scubaRN

Sorry this has taken so long to reply. What is with these boards, everytime lately I've logged on they are down, oh well. To answer a few questions I know the answer to the church we visited was St. Josoph, and the rum distillery was called Distillerie Dillon or Rhum Dillon. It was not in operation yet, but was due to start production in the next week. The rum distillery was on Fort de France, per my brochure.

Sorry I'm unsure what the name of the waterfall was, all I can tell you is that is was past the St. Joseph church.

Cab drive from port to city is about 5 minutes, so it is possible to walk. With all the traffic I would take a taxi. That leads to the other question about taxi vs beach with being in port in the afternoon. I think in that case I'd choose the beach, as the traffic is heavy. Not only are people getting off work but the schools would be letting out. The water taxi lets you off right by the beach at Pointe du Bout. We experienced the traffic jams at 10:00 am.

When we took the taxi tour we did not direct the driver just told her to show us some sites and she directed the tour. We enjoyed her choices. It gave us a feel for the city and surrounding area.

Good luck with your choices. Let me know what you decide.

Back from a wonderful cruise. I'm jealous :( that you guys are looking forward to it and now I'm looking back. Oh well, time to plan another one I guess.

It was a beautiful day in Martinique, hot and humid. Very beautiful island. I would go back to explore because we only got to see a very small portion. We choose to take a taxi to town, $3 pp, and shopped for awhile. We found a market in the middle of town, not at the park but near the church. That is where we bought things like spices, photo albums and little knick knacks. There is definitely a distain for the $$$, they use the Euro and it will cost you more to use the dollar, and some places wouldn't take the dollar. After shopping for awhile we took a taxi for a couple hour tour of the island.

My recommendation is to dicker with the taxi drivers, and walked around to find one. Find a driver you can easily converse with and you will feel comfortable. The first taxi driver was OK, but a little hard to understand. When you get off the ship there a ton of drivers available. It is organized, there is even a blue and white line to follow.

After shopping we returned to the park where we were dropped off, there is a small market area. We again sought out a taxi, and the first taxi driver quoted 25 pp for a two hour tour, so the six of us said "no". I approached another taxi driver, a women, and offered $20 pp, she said "sure", so off we went.

What a wonderful time. She took us to a beautiful church up the mountain, and to a waterfall in the rain forest, where we hiked around for awhile and cooled our feet off in the stream and a rum distillery (sp?) with rum tasting. I requested a french pasterie and so she took me to a shop and gave me Euro to use. We just had told her to show us the island and that is the places she took us. We also went through a poor neighborhood, middle class and then wealthy. She explained the culture, government, school system, flora, and agriculture. Very knowlegeable. If I remember her name I'll let you know.

If I went again I would probably go to the beach across the island on the ferry. We talked with another couple who did that. Kinda funny, you can go on the beach by the hotels but can't use their chairs. So take a towel. Ferry was only $6 round trip.

Good luck with your choice. I wouldn't do the ship tour, it's very safe and a lot of people speak english so we felt fine. Most of the people we met were not overly friendly, not rude, just serious. I noticed they weren't smiling at each other anymore than at us. When our friends talked with the locals in French, the Martinique's would talk back to them in English. So even is you know French you might not be able to use it.

If you have anymore questions don't hesitiate to ask. Hope you all have a great time! :)

In Barbados we are diving with an independent dive shop, and going to the Boatyard at night. In St. Martin we are shopping a little and going to Orient Beach to soak in the sun. I've heard good things about the catamaran tour in Barbados. You should have a ball. I'll let you know about our experiences when we return. Less than a week and we fly, yee haw!

We'll be in Martinique in a couple weeks and are planning on taking a cab tour. I'll let you know what it's like when I get back. We've heard good things about getting a taxi tour. We've never had trouble before with not being able to speak the language, the taxi drivers understand enough english to get by, and get you where you need to go.

We're cruising on 2/23 on the Legend, and am very excited.