DAY 4 MARTINIQUE

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 omelet's 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.

You can find my complete review by clicking the following tab:

After a wonderful time at Point De Bout, we headed to Anse Mitan Beach:

I want to say that we got back around 3pm. We headed off the dock and decided we would need something cold to drink for the way back to the port. We stopped at a little tent right off the dock and they said $3 each. Um ok...20 steps away back on the dock was a lady that we had bought off of prior to leaving on the ferry for $2 each. We walked back to her and save us $3! LOL

Ok, so where are those taxis?

The entire area around the port and ferry place is blocked off like a park. So that meant you would have to go out to the street area a little ways away.

Once we got out there...nothing. No taxi's around or anything other than the hustle and bustle of the city.

I guess that meant we were walking back. Sigh! 

This time we took the sidewalk by the road. More beautiful flowers and blooming bushes along the way.

Back around the park area.

Sakari finding birds of course.

The fort was getting near, which meant we were maybe 1/4 of the way back...or at least at the end of the street.

Ok, found our next turn. Remember that area that I thought we had finally made it to the ferry only to find out that wasn't the building we needed to be at? That's where we were at this point.

A little bit of colorful artwork.

Down the street, cross the street. Up the hill...then the ship was finally in site!!!

Still following that darn blue road..

I seen the building (above) and thought "whew, we are finally there!" 

Only we weren't there. That building wasn't at all what we were going to. We turned the corner and had to keep going all the way down this.

Poor Sakari. There's nothing worse than walking a long distance with a wet bathing suit on and your thighs rubbing together. By the time we made it back, her inner thighs were as red as can be and raw. These would later turn into bruises! sniff sniff

Almost there.

Finally to the terminal! We must have been moving a little slower than on the way there this morning. It took us about 40 minutes to actually get from the dock at one place to inside the cruise compound at the other.

We flashed our ship cards and then came out to this...what the heck! More walking and fencing.

Turn the corner and more...

We did a little shopping. I always try to buy a tee shirt with the name on it and a refrigerator magnet for Sakari. We made our purchases and then headed for home plate! There was a guy that made different things out of these "seeds" (maybe Zanzibar?), which were really neat and pretty. However, they were a little too expensive for the amount of money I brought ashore with me for the day.

We made it back on the ship and immediately headed for the room to shower and get dry clothes on. Even Sakari didn't beg to go swimming when we returned this time. I think we had had enough of the water for that day.

We headed up to the top deck to watch the sail away and I took some more pictures of the port.

Remember the seed guy? I think he was tired after we all boarded the ship. He's laying on the ground. LOL At least I hope that's what's wrong with him.

One of the other ships was leaving at the same time we were.

Sakari had been talking about wanting to do the rock climbing.

Almost there and studying her game plan. 

It was finally her turn and she decided to head up one of the more difficult routes. I couldn't understand why.

She took her time...and by taking her time I mean there were 5 other kids on the other one that made it to the top and back down to her still being on there.

In the end, she didn't make it all the way up and she was disappointed. When I told her she should have went on the one on the far end because it had bigger rock steps to climb, I then discovered why she picked the one she did...the bell was closer and only half way down and she felt she could make it. She was SO CLOSE! Just pull up one more and she would have been there. She vowed she would try it again another day.

I didn't notice until later that when Sakari went rock climbing, they had punched holes in her card. They also did mine. I'm not sure if this is their "code" to let them know that when she returns her information and my authorization is already on file or what.

We walked walked around for awhile and the sun was setting.

Sakari decided she wanted some pizza and I decided what better time than now to see if this pizza really is as bad as everyone said it was.

They also had some cold sandwiches.

I gave both a try in hopes that it would tie me over until dinner. 

We sat out by the pool deck and watched the skateboarding clips they had going on at the big screen by the pool. Since we own a company that specializes in this, it was interesting to watch some of the tricks and I recorded some of the stunts and was instant messaging my son back home with them.

