Baja St. Martin

I spent my latest birthday in the French Quarter with my oldest daughter and her husband and we had an absolutely wonderful time. The French Market Inn on Decatur Street, where we stayed, is right in the center of things so it was just a few minutes walk to the Mississippi River where we could watch gigantic ships heading out, walk catty-corner to Café Du Monde and easily wander up and down Royal and Chartres streets.
We found a neat little café on Royal Street where we ate breakfast one morning. The St. Charles streetcar trip was a lot of fun – not quite what I’d expected, but an adventure as my daughter said. Since the streetcar line was under construction at one point, everyone had to get off, board a city bus and a short while later get back on the streetcar. I had planned to take pictures of the beautiful homes on St. Charles, but did not count on the streetcar speed.
We noticed several trash cans in the French Quarter which had solar panel tops. An online search said there were about 30 of these trash cans around and the solar panels powered a compactor inside the containers. Since the containers don’t have to be picked up so often, the trash company seemed to feel the $3000 price for each container was economical. Can’t remember for sure but I think the containers were called Big Belly.
I had the impression that crawfishing was mostly over, but once again I was wrong or at least not quite right. There isn’t much fishing around this area, but I hear they are still catching crawfish in the areas below Morgan City. The price for crawfish has just risen to $1.40 a pound so you have to think that not many are being caught.
I have not heard of anyone local catching crabs, but a few people in Stephensville buy crabs from Morgan City fishermen, pick the meat and sell that. I think the price was about $14 a pound.
It’s been years since blue crabs were caught in Belle River or the spillway. When Grover Angelle was here for Food for Seniors we got to reminiscing about the days when we caught crabs on trot lines, picking them up one at a time with a net. I made a shade canopy for an old boat we had, and my daughter who was just a child then and I would spend an entire day fishing crabs at Three Forks in the Basin. I believe Grover and I had different choices of beverages to keep us hydrated as we fished, but we both remembered having fun!
Here’s a true story I just read in a local paper. A tourist had paddled his kayak into the cypress trees along the banks of Lake Verret just recently near a development called Bayou Tranquille near Pierre Part. It’s really a pretty place to paddle. I’ve done it also. But this guy got in the middle of a spawning area for alligator gars, apparently, and one huge gar literally rolled onto the front of the man’s kayak. don’t know if the fish got stuck there or tried to attack the paddler, but whichever, the man pulled out a pistol and shot the thing. I saw a picture of the fish hanging from someone’s tree and it looked as tall as a man, maybe taller.
The kayak was a one-person vessel (like mine) and it wasn’t very large so I guess a gigantic fish aboard must have been pretty scary.

Teche News’ Lower St. Martin correspondent, Linda Cooke, can be emailed at lindacooke1939@gmail.com.