I translate my texts from German to English by deepl – to be transparent.
“Dylan is here!” When we arrived in Martinique, I was flooded with information. Sure: for 16 days on the Atlantic the only input came from 6 fellow sailors (apart from the daily weather update from my buddy Lennart).
Suddenly I receive messages from over 2 weeks, check if Lützerath is still standing (no…) and am flooded with thoughts and impressions. But one message sticks and describes my time on Martinique already very well: “Dylan is here!”
I already know Dylan from Gibraltar. He also hitchhiked across the Atlantic and has been on Martinique for about a month when we arrive. I also took a road trip with him on Lanzarote and feel he is a real friend, even though we haven’t known each other long at all. Dylan has been traveling for about 8 years. He has been to many countries, always works as a waiter until he has enough money for his frugal lifestyle and then lives about 1.5 years in harmony with himself and nature. You can learn a lot about life from Dylan. Maybe I will rest in myself like that, but probably not – I know myself.
Old acquaintances and new faces
Like Dylan, I get to see many other Hitchhikers again that I’ve met during the trip and it’s a huge joy every time! “We made it!!! The last time we saw each other was on the other side of the Atlantic and now we’re actually in the Caribbean – hard to believe!
Not only do I meet other hitchhikers again, but also some other sailors I know from the ports of the Canaries or Cape Verde. So after only two days I have the offer to sail to Colombia. Even though I really like Carlos and Liliana, it goes too fast for me and I thankfully decline – which is not easy for me, because many hitchhikers look for a long time for a way to get to the mainland. Good decision I can say in the meantime! Because the time on Martinique was fantastic. Besides, I would not have liked to say goodbye to Jakob so soon and I know by now that I would rather travel to Mexico first and from there to Chile and not the other way around.
And I met many new faces on Martinique. Most of the hitchhikers have already heard about me and that I always have my guitar with me – a nice feeling that is obviously told very positively about the many cozy guitar evenings! Also in Martinique I played a lot of guitar and was able to raise some money for a local project. More details soon in my blog post about street music. But most of all, I met a lot of cool people with the music, with whom I also did something a few times. How many great encounters and acquaintances I made in Martinique, showed at the latest on my last evening.
I invited everyone I knew on the island. First we met for happy hour in the harbor bar “L’Annexe” and later I set up my amplifier including microphone and we started a small open stage in the harbor. After I had given a few songs to the best, the most different people grabbed the guitar, the microphone or brought other instruments into play and an incomparable atmosphere developed. I will certainly not forget the evening and am grateful for the many great encounters and experiences!
Arriving in the Carribean Paradise
But again from the beginning: What did I experience in Martinique? Arriving alone was a great experience. We arrived at night and when we woke up we saw a hilly, green island with paradisiacal beaches! Jacob’s and my first shore leave was on a beach where we picnicked with some French people.
When you’ve been on the water for 16 days, everything is an experience: the first beer, fresh bread with cheese, and feet on solid ground in general. The wobbling on board never bothers me, but running along the beach and getting some real exercise was awesome! And then I ran into Jack and Jill, with whom I almost crossed the Atlantic – the sailing world is small! Probably because I just don’t move far away from the boat when you already have one 😀
In the following two days Jakob and I helped family Baici to clean up the Beso del Viento and found a round end on the catamaran, which had carried us all the way across the Atlantic. After all we had experienced with Baicis and Peter, a worthy farewell gift was of course a part of it.
From the boat we went directly to the local Hitchhiker camp, where Dylan and a few others had already prepared some things. In the middle of the jungle about 10 minutes from the port of Le Marin we could pitch our tent and hammock and had a base for the next two weeks. At the beginning we were a small group and with time more and more hitchhikers arrived. Together we made the camp more and more comfortable and polished it up. So there is a big living room in the middle, where tarpaulins are stretched, chairs, a table, shelves and a cooking place are placed or improvised. Since the place was remote, no strangers came by.
I have never slept in a hammock so many nights in a row, but it was fantastic. I found it super cozy and fell asleep in the middle of the jungle between chirping crickets and the sound of the sea. So the hammock was packed up as I started a road trip for three days around the island with Jakob, Sarina, Clara and Remi. On one evening we treated ourselves to an Airbnb, on the others we slept in hammocks right on the beach! However, always covered, because it rained every day several times. Only briefly, but unannounced and abrupt.
I spare you the exact route and the names of our destinations – both on the road trip and the rest of the time, in which Jakob and I still made some trips. There are enough travel blogs that give tips about Martinique. If you ever come here, feel free to contact me and I’ll send you personalized tips!
Anyway, we did a mega cool hike through the jungle and saw the most beautiful plants. We smashed coconuts, saw lizards and tarantulas and were on countless, paradise-like beautiful beaches with crystal clear water and could easily see 10 meters away. So while snorkeling I saw an incredible amount of beautiful fish and corals in all shapes and colors.
Rum, Rum, Rum!
Always a highlight were the rum distilleries on Martinique. Jakob and I visited a total of 4 of them with Sarina. On Martinique and some other Caribbean islands sugar cane was grown for a long time to produce sugar and export it. Mostly or actually always through the exploitation of slaves who did the extremely physically demanding work. But I’ll write an extra post about colonialism and slavery soon.
When the sugar beet became widespread in Europe and the demand for sugar from the Caribbean collapsed, many redisposed and began to distill rum on a larger scale. And what rum!
We, of course, diligently sampled at each distillery. I liked the rum from JM in the north best, the most exciting visit was at Clement incl. museum.
What I didn’t know before is that sugar cane doesn’t originally occur in the Caribbean or even close to it. Sugar cane comes from the Asian region, probably China. There it first found its way to the Persian Empire and from there to Europe. The Spanish then brought sugar cane to Central and South America only with colonization.
Another highlight was the visit to the capital Fort-de-France, where we took in some carnival. Since I unfortunately missed the main carnival in Martinique, I was able to get a good impression of the carnival a week before. We saw the election of a “carnival queen” as well as some parades through the city. Music and also just noise are important elements in the carnival of Martinique. So some people had souped up their cars in such a way that incredibly loud explosions were created at the exhaust. At first, this annoyed me very much and even with some distance I still find it strange, but I understand that this noise simply belongs to it and have heard that the cars are specially checked and approved beforehand.
Overall, I had a great time on Martinique, am very grateful for the many experiences and have the feeling to have found a good time for the jump north. With Simon I had a wonderful crossing via Guadeloupe to St. Martin, but that’s another story.