Anse Mitan, Martinique: Cheeseburger in Paradise

Anse Mitan is south of St. Pierre and north of Ste Anne, a good midway stop for us. We stayed for 2 nights. It’s a touristy little place, tight anchorage and a busy channel with ferries in and out quite a bit. A little bit “Disneyfied” as the cruising guide mentioned, but that’s OK. It is also billed as an ice cream mecca – and that it is – with about 3 ice cream places that we could find in town – and the ice cream was delicious.

We saw a beautiful rainbow on the first afternoon – with thick lines of color, and a blue that was actually purple.

On Day 2, we walked around town to get the lay of the land. First step was to find a dinghy dock. No such luck – at least we didn’t find the dock that was supposedly there according to Chris Doyle’s cruising guide (by the way, his guides are so outdated and not current – if you’re planning on cruising, borrow a copy from a friend instead of paying $39 for each edition, and then check the updates on his website – www.doyleguides.com)

The Meridian Hotel is no longer there and was in tatters. There is a “new” hotel called Hotel Bakoura, a pretty exclusive place. Ed and I found our way to their infinity pool, and with no guests in the vicinity, we had it all to ourselves – and took the opportunity to clean off and cool our sandy and hot feet as we sat down and dangled our legs in the water. Ten minutes later, Mr. Security Man was walking our way – so we promptly escorted ourselves out of the pool area before someone else grabbed a hold of us! (We have become such “boat people”!)

The other upside to lurking around the hotel was that we found their restaurant, and they had Cheeseburgers on their menu! I had not had meat since I left the states in late November – so I didn’t care that the burger cost 18 Euros ($27 US – EEK!!) - - it hit the spot – and let me tell you, even though it was a Cheeseburger in Paradise, nobody does burgers like the States. Somehow it just wasn’t as good a burger from O’Hara’s in Newton is, but what the heck, it was a BURGER. I thought I had my meat “fix” but I think it just whet my appetite. I found some good looking flank steak and boneless pork chops the other day which are sitting in the freezer.