Conference abbott::cruise_travel

    Puerto Rico is a pretty big place and if you don't do your own air,
    I suspect you won't have enough time to go to any really out of the way
    places but wrt the smaller islands, I'd suggest your best bet would
    be to get a taxi and tell them what you are looking for.
    

    Also, ask your cruise director. That's the sort of thing they get
    paid to know.
    

Advice from a landscape photographer to a botanical photographer on where to
find rain forest in Martininque:

Hire a car and stick to the northern half of the island, starting from the 
capital Fort de France. There's a road that runs north from Fort de France to 
Morne Rouge, then splits to go West down to St Pierre and East down through 
Agoupa-Bouillon to the Atlantic. A few km (5-10?) before Morne Rouge there is 
a crossroads in the middle of the jungle.

The heart of the rain forest is on the Eastern side between the crossroads and
Gros Morne, along the D1. This is extremely dense forest, close and oppressive.
The D1 is narrow but is a good road (not a track). The land is hilly and you
might find difficulty getting off the road into the undergrowth with a load of
gear. If you want to do this on foot, there's an itinerary called the Trace des
Jesuites. The Guide du Routard says it's "without difficulty". (I haven't tried
it).

I prefer the land on the Western side between the crossroads and St Pierre,
passing via Fond St Denis. There are different routes, all thickly forested but
more open and rather flatter, easier country.

There is also a particularly exhuberent bit of forest on the coast road going
north just before you get to Grand Riviere. This is on the flanks on the
volcano. I imagine that the forest is pretty thick all around the volcano, but
it usually has it's head in a cloud.

Two tourist places you must be aware of - the Jardin de Balata is not far out
of Fort de France on the road to Morne Rouge. It's a magnificent garden with an
example of everything on the island. Not to be missed even if you don't like
tourists. There's also the Plantation Macintosh, at Morne Rouge. This is a
commercial flower-growing plantation with a piece of jungle cordoned-off and
tended for show. Go to Morne Rouge, take the road towards Agoupa-Bouillon, turn
right at the outskirts of Morne-Rouge (signposted) and after 5 km of banana
plantations, you're there.

Last thing - try to be in the forest at dusk, when the fireflies are out. You
wave a light at them, and a whole wall of trees lights up with little sparks of
light. Magic..

Charles

    

    The best beach on Martinique (as far as I'm aware) is also one of the
    most isolated and this why there are no tourists. We had to have a
    guide. I can't give you the exact name of it, but it's on the
    south-east coast, north of St. Anne and Anse Trabaut.
    
    Start from Marin going in the direction of St. Anne. There's a
    crossroads at the outskirts of the town, where the road from the
    harbour comes and joins the main road. 
    
    Turn left at the crossroads. Follow the road/concrete track for about
    5km (very hilly at first, then across a dry plain). You arrive at a
    first beach, where you park your car. (The first beach is already not
    bad.)
    
    Follow a track along the coast at left for about another 1-2 km till
    you arrive at a long narrow beach of white sand, backed by low cliffs
    with a grove of coconut trees under the cliffs, and a ruined house at
    the far end. You've arrived. 
    
    No tourists. No refreshments either. Take something to drink. Or if you
    have brought a guide, get him to shimmy up a coconut tree and bring you
    a fresh coconut...
    
    Charles
     

    Thanks, Charles.....that is exactly the information I was looking for.
    
    Bob K.

    A couple of things I left out in my idyllic description, which I should
    really warn you about (now I've got you interested):
    
    Poisonous snakes: Introduced to the island a couple of centuries ago by
    plantation owners to discourage the slaves from escaping. As you
    might expect, they're large (1-2 metres) and deadly. There aren't
    a lot of them, but the forest is just the sort of place they hang out. 
    Be careful, and don't go alone.
    
    Poisonous trees: There is a variety of tree quite common in the south
    which has acid leaves. When it rains, the drops coming off the leaves
    are acid and irritating, so don't shelter under these trees. They're
    quite low, they have rust-coloured trunks, and have all been painted with 
    a red band on the trunk as a warning.
    
    Inevitably, some of the trees in the grove behind the best-beach-
    on-the-isand are of this type.
    
    Otherwise, if you want a couple of beaches that are nice but easy to
    get to, look at the two main beaches in St Anne - the Salines and the
    town/Club Med beach. Touristy, of course.
    
    Charles