Plein Soleil Hotel, Martinique

We spent our last two nights in Martinique in the Plein Soleil hotel. We can thoroughly recommend staying there!

After the Ilet Oscar it was absolute luxury! even if the bathroom was a little on the small side.....NOT COMPLAINING!.... after the boat this was also absolute luxury!

and we had a great view...... yes we did have a window here..... no window at Ilet Oscar as there we had louvred doors to the communal living space and a bathroom with a window!

And the food was fantastic!

The living space of the hotel was very interesting....

as was the dining space.....  by day.......

 and by night...

It is reached by a very pot holed road......but once you get there it is worth it.

The pool did not have anyone there.....

and we had moved around so much for the prior two weeks we felt we could stay there and just enjoy peace and tranquility!

We did have a lunch in a restaurant (before getting there) that we can recommend...
Le Toucan at Vauclin...

and then had a lunch after we left there that we can recommend...........

La Mandoline at Le Village du Poterie
We had an excellent salad.......

But I was a little taken aback by the menu which said the fish depended on what arrived by plane!

We were on an island surrounded by fish!!

Ilet Oscar, Martinique

We had decided that two nights on a Robinson Crusoe type island at Ilet Oscar would be an adventure..... and it was!
We had arranged to be taken out and picked up by a local fisherman from  Le Francois, the closest port.

 This boat went at quite a higher speed than the yacht we had from St Martin.......or maybe it just seemed so!

The jetty was quite long and we were greeted by a very charming hostess.

It is an old Creole house and it was moved piece by piece to the island from another island close by and  initially was used as a weekend cottage, and , I think, is still owned by the same family ........

Note the throne!!

The place is quite charming.....but also quite tired!  It needs some maintenance!

Our bedroom was the last louvred door on the right......

The exterior was pleasant.....

It is quite close to an area where people go to bathe in water which is not very deep, where supposedly the Empress Josephine used to bathe......... so we had quite a few boats going past, with passengers already having had a few glasses of rum!

Our excitement on the second day was hearing/watching a helicopter trying to rescue someone who had a 'crise' on a day trip to the other side of the island...

Medic being lowered down, after numerous attempts!

                                 And the stretcher ( with the patient) took even longer!!

This place was definitely an experience......

It needs to be somewhat updated, conserving its authenticity....

And they really need to get a cook! Our meal the first night was essentially prepared by another french couple who were staying there..... they had gone to the market for tuna and prepared a tuna tartare, which was great.

However the following night the person who was running the place returned and did the cooking......the other couple had left..... and what he prepared was essentially picked up from Carrefour on the way back!  At 50 euros each for the meal it was very, very excessive!  And the wine at 30+ euros was barely drinkable!!

So one goes there for the experience of being on an island.......

Would we go back??????  Maybe! After it has been turned into a slightly more upmarket destination!  Just comfortable with good simple food would be great!  However we did not appreciate having the electricity generator turned off at 11pm.....  a little hazardous to find our way to the bathroom in the dark!!
And yes I do know that all their electricity is solar powered......but we were the only ones staying there that night.........

La Trinitee, Martinique

We finally moved on from St Pierre.  While we liked it there, one or two nights is probably enough!
We went across the island and checked out the Atlantic coast. We had found a nice old plantation home to stay in, the Domaine St Aubin. The evening before arrival they suddenly let us know that they were not going to be serving any dinner the night we were staying!  We had booked a long time before! And it was a long way from other restaurants! Fortunately we had found a lunch spot, Le Point de Vue with a great view...

This had a great setting, but no real menu.  They told you what your choices were.......... but we did have to have accras! These were served everywhere.......usually of cod but sometimes carrots or????

The domaine was definitely old... with charm...

and they did serve us a sandwich and wine on the terrace ( instead of dinner!)....         

but they had added lots of apartments and it looked rather underbooked while we were there!  They had high expectations!  I imagine in school holiday time they may be fully booked.  We were still in their ' high season' in March.

The following morning we went out the Caravelle peninsula which was quite charming.

 and it did seem to be a genuine family fishing area.....

Unfortunately it was raining on and off so wasn't exactly 'a day at the beach' weather!
For lunch we went to a restaurant in Robert  well recommended by TripAdvisor but we were not impressed........

This was a strawberry tiramisu...............looks delicious but it was made with frozen strawberries!!

and then on to our next stop.... a small island....and yes, we had to get back in a boat!!