Six days in Guadeloupe

As you know, if you’ve been following us this season, we left St. Kitt’s & Nevis and eventually made it to Guadeloupe on January 30^th. (The details, if you missed them, are in my posts on February 1^st and 5^th). We landed in Deshaies (pronounced Day-ay) on the northwest corner of Basse Terre. Guadeloupe comprises two main islands that form a sort of butterfly shape, with Basse Terre to the west separated from Grand Terre to the east by a narrow mangrove channel, plus, to the south, there is Marie Galante, and west of that a group of smaller islands called Les Saintes.

Fans of the British mystery, Death in Paradise, will know that it is filmed in various parts of Guadeloupe. The Honoré Police Department is in Deshaies, and yes, we stopped to see it, from the outside. We weren’t willing to pay $20 US each to stand in the tiny room for ten minutes and look at the police desks and cell. We heard someone say there’s a tour that takes you to several of the filming sites, for about $100 US per person. No thank you.

Death in Paradise aside, we enjoyed the two days and three nights we spent on a mooring in the harbor of Deshaies. For my birthday on the 31^st, we toured the Jardin Botanique de Deshaies (the Deshaies Botanical Gardens). It was totally worth the $17.50 € ($18.54 US)  per person! They were gorgeous, and they went on and on! There were built in water features, including a couple of ponds, a river and a waterfall with a restaurant perched on top. There was also a walk-in lorikeet aviary and another area with various Macaws, most of whom were napping in their little huts when we arrived. We decided lunch would be our main meal of the day for my birthday, so we treated ourselves to a delicious lunch, including dessert, at the restaurant I mentioned atop the waterfall. The views from the deck were spectacular! We had taken the free shuttle up hill to the garden, but after that big lunch decided we should walk the 1+ miles back to the dinghy dock. We opted for a mini charcuterie for dinner, as well as music in our hammocks before bed. It was a wonderful way to spend my birthday!

The next day, February 1^st, after croissants ashore for breakfast and getting some gasoline for dinghy, we prepared a picnic lunch (sandwiches on baguette, of course) and went for a hike. Actually, it was more of a rock scramble. We “hiked” up the bed of the Deshaies River, something one can only do when the water level is low, as it was this day. It was beautiful, winding its way through the tropical forest. Occasionally we had to bushwhack a bit ashore to get around parts of the river without good scrambling rocks. Dave cooled himself off in one of the pools in the river along the way. We were aiming for where the river intersected the road that would lead us back to town. About 2 hours into the hike, knowing we had to be pretty close to that road, but not quite sure how close, it started to rain. That made the rocks slippery. Ack! We waited until the downpour stopped, then continued our scramble more slowly for another 15 minutes or so until we came to a spillway across the river with a house on the south bank. Dave scrambled up the north bank toward where he thought it looked like there was a road and confirmed that there was, so I followed. The cruising guide said it was about a 15 minute walk back to town. It was more like 45 minutes and quite steep going down, but we got back uneventfully. It was just lunch time when we got back to town, so we sat on a bench in a little park and ate our yummy sandwiches. Then we visited the local rum store, bought a bottle, then I got ice cream before we returned to Lady. We were a bit sore, but it had been a lovely day.

On Sunday we decided that we wanted a change of scenery before we took the upcoming weather window to Dominica. We moved down to Plage de la Malendure (Misery Beach; sounds nicer in French). We were still sore from the previous day’s hike, so we made water and did laundry, but otherwise rested. The next day, however, we popped across to Pigeon Island in our dinghy and snorkeled around in this part of Jacques Cousteau Marine Park. The reefs are struggling these days, but there was some coral and sponges and LOTS of fish, many schools of them. It was an enjoyable snorkel. After lunch back aboard Lady, we dinghied into the beach to walk about a bit. It’s a vacationers’ spot with lots of dive/snorkel shops along the beach, as well as food shacks/restaurants and souvenir shops. 

The following day we moved down to Marina Sud Ancrage (South Anchorage Marina) on the southwest end of Basse Terre. We filled up with very expensive diesel, cleared out of the country, had lunch at the marina, and then dinghied about a mile back north to the main town of Basse Terre to get a SIM card and some parts Dave needed. I know, it sounds weird to get a SIM the day before leaving the country, but we’re pretty sure that when we return to Guadeloupe in late February, we’ll head to Les Saintes, and we knew we would not be able to purchase a SIM there. The plan we ended up buying is good for two months, so we’ll be all set when we return. It wasn’t easy getting the SIM and plan, since the employees at Orange (the cellular provider) speak little English and I speak little French. Between translators on our phones, our smattering of each other’s languages, and a lot of good-natured patience, I had what I needed, plus an extra 10 GB of data because there was a glitch and I had to wait quite a bit while the lovely woman assisting me called Orange to verify that the package I’d purchased was in fact activated. That was nice of them. We were back on Lady by 4:30 pm, had leftovers for dinner, and watched the Bruins win before retiring to bed.

We landed in Dominica before noon on February 5^th and that’s where we are now. We will be here at least through the 23^rd (ish). The Salty Dawg rendezvous runs from the 13^th to the 20^th, and we have family arriving here immediately after that. But I’m going to stop here and fill you in about Dominica later. 

Until then, stay safe and take care of each other!