MITSUGIRLY has a JEWEL of a time on my 1st RC cruise in years!
Day 5: Martinique
DAY 4 ON THE SHIP:
Up next is Martinique. Another new island for us.
I set the alarm for 6:30am, as I had for every day this week so far, and the family was up by 7am.
We headed to the buffet for breakfast and I had my "normal" breakfast food EXCEPT...look what I discovered this day (after asking my hubby where the heck did he kept getting these)....hash browns!!! Yes! I also decided to get cheese for my eggs. I usually only eat eggs with cheese and it's the one thing I miss when cruising. I really wished the cruise lines would put out the shredded cheese! I swung by to visit Bacon Mountain and some more of that yummy corned beef hash. The cook didn't have any omelettes out to pick from, so just scrambled eggs with cheese will do today.
Once again...where is everyone??? Sleeping in? Not getting off the ship? I just can't believe we've never had to wait in line at breakfast or for a table or anything. I'm loving this!
Another thing noticed this morning...people walking in to satisfy their pop addiction...JUST LIKE ME!
It was 7:45am and we were still pulling into port. For some reason it took longer than normal to clear the ship. Usually they pull in and are cleared by 8am or a few minutes later and they let you off. Today, we would not be allowed to get off the ship until 8:40am. There was a lot of people waiting at the steps by then...THEN it felt crowded but the line moved QUICK!
Even though we were late getting off, I had to stop to get our pictures done. These go in my scrapbook so it's like an obligation now.
I will admit, I struggled with this port up until about a week or two prior to cruising.
I knew there were basically 3 main beaches, reachable by the ferry. But so many inconsistent reports on the beaches that I decided that I would just get on whatever ferry took me where ever and that's the beach I would go to FIRST then head to another. I knew I definitely wanted to do Pointe De Bout and Anse Mitan.
So...on the info I gathered on here...this is what I came up with for Pointe De bout, Anse Mitan and Anse A L'Ane...just in case we made it there as well.
Then I also typed up my own ferry schedule, according to their website:
I also knew that you was to head off the ship, down the pier and then hang a right until you see the ferries, which is a short distance away.
We started walking and followed this blue walkway. I seen the words Exit and Taxis and knew we needed to go that way.
I was actually very shocked at this port. There wasn't much to it. This was the vendor area and that's it! No Diamonds International building, no bottles of booze you have to wind your way around trying desperately not to let your beach bag hit it and no people trying to pull you in for business by yelling at you. It was very pleasant.
Just a few vendors set up and that was it.
I thought the exit with this turn style thing was kinda weird going out.
Ok, so we made it out. I knew we didn't want a taxi, we just wanted to walk down and get the ferry so off we went.
Exit...ok, going the right way still.
Still walking down this "exit" area...
Although the port isn't very big, they make sure you still have a long way to walk to "get out" of this area.
I seen everyone go left and was following the yellow brick road...only it was blue.
Blue is good. Blue is the color of the ocean. I like blue. I hope I like blue today.
But I was told you go right and down to the ferry by those on these boards. Hmm, could I have read that wrong? I would ask someone and they pointed left.
Ok, we are following the crowd on this one and throwing caution to the wind this time around.
At one point, on a huge hill, a taxi van driver with a car full of people ask if we wanted a ride downtown and I told him no thank you, we're not going downtown.
It was a LONG walk. I was a little shocked actually. The blue road led across the street. This was super weird. Blue is the color of the sky...which is now beaming hotness down upon on.
Another hill? You have got to be kidding me. This is NOT what I had thought. Everyone had said "it's not far". They said "super easy walk". They said "it'll be fun"...well not really on that last one but geesh.
Ok, I found this sign and it made me feel at ease.
We had been walking for exactly 10 minutes, but it felt more like about 20 minutes.
Still following the darn blue sidewalk. I'm not liking blue much anymore. Blue is symbolic of sadness. I am now sad that this is such a long walk and I should have ask for a taxi to "the ferry right around the corner"
WHEW!! It says terminal passager. That must mean something right?
The blue walkway led there. It was like trying to get to the end of the rainbow to find the pot of gold.
Although there wasn't a pot of gold at the end..just ANOTHER sign saying Ferry to the beach ------->>>> really?
We continued to walk, knowing that at least we were following the signs to the ferry. I see that darn blue sticking out on the sidewalk. I guess we need to follow it. Blue is the feeling of my heart now.
Sigh!!
So...it looks like a fort ahead...
At this point I wanted to tie myself to the anchor and be thrown into the ocean...you know, where it's BLUE!
GASP!!! I see water! We MUST be close!!!
YES!!! Water...and boats...and the real blue I wanted to see.
But where are the ferries???? ALL THE WAY DOWN THERE! Sigh
It was a very long walk just down this road, which had a park beside it and was actually very pretty.
AH HA!!! What are these ships???? They took our parking spot!!! Now it all makes sense. Go down pier, turn right, there's the ferry terminal!!!
WE WERE AT THE WRONG DOCK! Ugh!
Well, at least that explains it.
Still a long way to go.
Well now...THIS must be TOWN and where the taxi van driver said he was taking passengers. I wanted to stab myself about now! He was only charging $2 pp!!
Alright...game plan time while we are walking. We are going to the first dock and where ever it is going...we're going! Deal???
Well guess what, the first dock didn't have a ferry so we had to keep walking on down.
Once we arrived, there was a ferry there and we stopped at a little stand under the awning on the pier and bought some pop for $2 and it was from a cooler and was ice cold! Just what hit the spot after that long day!
We got on the ferry and found that it was heading to Point de Bout! Perfect!!!
So it actually took us 30 minutes to walk here. Not really "too bad", but in the sun and heat, and not knowing where you are going...it felt like forever. But we made it.
