Martinique 13: Habitation Clément

We were up early Monday morning with a bit of extra time before things opened up, so we stopped at our nearby beach for a swim. We were the only ones there other than a crew that was raking up seaweed and a few more red crabs scuttling around. The water was a nice temperature as always -- slightly chilly at first but quite agreeable after a few seconds. L spotted a couple of new fish among the coral.

After a quick rinse at the showers, we drove towards the town of Le François to visit Habitation Clément, which ended up being one of our favourite non-beach places on the island. It's a former sugar plantation, a current rum distillery, an art museum, and a beautiful, expansive arboretum. B was particularly pleased at how well-labelled all the trees were -- she read every placard, excited by the ones she didn't know and chuffed about the ones she'd guessed correctly. L, less of a connoisseur, just thought they all looked pretty neat. We wandered among giant royal palms, saw three new birds including a green heron, walked through the old sugar processing plant, toured a very handsome old plantation house, admired the art exhibits, and even got another free rum tasting at the end.

We drove on through a brief rain storm and stopped for burgers at a weird little area that is hard to describe. It was kind of in the middle of nowhere off a highway; it featured a car rental lot, plant nursery, nail salon, book store, coffee roaster, and a surf-themed burger stand overlooking a small man-made wakeboarding pond (in which the boarders are pulled along by a little mechanized pulley thing attached to ropes overhead). As we ate, we debated who exactly this assortment of establishments was targeting and could not reach a conclusion. The food was good though.

We next drove on to the Village de la Poterie, a collection of kitchy tourist shops, a go-kart course, ceramic artisans, and a few restaurants surrounded by farmers' fields, all on one small gravel loop road that circles a large, noisy, active tile factory that is not open to the public. The combined effect was once again enigmatic. Most things were closed (Monday + the off-season), but we did buy some chocolates made with local cacao and also some ice cream. B had been seeing peanut ice cream everywhere and finally got a scoop (it was excellent) as well as a scoop of atoumo sorbet, a flower known as shell ginger in English (also tasty).

We swam again on the way home, at Sainte-Luce. The water was not quite clear enough to get a good snorkle going, but it was remarkably warm and floaty.