Posted by Liz
After we gladly departed Roseau, Dominica, we chose St. Pierre as a stop-over for a couple of nights because it was close and not an all day sail – and we could check in there with customs. It turns out that we enjoyed the town, but our stay became a bit longer than anticipated (more on that in a following blog post) because of some engine troubles.
St. Pierre was a big hub of commerce back in the 1700 and 1800’s – lots of ships would land here to do business, especially with the sugar cane plantations. The terrain is quite dramatic, especially with Mt. Pelee hovering the background (at 4600 plus feet, it’s the tallest volcano in the Caribbean). Tragedy struck here back in 1907 when the volcano erupted, and killed pretty much every one of the town’s 30,000 inhabitants, with the exception of a Prisoner, named Cyrus. Because of the stone configuration of his cell and its location in the prison, it is believed that he may have been the sole survivor.
The ruins are still present and consist of the remains of the prison and also an amphitheatre. There’s a photo of Gypsea here, captured peering out the “window” of one of the ruins to the harbor.
The harbor is busy with Martinique fishermen, who scoot around in the wee hours of the day. Their fishing technique is called “Seine” and we have to learn more about it. They go through almost a ritual of sorts – by circling around and throwing what look like sticks, or palm leaves or something in the water. They break off a piece at a time and toss it in the water. We have no idea if this helps attract fish for some reason, or if it’s some sort of religious ritual. (Google it and let us know if you find out before we do!)
When they are ready to pull up their nets, they circle around and around and continue to pull the nets closer together. In one photo here you’ll see them circling around, close to our boat. (They couldn’t wait for us to leave because we were in the midst of their fishing track!)
Lastly, there is a great little open air market that is set up every day here in the square – full of vendors selling fresh produce. Wonderful.
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