We boarded the ferry and you pay once you are on your way. They give you tickets to use as a round trip so make sure you save them to return.
It was a 16 minute boat ride over to Pointe de Bout.
We were pulling into the harbor around 9:37am.
The walkway to the city area and the restroom and snack machines.
I knew from the research that I had done that you walk right across the street, to the right, and it would take you right to the beach .
Everyone seemed to be walking this way, so...why not.
I started to see water so we had to be going the right way. The last thing I wanted was another mess up. I had already had enough stink eye for the day about so much walking.
We have arrived!!!
I stepped onto this beach and I believe the first thing out of my mouth was "wow". It was beautiful!
I loved every little thing about it from the size of the beach to the swimming area, the landscaping and everything. Just beautiful.
Immediately this happens of course...morphing time.
So we put our things on the sand and by a deck. There was a lady that had been standing on the deck but I wasn't sure what it was she had come out of. Maybe a small gift shop or store? I didn't investigate.
She finally came out and sat on one of the chairs...not like she was relaxing on the beach, like she was only going to sit for a moment and was waiting on customers or something.
So, I said do you rent these chairs? She said "no" then she said "do you speak French?". I returned with a "no" and she said "yes, please sit" and gave us a hand gesture to the lounge chairs. Hmm, ok. So they allow you to come here without charging for the chairs? Awesome.
Here's an overview of the area.
Looking back at the hotel. I would just love to stay here for vacation.
The water was crystal clear. This was taken standing in the water looking down. Yes, there are some rocks here.
Sakari found her first friend, a sea urchin.
A slippery dick wrasse fish
Somehow I managed to get a spot on my lens...ugh. I hate when that happens and I don't even know it.
Do you see the flatfish flounder?
These are such unusual fish. They have both eyes on the top of their head looking up. Their body is flat and they blend in with the ocean floor.
Next up is a blue and yellow damselfish. These little suckers can be mean and will snip at you if you get too close to their territory. As an marine aquarium hobbyist, these fish are usually used as starter fishes to cycle an aquarium. However, there are not many fish that you can put in with them because of their "attitude" and most people get rid of them...IF they can catch them because they are quick. Did you know that the clownfish (nemo) is also in the damselfish "family"? Who would have thought such a cute little nemo could be like that? Well I'm here to tell you that my 2 clownfish definitely have attitude and it's been hard to keep any tankmates with them. "Fish are friends, not food".
There were some type of little holes dug everywhere, but I never did see anything come out of them. I was thinking maybe they were crabs or something.
Yikes!! Barracuda! He turned the other way and so did I!
I was taking a picture of this grunt and the little fishes swimming along the top. I had NO IDEA how I missed this huge fish swimming by me and under me. I guess you can call this a photobomb.
Lots of little neon fish
Just look how clear that water is from above.
This is the area along the left side of the beach (when you are facing the water).
I thought this shot turned out amazing. Almost a perfect line between the upper and lower. If only there were more fish under the water in that pic and it would have turned out perfect. I do spot a few baby sergeant majors in there though.
Now there's a friendly nemo!
More fishy at the top. This area was so neat.
Here's another Damselfish, but black. This one was a little more territorial than others we have come across. He actually came after Sakari and bit her wrist band and camera. He was a little, well actually a lot, bigger than most that you see, so that would have put a bit of hurting on ya had it got skin. Then a bunch of sergeant majors...very, very small ones
A blue striped lizard fish. These things are pretty weird and have razor sharp teeth. They are known to hide in the sand and attack their pray, which is usually other fish. If you ever see a picture of one from the front (hard to get because they will scurry off if you get too close), then they resemble a lizard.
There's 2 in this picture.
This is how far they were down from the top of the water.
Squirrel fish. You can always tell these by their larger than normal eyes and they are usually some form of red and hiding under a rock or nearby. They scare very easily. Then a Yellowtail surgeonfish and maybe some scissortail fusiliers?
A decent sized feather duster worm and some coral down there.
Nemari exploring.
Some sponges and another lizard fish. You can see more of his face in this one. Kinda reminds you of an iguana.
There's an anemone in the rocks, but very hard to see due to the darkness under that rock. And of course a fish staring me down like that's his home.
Ok...I don't know how the heck I spotted this, but it caught my eye instantly when I was going by. It just didn't look like a normal rock. Do you see it?
IT'S A CLAM!! I have never seen one in the ocean before (I think???). I wasn't even for sure until I decided to dive down a little closer and it closed up really quick. I was so excited!!! Another first for me! I love when I have "firsts" on any trip.
So, I took a better look and seen that there was actually another. It was open one minute and then closed the next. (It's to the right of my name) and the other is at the bottom to the right of a rock that is shaped like a conch kinda.
They are pretty camouflaged but them opening and closing is what made me spot them and when they were open, it was a little zig zag mouth.
This is also a first...I'm not 100% positive if this is a jackknife fish or what. I first thought it was a Cardinal Fish, but we had 2 of them and it wasn't the same. Then I though maybe a tophat, but then I come across the jackknife fish and that's what I'm going with unless someone tells me different. I just know I have never seen one like this before and it was exciting. It had such pretty long and flowing fins.
Needlenose fish swimming at the top of the water.
I would say that this was the first place that I had ever seen sea urchins with greenish type spines. They had a lot of them here. Usually they are the white/gray colors like Sakari was holding in pictures. They were everywhere and picking up everything along the way. We call them bulldozers in our aquariums because they like to rearrange everything in it. They'll even pick up your coral and move it somewhere else. LOL
She had a collection. "Take my picture so I can put them back". Not sure just how many you need to pose proper for a terrific photo...she seemed to think 3 was her lucky number.
We decided to head across the water toward the other side and explore around the dock and restaurant that was out over the water.
Daddy was resting since I have ha