Eater’s paradise: le Grand Marché in Fort-de-France, Martinique.
July 18, Fort-de-France, Martinique
We rushed off of Dominica yesterday at the news of an approaching tropical storm. It was days away, but they can develop into hurricanes, so we didn’t lay about. We had been planning to leave that morning anyway, but the news put some fire under the skipper’s ass, and we were underway by 8 a.m.
Our destination was south — to St. Pierre, Martinique. But we made such good time that we felt we could push on to Fort-de-France, and still anchor in daylight, and possibly even arrive in time for customs. And we did!
Small victories.
The extra little hop saved us a day. The storm was graded low in its likelihood of developing into a hurricane. Last night it was at 40%; this morning it was at 1%; this afternoon, the storm has been removed from the NOAA maps.
We breathe easier. But the little scare has made us refocus on getting south and at a steady pace.
We just stayed in Martinique long enough to re-provision at le Grand Marché in downtown Fort-de-France, and then pushed south again.