On Tuesday, we awoke surrounded by lush, green hills with the promise of adventure ahead. Our first mission, after of course the morning coffee, was to clear customs. We were still relative neophytes at the custom clearing game. The books and guides warn of custom officers taking courses on how to randomly change the rules so little guidance was given. The main points were to look neat, be pleasant, appear slightly bored and only speak when questioned giving a minimal response (yes or no was preferred). So after cleaning ourselves up (read showers after being bounced around for the last few days) and putting on a non-salty shirt, we proceeded with Safina into the customs office at the marina. The first step at these offices appears to be to fill out a form. In this case the form was relatively straight forward and only one page (versus 6 pages in the Bahamas). The customs officer cheerfully took the page, stamped it and gave me a copy, checked the expiry date on our boat documentation and wished us a good day - with a smile. It was one of the nicest check-ins that we have experienced. They were setup for the cruiser traffic. What a great introduction to a country! One note of caution for Canadian boats was that they were checking the expiry date of boat documentation and the new documents do expire. It is up to you to renew the documents in a timely manner so beware.

With clearance papers in hand, we trundled off to explore Le Marin. By the customs, there were numerous stores full of boat supplies that we had not seen since the US - happiness and bliss. There were also grocery stores near by and patisseries where we could get fresh French bread and enjoy a inexpensive lunch with, of course, freshly baked bread. The bread and patisseries are not to be missed. Best of all, the people were warm and friendly. We were always greeted on entering a store and wished a good day on leaving. They were always willing to help with our limited French using their limited (not so limited in many cases) English and we got along great. So far, this island was winning as a great place to visit on all counts.

Now earlier I mentioned waking up to green hills. Well, le Marin was built on a hill or should I say hills. In fact, you might describe Martinique as a continuous hill that could not decide whether it wanted to go up or down so did both in a random, undulating manner. As a result, you are either travelling up hill or down hill; there is no in-between. So the rest of the day, we traveled up and down hill through the streets of le Marin using muscles that had long ago gone on an extended holiday. The narrow streets, with homes built right beside the road, were fascinating. We stopped at the tourist bureau for information and passed an old church on a hilltop. It was a great introduction and gave us an overview of the city.

The next few days we spent doing boat jobs (life is fixing boats in exotic places) as we could get marine supplies. For us, the jobs included replacing the dead starter battery and rewiring the battery bank. Also we had to replace our genoa furling line that had nearly worn through in two spots during our trip. Chaff on passages is unbelievable. We also had to wander the town in search of a laundry facility to take care of all our salty clothes. This was easier said then done as-do-it yourself Laundromats were rare and tend to be very expensive. For a few dollars more, people provide wash and fold service. So after a brief deliberation (a few more dollars versus staying in a hot Laundromat for hours), Karen decided to go with the wash and fold and we were free to explore and find the nearest patisserie. And all this time I thought she enjoyed Laundromats given all the time she spends in them.

On Friday, we rented a car with Safina and drove to the main city in Martinique, Fort de France. This was my first experience driving a very small, although roomy, Citroen, with standard shift along narrow, windy hilly roads. Fortunately all went well. Jean Pierre from Safina navigated as I wandered to Fort de France. We even managed to find a small shop that could rebuild a transmission cooling hose that was rather tired. They rebuilt the hose for me in about 10 minutes while we waited - great and friendly service. The drivers were also very good and courteous. The trick was to keep your speed up and merge with the traffic. Often there did not appear to be an opening in the traffic but a hole would miraculously open up at the last moment and you could blend into the traffic flow. I even got the hang of traffic circles off which there were many. You had to yield going into the circle but had the right of way going out, I think. Anyway, we reached Fort de France and parked in a park in the center of the town. We were actually beside a famous statue of Josephine with her head cut off. Josephine was Napoleon's wife and grew up in Martinique. The statue's head was chopped off because people felt that she encouraged Napoleon to bring slavery back to the islands. The new cruise liner Queen Mary 2 also parked downtown. The ship was impressive and the streets were full of passengers.

We did a walking tour of the city enjoying the various sites and markets. The highlight was the central market that was full of stalls with people selling their produce. In the center, several dancers were performing traditional dances in traditional dress - madras cloth dresses and large hoop earrings. It was great fun and everyone was soon clapping to the beat. People in the booths usually also sold bottles of rum with different fruit blended or mixed in. It was fun sampling several different types although the prices were higher than in Le Marin. They also sold a proprietary mix called Zi-Zi that was to enhance performance, for men only. We did not try that one.

On the way back, we stopped at the Dillion rum distillery on the outskirts of Fort de France. Distilleries dot the countryside in Martinique and all offer tours and sampling rooms. Some say that there are more distilleries then gas stations. The tour of Dillion was excellent. It was a working plant and we could walk on a self-guided tour through the whole operation. The sugar cane was processed within 48 hours of cutting. After the tour, we went to the sampling room for a slide show and then the sampling. Here, we were introduced to a drink called Petit Punch. This drink consisted of a shot of rum, some pure liquid cane sugar (available here), a slice of lime. The drink was aerated using a small swizzle stick and then sipped, mmm delicious. So with a bottle of rum and a bottle of cane sugar in hand, we departed for Le Marin.