Fort-De-France, Martinique

We have a tour in the afternoon, so went birding on our own in the morning. There is a little canal that leads to Aimé Césaire park a half-mile from the dock. We started in the little green space by the hotel by the dock and then walked up along the canal.

We also saw the Martinique anole in that green space.

There wasn’t much along the canal. The canal had walls on both sides and wasn’t very clean, just a few trees growing along it. Once we got to the park, we saw a few more birds. There were three Orange-winged Amazons that were quite loud when we arrived and we saw them fly off, but I didn’t get a photo.

We then walked by the market and the St. Louis Cathedral, which is constructed with an iron frame. It was recently (2010) restored to it’s 1890s look.

We walked through La Savane Park on the other side of the cathedral, which was our other option for birding. We saw a few pigeons, so the other park was a much better place for birding.

We went back to the ship for lunch and then out on the dock to meet our 1:15 tour of the Balata Gardens and St. Pierre.

Our tour first stopped at the Church of the Sacred Heart of Balata which is a 1/5 size replica of Sacred Heart Basilica in Paris. It was built in the 1920s as the population around Fort-de-France increased after the destruction of St. Pierre.

Then we visited Balata Gardens. The hummingbird feeders were empty in the afternoon, but the Purple-throated Caribs were still checking them out.

We had a little over an hour to explore Balata Gardens.

Next up was a visit to the museum in St. Pierre. It has artifacts recovered from the town including the deformed church bell. It has a movie that Thomas Edison had filmed of the destruction afterwards.

Mount Pelée and the surrounding mountains are a UNESCO World Heritage site. St. Pierre, which sits on the coast below Mount Pelée, was destroyed in 1902 by a volcanic eruption of Mount Pelée. The town officials ignored warning signs for months before the eruption. One survivor was in a jail cell that was thick enough to protect him from the pyroclastic flow. He later toured with the Barnum & Bailey circus.

The weather was very nice, not overly hot and humid. The ship left Martinique at 7pm, so there was time for me after we got back from the tour to go out for a short run. I ran along the cement boardwalk to La Savane park and then around the park and back before dinner.