Ferry Info 101: Fort De France to Pointe De Bout/Anse Mitan Beaches

[a1m1y9]

Thanks for all this information, heading there end of Feb! Sounds like an inexpensive way to spend the day!

[mamagina]

Thank you again. Where do I find the Ferry that goes directly to Anse Mitan?? When I get out of the Terminal Building, what do I do??

 

 

When you get to the end of the pier keep walking to the right along the water. It was the second pier but both ferries leave from the same pier. Look at the schedule or ask one of the workers on the pier. 8:30am went direct. So follow down the schedule to see what other ones are direct. I can't seem to upload a picture of the two piers but I will when I get home.

[muskatnuss]

"merci!!"

[Koameli]

We just came back from Carnival Glory cruise and one stop was Anse Mitan beach in Martinique. There is one thing which nobody haven't noticed. When you want to come back from Pointe du bout in peak time, there are so much people that more than half of them couldn't fit in the boat. What makes it even worse, there are no clear line area, you have to be in direct sun shine and locals are pushing the tourists to go straight in front of the line. Our waiting time was over an hour and it was real mayhem there because of the locals. Everybody was angry.

 

This could really be a disaster if you have a thight schedule to come back from the beach. It is a long ride by Taxi, which is quite expensive.

 

Beach itself was nice altought the service was very rude in the beach restaurant. Overall, Martinique is place where I hopefully won't have to come back ever again. There are so many better ports in the Caribbean.

[mamagina]

Wow! I guess I could see that happening. Fortunately it didn't happen to us. We just stood on the pier right next to the beach. There was a line but everyone got on the boat. We didn't wait for the last boat. I think we took one around 2pm.

 

[mamagina]

 

The restaurant next to the pier. Chairs in front of the restaurant were in the shade. This picture was taken from the pier while waiting for the ferry to go back to the ship.

Edited February 5, 2016 by mamagina

[mamagina]

 

The long green pier is where the ship is docked. I am taking this picture from our balcony. The two piers to the right are where the ferries are. We took the ferry to the beach from the one that was a little further --the second one to the right.

[Koameli]

I think that you can avoid the problem by taking the boat back to the ship from the Anse Mitan pier instead of Pointe de bout. It was a mistake to walk back to Pointe de bout and hopefully this thread helps others with this issue.

Edited February 6, 2016 by Koameli

[CarolRoy]

We just came back from Carnival Glory cruise and one stop was Anse Mitan beach in Martinique. There is one thing which nobody haven't noticed. When you want to come back from Pointe du bout in peak time, there are so much people that more than half of them couldn't fit in the boat. What makes it even worse, there are no clear line area, you have to be in direct sun shine and locals are pushing the tourists to go straight in front of the line. Our waiting time was over an hour and it was real mayhem there because of the locals. Everybody was angry.

 

This could really be a disaster if you have a thight schedule to come back from the beach. It is a long ride by Taxi, which is quite expensive.

 

Beach itself was nice altought the service was very rude in the beach restaurant. Overall, Martinique is place where I hopefully won't have to come back ever again. There are so many better ports in the Caribbean.

 

We would like to do the beach. We will be on HAL Maasdam in March. Our time in Martinique is 7:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Do you think we would have any trouble with too many people coming back on the ferry to the cruise port?

[mamagina]

Maybe. Take a very early ferry there and maybe an early one back. Like around 12:00?? I wouldn't wait for the last possible one.

[khm1]

I was in Martinique today. We got to the ferry dock at around 9:30. There was a ferry departing for Pointe du Bout. We opted to wait for the ferry to Anse Mitan. There was a man in a white shirt at the entrance to the ferry dock who spoke English helping passengers get on the correct ferry. We asked him for directions. He told us that the ferry would arrive in 10-15 minutes.

