It was a very rough sail from Dominica to Martinique. The waves were pretty big. On the way, we almost got hit by a flying fish that landed in the boat. When we arrived in St. Pierre, Martinique, we put up our yellow quarantine flag and took our dinghy to the town dock. It was a small town, so customs and immigrations were just a computer in the back of a little restaurant. My dad took a long time to fill out the forms on the computer because they were in French and because the keys on the keyboard were in different spots too. When we were finished, the owner of the restaurant stamped our passports and we got to walk around and see the town.
The Sad Museum
In 1902 a huge volcano on Mount Pelée erupted and killed all 30,000 people that lived in St. Pierre. We saw many destroyed buildings and we went to a big museum that had a bunch of artifacts. I was really surprised how hot a volcano can get. It melted things like doorknobs and guns and a giant church bell. All the people in the town died in just a few minutes.
My Birthday
On my birthday, my mom and dad told me that we had to walk to a restaurant that was a long way away, but when we got there I found out they were surprising me with a trip to the zoo. I had a lot of fun seeing many new animals. They had parrots, monkeys, anteaters, panthers, big mud crabs, bats, tortoises, and many other animals. They also had raccoons. It was funny because the French people were really excited about the racoons because they have not seen them before. They also had the worlds biggest rodent. It is called a capybara (I did not know that I would get to eat one soon!).
I opened presents when we got back to the boat. I got a hat, a watch, and some candy. Then I went fishing. It was a very good birthday.
Other Things We Did
We went to a big grocery store and my mom went to a laundry place. My brothers and I swam all the way from the boat to shore by ourselves and spent a whole day on the beach. The sand was very black because of the volcano. There were thousands of big starfish all over the bottom. We stuck sea cucumbers on each other too. We also went to a big fruit market and ate at two delicious restaurants. We bought diesel fuel from the gas station and then we left for Grenada.
Great Job Isaiah, good details about your great adventure!!