After visiting the Memorial ACTe Museum (see previous post), I stopped by the Cathedral de St-Pierre et St-Paul. Unfortunately all of the exterior doors were locked. Here are some pics of the exterior:

I don’t know who any of these folks are (below). I assume they are saints in the Catholic Church. They caught my eye because: 1) they are on the exterior of the building, and 2) they are each accompanied by something: a book, an eagle, a child, a lion . . .

My lower back on the right side started giving me problems on or about February 20th. It got quite bad within a day or two. I’d tried to find a doc in Guadeloupe, but no one answered their phone and there was no way to contact them online. I finally walked to the address where a doctor was supposed to be located and all I found was a locked gate.

We decided to give up on finding a doc and carry on with our visits. We sailed to Marie-Galante on the 23rd, with the intention of renting a car and visiting the island. The weather was rather favorable: we had one reef in the main and a full genoa. Our anchor was down by 3:10 p.m. at  Baie de Saint Louis.

But we ended up staying at that same anchorage – never leaving the boat – until February 28th. My back hurt so bad that I could hardly move. I called my clinic in Woodbury, MN, and they told me to get to an urgent care ASAP. Michael decided that we should go straight to Martinique, rather than coast-hopping down Dominica, so I could get to a doc faster.

So we sailed to Martinique on the 28th. We went to the closest anchorage – Anse Couleuvre – on the NW corner of the island so we could anchor before dark. We stayed two nights because we weren’t sure if the doctor’s office would be open on a Sunday. (We didn’t know if we’d be going to the equivalent of urgent care or to a doctor.)

Anyway, we motor-sailed to the mooring field near Fort-de-France on March 2nd. The next morning, Michael asked the marina to send someone out with a big-ish dinghy to help us get ashore. A lovely young man, Gregory, came with his dinghy – with a padded seat – to take us ashore. Once ashore, Davy, another kind man who works for the marina, recommended a doctor and drove us there in his car.

After signing in and waiting about 1.75 hours for our turn, we saw the doctor. She was great! While I was there, she gave me a shot of an anti-inflammatory, and provided me with three prescriptions: one muscle relaxer, one anti-inflammatory, and one of pain pills.

The pharmacy was closed, but I tell you, the shot she gave me provided some almost immediate relief. I mean, it still hurt, but it was better!

So, why was the pharmacy closed? Cuz it’s a festival (or “carnival,” depending one who you talk to. Whatever it is, it is apparently pretty amazing if the pharmacist wanted to go so much that they closed the pharmacy!

Michael went ashore the first thing the next morning to see if the pharmacy was still closed. It was. (I am guessing that this pharmacy closed all three days of the festival.) Then he walked to another one, but it was inside a gated community so he couldn’t access it. (What kind of community needs its own pharmacy?) He took a cab to a third one and found it open. . . with a long line. Of course, cuz the other pharmacies were closed!

So, Michael came back with my drugs. That was good. I am not sure he would have been brave enough to return without them.

The drugs helped.

We moved from the mooring ball to the marina on March 11th. One of my besties from junior and senior high and her hubby are going to visit us here in Martinique. They arrive on the 18th, and I couldn’t be more excited!

Here are a few pictures of the sunset before we left the big island of Guadeloupe, then leaving the big island, and after we anchored at the Baie de Saint Louis anchorage in Marie-Galante.