Guadalupe:
Guadalupe is a really beautiful
French island, Our first official stop was at Marina Basse de fort, in Point a Pietre
where we had our first experience with “med mooring”. The marina was amazing with restaurants,
shopping and boat repair all located within walking distance. Boat issues were completely solved by excellent
repairmen and at more than reasonable costs.
Since we had a layover while
waiting for repairs, Cliff rented an economy car with a stick shift. And armed with my trusty Garmin GPS, we took
off to see the island.
That there were extremely high
climbs on narrow roads proved to be significant for our tiny rental as its power
dwindled to nothing especially if the air conditioner was running. Cliff proved to be as excellent a driver as
he is a skipper and kept us moving forward no matter how high the terrain.
I had some grandiose idea that I
would like to see the volcano and water falls near Basse Terre. Our little car climbed, and climbed, turning
round and round razor sharp and narrow curbs with an abundance of cars parked
perilously close to the mountainous drop.
I kept remarking (in between my fits of terror) how busy the national
park was for a weekday and just couldn’t understand how so many Guadeloupians’
had this free time.
Once we arrived at the top of the
mountain, we found that there would be a 2 hour walk to the volcano and
waterfall to which both Cliff and I declined and after exploring a bit, we got
back into the car for our decent. Just
as we finally got the car turned around and started out to descend the narrow
road, another vehicle approached and stopped, expecting Cliff to backup and
give way. Since, it had taken everything
that Cliff had to reverse and turn the car around without losing control and
sliding down the hill, he stubbornly held fast and refused to budge. The other
car finally relented, backed-up and uttered some choice words in French which
fortunately, (I am sure) we didn’t understand.
 | |
| Dan, Melissa & Yours Truly examining just one more distillery |
Not sure if I mentioned that Cliff
has set out on a special mission during this trip. That being that he has attempted to visit
every rum distillery on every island.
Since I am his only crew, I guess that has become my mission as
well. So, we set out to see the
Distillery Bologne close to Basse Terre and found it closed.
Following the guide book, we then
ventured to Basse Terre to a recommended restaurant only to find that the entire
town was closed even the office of tourism.
Boggled, we then sat in the rental car with both doors open to determine
our options, when a young man approached my side of the car and addressed me in
French. I explained, “no parle francais”
and he smiled and rephrased in English, “Give me YOUR money”! Now this is where I understand how important
it is to properly speak another language. To also make sure that you know
qualifying words like “Some” as well and to always preface
any request with “Please”. So, undaunted, I told him I don’t have any
money…sorry, and then I promptly closed the door and locked it.
So, after this little event, we
took off for the local marina nearby hoping to find lunch and took a wrong turn
down a narrow (no return) road and found ourselves stopped by what appeared to
be a “gang” of young people. Cliff
rolled down his window and asked directions.
Finally after some discussion in French, a guy came up and directed us
in broken English to follow the road to the Fort and then cross the highway and
take the second turn to the right. We
did, but nothing was opened at the marina as well. So, we gave up on this adventure and went
back to Pointe a Pietre for dinner.
 |
| Reimonenq Distillery |
 |
| Short Cut through the rain forest |
That day, we drove a short cut back to the marina by climbing up a huge, winding mountain with numerous switchbacks while being rewarded by the site of a most beautiful national rainforest.
The Saintes:
Le
Bourg:
After getting the boat work
completed, we set sail for The Saintes to join Slow Dancing who basically
bypassed Guadalupe to settle in this area.
The town of Le Bourg is charming.
Very laid back French lifestyle, with unique shops, good restaurants
(that refuse to serve dinner even one minute before 7:00 pm), and, of course, a
fort on a hill which just begs to be climbed!!!
There is also a little fenced in
park which the travel book boasts of local ladies churning ice cream for the
tourists. Being an ice cream fanatic, I,
immediately aimed for a park visit, only
to be sadly disappointed as there were no ladies and no ice cream.
Beware of out of date guide books!!!
However, there is, as stated in the book, a Doctor’s house shaped like a boat.!!
 |
| Park in Le Bourg |
However, there is, as stated in the book, a Doctor’s house shaped like a boat.!!
 |
| Doctor's Office and Home |
Since Slow Dancing’s Dan and
Melissa did not visit Guadalupe, we decided at dinner one evening to board a
ferry from Le Bourg to Guadalupe. Dan
took care of renting the car and proudly boasted that it costs only $23.00 a
day American. I might add that this car
was easily a version of a “Rent a Wreck” and was the very first car that I have
ever seen which had powered front windows and wind up back not to mention the
stick shift which barely could make it up the mountains even without the air
conditioning.
 |
| Another amazing waterfall |
Martinique:
Arrived in St. Pierre and spent an
uncomfortable night in a rolly anchorage.
