We Hereby Declare Martinique Closed (2 January 2011)

Top tip, never come to Martinique on a bank holiday Sunday. Firmly ferme.

Our 24 hours in Martinique was more of an excuse to get a pin than a serious visit, so we restricted our time to Fort de France. We stayed at Centre International de Sejours, a youth hostel in all but name and built in a new area of the town. Amazingly it could have been Calais. The cars, houses, street furniture were lifted straight from France which shouldn't have surprised us as this is France after all! The attitude wasn't French at all though, people were disarmingly friendly and helpful everywhere.

So what to do in Fort de France on a bank holiday Sunday? Not a lot. We took a cab to the port to try and dump our bags, but to no avail, there was no left luggage and we couldn't check them in, so we charmed the chap who ran the multi storey car park and he agreed to look after our bags for the afternoon. Now that wouldn't have happened in London or Paris.

Our walk involved dodging showers around a grid of pretty little streets, past the cathedral, the green square, the fort and museums, Galerries Lafayette and Esprit all firmly closed and then to add insult to injury a branch of Paul, with all its glorious bread and pastries - closed. We took refuge in a branch of Quick which was open! Not to be defeated, our trusted Lonely Planet led us to the best hotel in town L'Imperatrice. Salivating at the thought of a French lunch with no creole spices and no fried chicken, we were to be sorely disappointed. Not only did they not have any wine, they didn't have any food!! Back onto the street and we finally found lunch at a little cafe on the seafront and had a few kir royale’s (France has its benefits). It felt like out of season Hastings, it even had a pier, McDonalds and some barricaded amusement arcades.

Travelling light as usual

So our impression of Martinique is jaded, we only saw Fort de France, it rained and it was closed, so it would be unfair to judge.
Compared to St Lucia, the ferry port was like Terminal 5, slick and modern. It lulled Gill into a false sense of security though. Upon boarding, we were informed that the seas were rough, and yes they were. Gill holding on rather dramatically with both hands, kids throwing up, the hydrofoil crew handing out sick bags and tissues. The crossing took 1.5 hours. Which was too long for most.

Martinique on a Sunday, even Delifrance is closed

So here we are in Dominica, (no not the Dominican Republic Derek, thank you for asking). Arriving in the dark and rain, it reminded us of Belize City, but without the evil edge. We were befriended by a friendly cabbie called Hayden who brought us up here to the rainforest with attending tropical downpour in his battered van. At one point his lights popped out and then he crunched the front of his van into a dip in the road, he apologised saying he knew the dip was there but that he'd forgotten!

At Papillotte Wilderness Retreat the sounds of the rainforest were overwhelming, heavy rain and the deafening sound of running water. Our room had no windows only wooden shutters with no mesh, so Mrs G is applying lashings of anti mozzie stuff as we speak! She was pleased to read though that the mozzies are efficiently dealt with by low flying bats. Now she is looking for anti bat spray. Please send supplies immediately.