The hubby went to get our pop containers refilled at the bar behind me. It took FOREVER! The person working behind the bar is SLOW! EVERY time we were there. It was ridiculous! Seriously. There could be only 2 people there and it would take over 15-20 minutes. I already had all of my food gone by the time he had our drinks. These guys act like they just don't want to be there.

The pizza was acceptable in my opinion. It wasn't bad at all and it wasn't the best I've had. But, I personally wouldn't complain too much about it. I think maybe the reason that others don't like it (and I do) is because there's next to no sauce on it. I don't like tomatoes and I always pull back the cheese and wipe off the sauce. There was hardly any on there...therefore, I liked it. Not enough to say "you just gotta try this pizza" but enough to have a snack whenever I needed something a little extra.

The sun became a beautiful shade of reds and yellows right before it went bye-bye.

Sakari mentioned that she really didn't want to go to the kids club and wanted to go to the show. I honestly don't even remember what it was about but it definitely had more singing and off beat dancers.

Since this was something that Sakari wanted to do, we were pretty much forced to stay for the entire show. I noticed about 20 minutes into the show that the hubby was sleeping and I was fighting to keep my eyelids open myself.

After the show, I laughed at "daddy" sleeping during the show and Sakari admitted that she didn't like it either and almost fell asleep.

We all decided we should probably go to dinner and then head back to the room for the night. We were all tired and it was a busy day that involved a lot of walking. It wore us out.

We decided the buffet would be best tonight. Quick, easy, and right away with no waiting.

Everything I had was delicious. 

Sakari...I don't know what kind of combo this was, but she ate it all. LOL Missing from her plate are marshmallows, which she had already scarfed them down. That girl loves her marshmallows and I buy them all the time for her to snack on.

For some reason I crave salads when I'm sailing. I can get a plate of hot food and will end up going and getting a salad in the end.

I had also found out where Sakari got her marshmallows from and what they were to be used for...these waffle looking things with the powdered sugar, yummy icing cream that reminds me of NCL's cream they put on their crepes, and marshmallows. It was yummy!

We headed back to the room to find our towel animal for the night waiting with the remote for daddy.

I worked on my homework a little bit and I didn't even pack for the following day. Gasp! I just threw caution to the wind and decided I'd do it that morning. I did notice that our beach towels were nicely folded and laid on the floor beside the bed. HA! They do bring towels to the room and switch them out.

Sakari asked me what I would like for her to draw tonight. I said draw a picture of our day in port today. This is what she came up with. Her swimming in her mermaid tail, me snorkeling and taking pictures and daddy on his phone relaxing. She never was good at drawing people. Hey, she was probably 7 before I got her to stop drawing stick people with arms that came out of their heads! Let her draw you a bird or dragon with every little detail down to their talons, but she can't draw people.

I would check in with Kolin to make sure that Loki and my fish are still alive and then we would head to bed at 10:30pm!!! Can you believe that? 10:30!!!!

Final thoughts on our day in Martinique!

So, you can probably guess that I was blown away by the first beach at Pointe de Bout. Absolutely loved it there from the beach, water, snorkeling, landscape and over all layout of the place! When we return...I will definitely go back there! I will also explore a little more on down along the walkway as well. I definitely want to return.

As for the second beach Anse Mitan...didn't care for it. I know some like the bigger beaches because it feels less crowded and more room to spread out, but it just wasn't my thing.

Hopefully some day, when we return, I'll get to check out the third beach and then end our day back at Pointe de Bout.

As for the place we ate at and even the stores/shops we stopped at along the way...I'm not sure if it's just their nature or what, but they came across as rude. I know for a fact the lady who tried to deny my daughter cheese, was snotty about the situation and the way she talked (by looking at her facial expressions and tone of voice). The stores/shops in town didn't take US dollars and a lot of people acted as if they didn't speak English either (even though someone else once mentioned this in a thread and someone else debunked that myth saying they all do but decide whether or not they "want to" speak it to you). Hmmm

However, I hope to return again some day if only to go back to PdB or explore other places, which everyone knows I'm always game for. 😁