Decided to move on the next day to Fort de France, the capital of
Martinique. Once anchored, Cliff, Dan,
Melissa and I set out to check into customs and see the sights. We found Fort de France to be a busy little
city with lots of shops, interesting sights as the Bibliotheque
Schoelcher.
This public library was
actually built in France in the same time frame as the Eiffel Tower
construction, dismantled and shipped to Martinique in 1893 to be
reconstructed. One highlight of Fort de
France is that it has a fort (St.
Louis) which was, during the time we were there, closed to the public. No matter, this fort was not situated high on
a hill and would not have tested our climbing skills or lack thereof.
 |
| Bibliotheque Schoelcher |
After wondering around a bit, we
finally found the tourist office and found a town map and headed to a large
covered market (Marche Couvet) where we explored the produce and craft tables
and eventually had lunch, creole style.
We spent another day sightseeing, then Slow Dancing and Navigator took off for the Southern Coast of Martinique passing the HMS Diamond Rock.
 |
| HMS Diamond Rock |
This Rock was noted in the travel book as a truly unsinkable vessel as during the Napoleonic wars, Admiral Hood landed 100 British soldiers on the rock, fortified it with cannons, etc. and to blockade all entry and exits to Martinique for almost 18 months. The frustrated French finally decided to attack the Rock by floating several barrels of rum to the English sailors who “imbibed so heavily” that the French and Spanish fleet were able to seize the Rock with little trouble. Anyway, the rock certainly did fascinate me as the number of pictures in my camera will attest!
Le Marin:
Slow Dancing arrived in the
anchorage first and promptly set her anchor near several other boats.
Navigator, preferring to set her anchor in shallower water, found a spot closer
to shore. After lunch and settling in,
Slow Dancing hailed us on the radio to tell us that they were told to anchor
elsewhere as they were blocking the channel.
Armed with this information, we waited patiently to be told to move
also. To our surprise, the patrol boat
passed our stern and waved. Several
minutes later, a very large barge entered the channel and passed close to the
sterns of both Slow Dancing and Navigator.
 |
| "Sitting in the cockpit watching the big barge go by" |
Cliff and I lowered the dinghy and headed to the nearby marina to reserve a rental car and explore the area while Dan and Melissa restocked their food supply at a French type “Costco” on the other side of the harbor.
The next day, Cliff rented a car and we set out to explore Martinique and of course a Rum Distillery or two or three. Unlike the roads in most of the Caribbean countries, those of Martinique are marked well and nicely paved.
After touring the different distilleries and of course sampling the rum, Cliff decided that Martinique made the best rum (he is becoming quite the connoisseur these days!)
Ending our tour that day for a late lunch at Le Bamboo, a recommended restaurants by the locals, later, we headed back to Le Marin and the boats to prepare to sail the next day to St Lucia.
St. Lucia:
Both boats rented slips at the
Rodney Bay Marina which is known as the second largest marina in the
Caribbean. Equipped with restaurants,
food store, gift shop and most importantly for me at this time, a computer
guru, this marina was a delight.
Shortly before we arrived in Rodney
Bay, my computer totally stopped working.
This proved to be extremely frustrating since I was still performing two
part time jobs with it and needed it to do so.
While in the marina office to check
in, I asked if there was a computer
repair shop in the area and the marina attendant kindly contacted a guy who was
in the back of the office. He agreed to
look at the computer the next day. I met
with him that morning and he promptly took me to a marina bar, hooked it up to
the bars electric and Internet and began figuring out what the problem
was. I patiently waited with him for
about 3 hours and finally left it in his hands to work on it. By 10:00 pm the next evening, he brought it
back to the boat working “brilliantly”.
Appears I had a virus and this shut everything down. Would you believe, the cost for all of his
hard work as $60.00 US.
Slow Dancing fell in love with this
area of St. Lucia and decided to get some boat work completed at the marina
while Cliff and I decided to venture to Marigold Bay after a couple of days.
Marigot Bay:
 |
| Marigot Bay |
Well, I fell in love with Marigot
Bay. It was charming, scenic, and
everything that I imagined a Caribbean Bay to look like. On arriving, we were met by the marina
manager in a dinghy who led us to a mooring and helped us tie up. He informed us that using the marina mooring
entitled us to the resorts restaurants, showers, pool and available stores for
a “mere” $30.00 EC a night. So much for
a free anchorage!!!
