Martinique

My hotel view in Martinique.

I was hired in late August to travel to Martinique to videotape and edit a short public relations video about economic development opportunities for the island.
Tough job but somebodys gotta do it right?

I left for Atlanta Sat. morning to catch a direct flight to Martinique.
Hurricane Dean had just blown through and I was prepared that the trip might be cancelled or delayed.
I arrived at my gate in Atlanta just in time to see a group assembled in front of the desk and an announcement being made that the flight was cancelled and would be rescheduled for Next Sat. - a week from then.
The small crowd in unison went "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" We were told the airport was closed.
















I was traveling with my two clients one of which is from Martinique along with 44 other families, students, lawyers, children...everyone except one couple from California spoke French and a few spoke English as well so I was constantly having to pay very close attention, pull out the little French that I know and have things translated.

The group of strangers traveling to Martinique banded together as "The 47" and refused to accept the options of either being sent back to their original destination or fly out next Sat.. Delta was ill prepared for the determination of these folks to get home. There were a couple of Delta reps that tried to placate the group but all in all I was surprised at the lack of leadership and compassion Delta showed. We all stayed at the same ratty hotel in Atlanta Sat. night. I had dinner at "Ruby Tuesdays" with my new friend "Jill Bon" or "Mr Good". Delta called at 4am to inform us of a plane that would take us to Martinique in the morning. We boarded the plane and after the door was closed Delta came on and in English said that anyone traveling to Martinique would need to deboard - that this plane was not going to Martinique. Nobody got off....

We flew to St. Maartin and after deboarding the group leaders began trying to get us to Martinique. After a couple of hours of phone calls, negotiating with airport officials, trying to get Delta to discuss (they hid in their office) "The 47" were asked to collect luggage and leave the airport. We refused. I was basically along for the ride but could see that things might escalate with 47 tired, angry and a few aggressive travelers. Security was called, the chief of police of St. Maarten showed up, and then a canine unit was brought in to herd us out. There was much arguing, debating and demanding on both sides. Several of us had our cameras and were taking photos and video. They told us to put our cameras away or they would confiscate.
I backed out of the volatile crowd and watched as the dog was brought over - there were some shrieks, a struggle, some man handling and one of our passengers was taken away - kids were crying, more arguing and the crowd reluctantly shuffled to claim luggage with no place to go....We had called the media and they were outside to greet us and take our stories. Someone in the group had called the French Embassy and the Guadeloupe authorites who apparantly paid for shuttles to take us to a hotel and put us up. They did for two nights - The hotel was actually a really nice resort.
They fed us for two days and after a couple of false starts (one- we waited at airport until 1:30am and then had to return back to hotel) they chartered a plane that held exactly 47 people and got us to Martinique.
Whew! - Quite an adventure but I made some great new friends and I can think of many worse things than being stranded at a resort in St. Maarten!















One of the more outspoken 47, Fabrice Blackodon from Martiniue became our on-camera spokesperson and my quick friend.
After our first night at my client's mother's home and THE BEST MEAL at her table we spent the rest of the week mostly in Fort de France interviewing incredibly interesting people including: Amie´Cesaire,

the Mayor of Fort de France, Serge Lechimy &

Artist, Hector Charpentier
Our time was cut short because of our delay and the hurricane made getting beauty shots a little challenging so we ended up using a good bit of existing footage. I edited a 20 minute presentation that will be shown to politicians and potential investors.
This is a short video of the airport adventure and some of the footage from the video in Martinique.