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Guadeloupe
By Alex | February 13, 2009
Thanks to Charlie for writing this blog.
Guadeloupe- Deshaies, Pigeon Island (Basse Terre) and Gosier (Grande Terre). 5th to 9th January.
La Guadeloupe, an overseas department of France, has a very French flavour to it. Boulangeries and patisseries, and of course excellent cheese, abound. We arrived in Deshaies on Monday evening after a gentle seven hour passage from Jolly Harbour, Antigua. It was immediately clear, after landing on terra firma (via the tender of course!), that Guadeloupe is one of the more developed Caribbean Islands.
Deshaies has a fine botanical garden, which is approximately 15 minutes out of town on foot up on a platueau above the Bay. Les Jardins Botanique feature a large Coy Carp pond, lorrequeet and parrot enclosures and many fine plants and flowers from the four corners of the Earth. The flowers were being busily emptied of their nectar by the numerous humming-birds, all a delightful shade of dark green/black.
On the Wednesday we (Al, Ewan, Charlie and Rick) sailed down down to Pigeon Island with Duncan and Geoff having gone ahead in the Smith hire car (a yellow convertible Jeep- very understated).
Questionable Logic and Sea Topaz sailed in convoy. ST, having had a head start was overtaken by QL near to Pigeon Island. Jacques Cousteau rated Ilet Pigeon as the best dive site in The World- no doubt the fact that it is in a French dependency is purely coincidental! A Hawksbill Turtle and a Moray Eel were the notable spots on the various snorkelling jaunts. The two vessels then slipped their moorings and headed to the bay overlooking La Plage de Malendure to drop anchor and enjoy the sunset over Pigeon Island. Malendure also has a fine fish restaurant- La Touna- rated highly by Duncs, Geoff and Rick.
Thursday Geoff drove Al, Charlie and Rick to Point-a-Pitre (Grande Terre) via a boulangerie in Vieux Habitants, The Coffee Museum and Les Cascades des Ecrevisses. The Coffee Museum was very good, being centred around a lovely courtyard adorned with numerous flower beds. The place felt like an old coffee plantation, even if it was not. Coffee used to be Guadeloupe’s main export but after suffering a large disease outbreak most of the plantations were turned over to cane. Apparently the Fins, Swedes and Danes all drink more coffee per head than either France or Italy, and Germans drink more coffee than beer!
The Falls were not noteworthy, but the footpath from the road certainly was. The footpath, predominantly funded by EU money, was the finest footpath I’ve ever seen- stone with wood ballustrades. Point-a-Pitre is purely a commercial town and if you miss it you haven’t missed out. The part of Gosier centred on a short beach overlooking L’Ilet du Gosier is, on the other hand, stunning.
The footpath, the Coffee Museum (also EU funded) and the island in general left the distinct impression that Guadeloupe benefits from significant wedges of EU cash- no doubt the other Caribbean Islands wonder if they would have been better off sticking with their varied former British and Dutch masters.
Les Saintes, Guadeloupe. Saturday 10th January.
Friday, after Geoff and Rick had headed for the airport and The USA, The Logic headed for Les Saintes. Another great sail, we covered the 20 odd miles in about three hours and dropped anchor in the bay of Bourg Les Saintes, Terre Haut just after 3pm. Les Saintes never had any plantations and thus never had a slave populace. Consequently the locals mainly descend from early seafaring Normand and Bretons. Bourg Les Saintes is a delightful little town, all overlooked by Fort Napoleon.
The walk up to Fort Napoleon is not exacting and the views are well worth it. The little museum features a little section on the Battle of Les Saintes. Apparently the French navy lost out to Rodney and Hood thanks to unfavourable winds and orders being unobserved; nothing to do with the skill and superior firing speed of the British Navy of course……
Topics: The Voyage - Leg 3 |