Martinique Musts

After two visits to Martinique, first for a week and again for a month, we have seen and done a lot in this French Caribbean paradise! Here are my top things to do when you visit, my Martinique musts.

Why We Love Martinique

The food, the scenery, the culture, the water, the variety: all are reasons to fall in love with Martinique. You can spend a day eating delicious French food, swimming with starfish and turtles in clear Caribbean water, and end it sampling rum while listening to reggae music. It’s a pretty good life on a boat in Martinique and it could be easy to sleep and repeat day after day. Some may have less time than we did and I know what you don’t want to miss so on to my list of Martinique musts.

The Southern Beaches

Do you like long swathes of soft sand? Beach bars with great food, drinks and lively company? Both are on offer at the southern strip of Martinique, south of the lovely Sainte Anne anchorage. 

Martinique Must Saline Beach
Clear blue water and soft sand at Saline Beach, Martinique
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Our Saint Lucia Favorites

We spent 3 weeks exploring St. Lucia this November. It’s a modern island with lots of amenities, from shopping to restaurants and tons of outdoor activities. Three weeks may seem like a long time, but we had a lot to do and enjoyed our time there. This post details our Saint Lucia favorites so you have an idea of what you should do when you go.

Glad We Visited Saint Lucia

As cruisers, we have a few resources and guides designed just for us. Brian likes an app where people review anchorages, and everybody has a guide book that can be “biased” by advertisers. We’ve learned to take the advice of other cruisers we know over any other source and Saint Lucia exemplifies why.

When we were in Martinique last spring, we debated where to go next. Because of some bad reviews in Active Captain about crime and aggressive boat boys, we were thisclose to skipping Saint Lucia outright. Then I saw a fellow cruiser’s very positive instagram post from Marigot Bay and we changed our plans, for the better.

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Christmas in the Caribbean

Are you a Christmas fanatic who shops all year round for decorations and gifts or more of a Scrooge? If you are the first, then visit the Caribbean anytime after October. Christmas in the Caribbean starts early: all the malls in St. Lucia were decorated and Christmas carols blasted from the speakers when we were there in November.

Since readers liked last year’s photo blog from Florida, here’s one from the Caribbean, mostly Martinique, where Santa and other holiday decor is the norm. The majority of the festive ornamentation is traditional and (fake) evergreen and wreaths abound, but I prefer the original and surprising celebrations, like the relaxed Santa in the display in Sainte Anne, Martinique.

Caribbean Christmas display
Christmas display in Sainte Anne
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