 

The ferry we took was smaller than the previous one that went to Pointe du Bout. We loaded on and began the 15 minute ride to the beach. There was a guy collecting $7 per person for the round-trip fare. There was no problem with paying for the ferry in dollars. He gave us a ticket for the return fare. He didn't charge me for my 8 year old daughter.

 

We arrived at Anse Mitan and found many shade trees on the beach. We set up our things there. There were a limited number of chairs for rent at the far left side of the beach. We just put our towels down under a tree. There were a few small cafe type restaurants on the beach. My mom bought a soda from one of them. There were paddle boards and a banana boat at the beach. I am not sure of costs. All prices were in Euros, but I didn't spend any money other than the ferry ride.

 

I had been told that a ferry would return every 15 minutes. This was not the case. We saw 3 ferries return in the 2 hours that we were there. There was about an hour between the last 2. We decided to leave in case there was another long gap between ferries.

 

We returned to the ship at around one o'clock. Overall, it was a very pleasant day. We had some rain, but our time at the beach was mostly sunny. It was a beautiful setting. I recommend it as an easy, inexpensive excursion.

 

I have included two pictures of the beach. One is of the ferry dock on Anse Mitan.

 

[khm1]

Wow, I just looked at google maps. I am 95% sure that we ended up on Anse-a-l'Ane. It was very nice. From the looks of the online photos, nicer than Anse Mitan. It was only $7 and not much farther to go. We spoke to some people who went to Pointe du Boute and turned around to go back to the ship. They didn't think that it looked very nice.

[CarolRoy]

 

I had been told that a ferry would return every 15 minutes. This was not the case. We saw 3 ferries return in the 2 hours that we were there. There was about an hour between the last 2. We decided to leave in case there was another long gap between ferries.

 

Could it be that you only saw 3 ferries in 2 hours becauce you were at Anse-a-l'Ane and not Anse Mitan? If that is the case, we will most likely go to Anse Mitan. There may be more ferries at Anse Mitan.

[khm1]

 

 

 

I had been told that a ferry would return every 15 minutes. This was not the case. We saw 3 ferries return in the 2 hours that we were there. There was about an hour between the last 2. We decided to leave in case there was another long gap between ferries.

 

 

 

Could it be that you only saw 3 ferries in 2 hours becauce you were at Anse-a-l'Ane and not Anse Mitan? If that is the case, we will most likely go to Anse Mitan. There may be more ferries at Anse Mitan.

 

 

This is exactly what happened. I am glad that we made that mistake though. I talked to several people who went to Anse Mitan and were very disappointed. We were off the ship at 9 am and back on board by 12:30. It is certainly do-able if you get an early start. Anse l'Ane was very beautiful. There was a lot of shade, a couple of restaurants, and a water sports vendor. There were people paddle boarding and there were banana boat rides available. The water was calm and the view was spectacular.

[muskatnuss]

Hi! Just wanted to say, that I gave the info from this thread to friends who were with me on our cruise on the 12th of Feb. They went to Anse l'Ane and were delighted. They were very thankful for the info and how exact it was, and delighted with the beach. Thank you all for the info and Feedback!

I was with Christelle from Karambole Tours. Great - but I wrote that already! Happy Easter and Merry Christmas....you know what that means......

[khm1]

Hi! Just wanted to say, that I gave the info from this thread to friends who were with me on our cruise on the 12th of Feb. They went to Anse l'Ane and were delighted. They were very thankful for the info and how exact it was, and delighted with the beach. Thank you all for the info and Feedback!

 

I was with Christelle from Karambole Tours. Great - but I wrote that already! Happy Easter and Merry Christmas....you know what that means......

 

 

I'm so happy that I could help! I'm glad your friends had a good day. I found it very difficult to find good information on this port. I'm happy to share the little that I now know!

[Beachbum1944]

I'm so happy that I could help! I'm glad your friends had a good day. I found it very difficult to find good information on this port. I'm happy to share the little that I now know!

