Kayaking at Pointe du Bout on Martinique

Photo by Hal Peat

Martinique is blessed with a coastline that has more than the sought-after white sand beaches – there are also black sand beaches, thanks to the presence of its volcanic Mt.-Pelée, along with numerous coves on both its Atlantic and Caribbean sides. Kayaking on the large bay known as Baie de Fort-de-France on its southeastern side, you have the advantage of an almost glass-smooth harbor on a morning outing here.

The Hotel Bakoua at Pointe du Bout facing the Baie de Fort-de-France is one of those seafront hotels with its own beach at the curve of a small inlet along the bay. Guests can use the single-seat top-riding kayaks to make short excursions out to the point where the buoys mark a limit, then paddle from one end of the inlet to the other. This side of the bay, in the neighborhood of Trois-Ilets, provides some varied views -- one being directly across toward the waterfront of the capital of Fort-de-France. Ferries and small boats pull in along the distant docksides in front of the city, while planes make a final approach into the airport. Pointe du Bout is one of several rocky headlands along the bay, located on its western side. Near the beach inlet, large, tall-masted yachts and powerboats lie at anchor, and a deckhand or two may wave back to you as you get within shouting distance.

The eastern side of the bay provides more natural scenery to explore with wetlands and mangroves, and you can also kayak there with an independent outfitter called Kayak Nature Evasion based at Le Village de la Poterie, which takes you into the mangrove swamps. Martinique has a continual tropical climate, but the dry season is ideally the time to be here from December to May, when temperatures average 85 degrees Fahrenheit.

Written by  Hal Peat.

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