sets below the horizon.\u00a0 This phenomenon only happens when the horizon is perfectly clear and lasts less than a second.\u00a0 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!\u00a0 If you don’t see it in this image, I guess you just had to be there, and we were.<\/p>\n

I put the camera on sports mode, taking photos about twice a second as the sun sets.\u00a0 It drops fast enough that you can see it move lower and lower.\"\"And, that iconic flash that, I almost, caught.\u00a0 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.<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0 \u00a0First a partial “bow” against impressive clouds. \"\"A bit later, a full rainbow.\u00a0 This photo doesn’t really give a sense of the scale.\u00a0 It was really huge. \"\"And the colors looked brighter in “real life”.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 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.
\n\"\"In the aftermath of destruction, not a building was standing, only charred ruins.\u00a0 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.\u00a0 Check out this three minute video of the story of the destruction of St Pierre and one man’s very lucky day.