Arrived at the pier about 8:00. Our pier companion this morning is Royal Clipper, a beautiful 220 passenger five masted sailing ship. Owned by a Swedish company, she'll be relocating to the Med in a few weeks.
The island is quite mountainous. Our first stop this morning was an old catholic church, built in 1926, called Church of Balata, supposedly a replica of the Sacred Heart Basilica in Paris. Its in deteriorating condition, and I wonder why it was there in the first place. This area is very tropical, with a wide variety of flora.
Back down the hill to town, then up the western shore about 50 miles to Saint Pierre. We have passed into much drier areas, rocky shores, no beaches seen. Here we find the "Memorial de la Catastrophe de 1902". This is a small museum that commemorates the great volcanic eruption of Mt. Pelee in May of 1902 which completely obliterated the town, killing about 30,000 people. Historians conclude that there was 300 ships in the harbor at the time, all of which were vaporized. So, the harbor is popular please for divers to search for sunken ships. You can see some remnants of the original buildings. This was the largest volcanic eruption in the 20th century.
Back to the pier by about 1:00, time for lunch. We walked into the center of town with its very narrow, one way streets. Stopped by the cathedral of St Louis and sat for a few minutes of a mass - all in French. Lots of restaraunts and souvenir shops. We checked out a few eateries, including a McDonalds, but passed on them all - they all looked so seedy. So, we hiked back to the ship and had a nice lunch on board.
After lunch, Sam crashed with her book but I wasn't done yet. Across the bay is an historic fort which reportedly gives tours. So, I hiked all the way over there only to find it was closed. Oh well, I got my steps in today!
Unusual port departure today - we didn't leave until 8:30PM. Extremely rare for a departure after dark!
Tomorrow we explore Dominica.
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