Champagne moment

No cricket involved in this one, but more snorkelling as we are today in Dominica. As I mentioned, we had hoped to catch up with Tristan Dever who is out here helping to repair hurricane damage. That had to take priority so we took a taxi ride out to the beach. It is called Champagne Bay and again is a recommended snorkelling beach. I found it hard going again and saw a few fish, SWMBO was able to go out further and experience the bubbles which permeate the earth crust under the sea, so making it feel like you are swimming in champagne.
Our journey back allowed us to see the extent of the hurricane damage. The government building, the library and the catholic cathedral all still have all or parts of their roof missing. Many residential and commercial properties still have tarpolines as weather protection, and roads are in a sorry state.
Any international aid seems to have disappeared into the wrong pockets, and the residents are having to fund the repairs themselves. Our cruise ship is the last to visit this season so the economy will have little revenue now until October, so living will continue to be tough.
On our return to the ship, we visited the heritage museum. Here the path of the island was followed firstly with the indigenous Carib indians, then their battles with Columbus and other explorers and pirates. The Indians were wipped out in the flatter less densely vegitated islands but survived on Dominica and with the passing of the slave trade they were granted reservation rights on the East coast which they continue to utilise.
The town centre still has the slavery sales stands and execution areas and a memorial to the first running water facility on the island. This was abandoned ,however, after one particularly large scale and bloody execution as the locals thought the fountain contaminated by the blood of the victims.
Later the island became a fierce battleground when the French and English fought over it. France wanted control of the three islands, Guadeloupe, Dominica and Martinique, whereas England wanted Dominica to provide a barrier to French domination  of the area.
Tomorrow we visit Guadeloupe to see how the French influence survives after all the conflicts.

Flying fish finger sandwich

The disappointment of the snorkelling trip was compensated somewhat by the wonderful display of the flying fish as our ship left port. Some of them could go 100 yards or more using their fins and gills like wings. For many though that was still not enough to evade the terns, Gannett and cormorants who knew where to be when the fish ran out of puff.
My cunning plan to do a bit of tethering using my mobile phone did not appear as clever as I had hoped so I think I will have a fairly large bill for telecoms when I get back.
Anyway, today is Martinique, part of the French West Indies. The town is dominated by its public park, in which stands a statue of Napoleans wife, Josephine, minus her head. This act of vandalism has not been repaired so has become a statue to the status quo instead.
Opposite the park are two outstanding buildings, the public library and the catholic church. The library is named after Victor Schoeler, who was instrumental in stopping the local French managed slave trade. His statue has a hand missing so there seems to be a trend here. The building was constructed by Mr Eiffel, of the tower fame, in Paris at the same time. It was gifted to Martinique and moved piece by piece to its current location. To tune in with the library's history, the church  has a spire which resembles the Eiffel Tower itself.
Chucked down with rain while we were here, so no beach trips. We did stay up for the midnight buffet though and joined a shared table for dinner which was all very pleasant.
Our plans to meet Tristan Dever in Dominica tomorrow have fallen through so we will see what the island has to offer and how it is coping with the rebuilding work after it was devastated by a hurricane in 2017. Tristan is here to help with the rebuilding programme.