Also in the bay was a little
restaurant called “Doolittle’s”.
Yep,
this is the bay where Dr. Doolittle was filmed and as I remember when I saw the
film so many years ago, that the bay scene in that film was spectacular.
Well, even more so in real life.
 |
| Doolittle's Restaurant |
Well, even more so in real life.
Cliff and I spent 2 full days
there, had lunch in the resort, rented a cab to see “what else”, a nearby rum
distillery, (Roseau Sugar Distillery), had appetizers and drinks at Doolittle’s
and an terrific dinner at Chateau Mygo where a fantastic live jazz band played
many of our favorite songs.
Soufriere and the Pitons:
We reluctantly left Marigold Bay to
set sail for Soufriere where we were to meet up with Slow Dancing once
again. One of the things that surprised
us was the number of unsolicited boat boys who offered there services to help
you find a mooring, give guided taxi tours, guard your dinghy at the dock, sell
boat cleaning services, mangoes, fish etc. all for a fee of course!
Once into town, we found the park
service office which guided us to their moorings for a nominal fee and gave us
a bit of insight into the area. Shortly
thereafter, we stopped for ice cream at a local store and set out to locate a
taxi to tour the island the next day.
Following behind us eating a cup of ice cream was a St. Lucian man who
just happened to be a taxi driver. Assured that anyone who liked ice cream as I
do has to be an okay kind of person, we hired him to take us to the Diamond
Botanical Gardens, Sulfur Springs and a waterfall the next day.
After walking a bit more, we found
a small and lovely resort restaurant called Hummingbird and enjoyed a dinner
overlooking their pool and beach nestled midst beautiful palm trees and
flowering bushes which attracted lots of sweet little hummingbirds.
The next day, we set out to meet
the cab driver to take us to the sights.
One thing I would like to mention here is that before one rents a car or
taxi, one should walk around the vehicle and check the tire tread. That said, we merrily set out to the Diamond
Botanical Gardens complete with mineral baths and a waterfall.
After examining the gardens and walking its
paths, we found that a private mineral bath, housed in a little building was
offered and so, Cliff and I decided to check it out and to our delight, we
bathed in the hot waters coming down from the volcano.
Afterwards, we invited the cab driver to join us for lunch at restaurant nearby. Our next stop was the Sulfur Springs. This was actually the inside of an exploded volcano which appeared to be an outer space scene from a “B” movie.
Finally, we were taken down and up a huge hill to another waterfall. A guide met us at the taxi and escorted us down a short trail. Just as we started down the trail, it began to rain and undaunted, we continued to the falls. A bit later, we returned to the taxi while it was still raining and the driver asked us to move to the back of the taxi and then we headed back to Soufriere.
 |
| Hot Mineral Bathhouse |
Afterwards, we invited the cab driver to join us for lunch at restaurant nearby. Our next stop was the Sulfur Springs. This was actually the inside of an exploded volcano which appeared to be an outer space scene from a “B” movie.
 |
| Hot Sulphur Spring |
Finally, we were taken down and up a huge hill to another waterfall. A guide met us at the taxi and escorted us down a short trail. Just as we started down the trail, it began to rain and undaunted, we continued to the falls. A bit later, we returned to the taxi while it was still raining and the driver asked us to move to the back of the taxi and then we headed back to Soufriere.
As we reached the bottom of the
first hill, the taxi stopped to pick up a woman carrying an umbrella who was preparing to walk up
the big hill in the rain. She got into
the truck and the truck started to climb the hill when suddenly, it started
skidding worst then in a major snowstorm.
The cabbie shifted to second and floored it only to lay enough rubber to
ruin the tires permanently and made little or no headway... Of course, the road was narrow and barely one
lane wide and of course, there had to be cars and trucks trying to get
past. Finally after about 10 minutes of
this, the woman with her umbrella, slid open the door and got out, deciding
that walking the hill was not all that bad.
Cliff and I now understanding why the cabbie told us to sit all the way
in the back, determined to stay as calm, quiet and unmoving as possible while
the cabbie figured out how to get us up that hill and back to town. I vowed that if we made it safely back to
town, I would never get into a rental vehicle or taxi again without checking
all four tires.
Next time: Grenadines, Granada and TRINIDAD!!!
Posts
