Cooks Tour: St Martin

Cooks Tour: 2 Aug 08

Friar's Bay: Full Moon Parties

Since there was little sign of any pigs, let alone hungry ones, we invested in a small inbuilt GPS, which connects to a computer & chart program. That should save the Cap’n having to get up (on the hour every hour) to take readings as we belt along between islands. It also means a better chance of staying on course…

Pont Levant

Meanwhile we hired a car to do a quick Cook’s tour of the island. Naturally we filled up with petrol and only used a quarter…..and that was driving around the island at least 4 or 5 times to use up as much “gas” as possible. We stopped when we felt giddy!  Using Lonely Planet “highlights” for our guide, some of the areas we explored were:

Grand Case: a quaint French village around a nice bay. We wished we had time to anchor but c’est la vie! Grand Case is renowned for its classic French restaurants and local barbeques. Cap’n Salt finally got his lobster and Hollywood chose a lobster pizza.

Orient Beach: a beautiful stretch of beach ringed by resorts, warm water, jet skis and colourful deck chairs – very European. Nearby, is the Islet Pinel (a picturesque, low key resort) and Anse Marcel, a high brow marina complex. 

Boys fishing off canal

Pic Paradis: the Island’s highest point. As there was walking involved, Hollywood baulked. Instead we drove down a pretty country drive (all 2km of it) to the village of Colombier, which gave us a glimpse of rural life, pre-tourist. I’m sure the locals thought we’d totally lost it!

Now, how do you milk gas tanks?

Nightlife. Hollywood was itching to see “Bliss”, the tres chic nightclub. As it didn’t open until 11pm, his dowdy parents made his life a misery…as usual.

Otherwise, we have become completely familiar with supermarkets, hardware stores and chandleries...plus the odd bakery or two!!