 

Could you tell us exactly how you got to Anse L'ane? You said you got the ferry to Anse Mitan, but then realized later that it was Anse L'Ane. Are there signs, are they near each other?

 

Thanks for any advice you can give us. We'll be in Martinique on the Norwegian Breakaway in early December.

[khm1]

Could you tell us exactly how you got to Anse L'ane? You said you got the ferry to Anse Mitan, but then realized later that it was Anse L'Ane. Are there signs, are they near each other?

 

Thanks for any advice you can give us. We'll be in Martinique on the Norwegian Breakaway in early December.

It was entirely by accident that we ended up at Anse-a-l'Ane. I'm glad that we did since it seems to be the better beach. We just ended up on the wrong (or right) ferry.

 

The ferry docks are up the cruise ship pier, and immediately to your right as you exit the pier. There is a little market set up along the water side. Go past that and you come to the ferry dock. There was a guy there telling people what to do and what ferry to get on (I obviously did not listen to him:eek:.) He spoke English and had on a uniform.

 

If I remember, you pay your fare once on the ferry. They will give you your return ticket.

 

The ferry we were on went directly to Anse-a-l'Ane. It did not stop anywhere else. If you are going to go there, I would recommend checking to see when the ferry comes that returns you to the ship. There weren't too many that came in while we were there. I don't think that they come as frequently as they do to Anse Mitan.

 

A quick look at Google maps shows that it is a 3.2 Km walk or a 5.2 Km drive between the two beaches. So unless you are willing to walk for 45 minutes, they are not close to one another.

[Beachbum1944]

Thanks for the good info. We seem to be confused about the different beaches and which ferry to catch, etc. We'll take a look at the maps and try to get a better handle on it.

 

We're not going till end of November, but we'll be sure to report back on how we did. :cool::cool:

[Loveynj]

Thank You For The Information. We are still trying to find out what we're doing that day on the island we're going to be there in February

 

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[Whitnee1]

Is anse-alane the one that is a bit further from the ferry dock when you arrive?

[Feelin' Nauti']

We are planning on taking the water taxi to Anse-Mitan Beach in Martinique.

 

Is it necessary to exchange US Dollars to Euros before we leave home?

Or do they accept our money?

[khm1]

We are planning on taking the water taxi to Anse-Mitan Beach in Martinique.

 

Is it necessary to exchange US Dollars to Euros before we leave home?

Or do they accept our money?

 

 

 

They will accept dollars on the ferries. $1 equals €1.

[Feelin' Nauti']

Thanks khm1

[Arzeena]

We just returned from our cruise that stopped in Martinique.

 

At the end of the cruise pier there is a lot of help (under the white tents) for tours, places to visit, etc. You just tell them where you want to go, or what you want to do and they will take care of it for you, arranging a taxi or private car with driver for the whole day or with a group. I really do not understand why people feel that the locals are not nice. They all helped and they all made us feel very welcome every time we have been there. Some may have difficulty speaking English, but they tried their best to explain if asked a question.

 

We decided to go to Pointe du Bout, so were guided to take the second ferry pier. The ferry ran on time, was very comfortable and took 15 minutes to get to the marina in PdB. ($7 USD). From there you can walk to the beaches: 3 coves, two public and one belonging to the Hotel Bakoua where you can rent a chair for $15. Got really crowded with cruise ship visitors after 11. 30 am. I will not be surprised if they will close access to day visitors to the Bakoua side, because the hotel guests were finding it very hard to get a chair or sit on the beach....it was shoulder to shoulder after 11 ish.

We left and walked around the small PdB town where majority of shops were open. Lots of restaurants to have lunch at. Every establishment we visited accepted USD or credit card.

 

Back at Fort de France where the ship docks, all shops (except for one local gift store, the Black Pearl restaurant, an ice cream shop and a pizza place) were closed. We visited the local gift store. They accepted USD and my change was given in USD.

 

The local craft market at the pier and vendors under tents were open and doing good business.