As I type this we are leaving St. Barth and heading
back to Sint Maarten to finally meet back up with Dan and Alison aboard Equus . We’ll be there about 3 weeks as we both
prepare for our Atlantic crossing. It’s
another perfect day in paradise. We’re
on a downwind sail with about 16 knots of wind and we’re moving at about 5.5
knots with just our jib sail out!
Couldn’t ask for a better day!
We arrived back in Guadalupe almost a month ago and got
notification that our windlass (the motor that pulls up the anchor for us) had
arrived and was being held in customs.
We contacted them to ask about getting it delivered and were assured
that it would be delivered in a few days.
Well, since we had extra time on our hands, we decided to explore
Guadalupe by land. We’d walked into the
town of Pointe-’a-Pitre almost daily but had yet to see the rest of this
butterfly shaped island. We were
situated in the eastern most wing - as Pedro said that we couldn’t afford the
west wing. So, we rented a car for two
days and set about exploring.
Guadalupe has some fantastic scenery. The first day we hiked to see a
waterfall. It was a great hike through a
gorgeous rain forest. While we couldn’t
actually reach the waterfall, we had a beautiful hike and nice view of the
waterfall. We then decided to continue
over to see about hiking La Grande Soufriere – the volcano that is thankfully
dormant. The winding roads up to the base
of the volcano were almost as fun as the hike as they wound around the
mountains and gave our little rental car a run for her money. We made it up to the base of the volcano, but
by the time we got there, it was only an hour or so until sunset. As the hike is reported to take about 1 ½
hours each way, we decided to take a scenic route home and come back the next
day. The scenic route took us along the
coastline for several miles and then straight across the middle of the island
through their national park. Gorgeous
scenery and a really fun drive. (MA thoroughly
enjoyed the drive but Pedro was getting seasick).
The next morning, we got up with the sunrise and fought the rush
hour traffic – seriously there was traffic – to arrive at La Grande Soufriere by about
8am. We were surprised at how cool it
was and were very glad to have brought jackets.
In hind sight, we should have brought our foul weather jackets from the
boat but who knew – it was 85 degrees and sunny when we left the boat. Well, we started walking. The hike was much more strenuous than we’d
anticipated so we were really glad we’ve given ourselves more time. It started raining and rained/misted off and
on for most of the hike. We kept on,
figuring that we were already wet might as well just keep going. It took about 2 hours to reach the summit and
by this time we were really getting really cold. We were disappointed to realize that, due to
the cloudy conditions, the view from the top was non-existent. There’s a little shelter at the top were
everyone huddles in to try to get warm, eat their snack or just build up the
stamina to start the track back down.
Outside of the shelter, the rain felt like needles flying at you –
really cold needles too – and the wind was so strong that you really had to
hold onto something. Another 2
hours to get back down and we'd done it!
Once we were back in the car trying to get warm, a little
black and red bird came and sat on the side view mirror by Pedro. Not sure what was going on, Pedro opened his
window and the bird hopped from the mirror to the hood of the car. Still not sure what was going on, Pedro held
out his hand with some bread for the bird.
The bird stayed on the hood. Then
Pedro place the bread on the mirror and pulled his hand back in. Game on!
The bird hopped to the mirror, stole the bread and flew away all the
while MaryAnn was trying to get a picture.
No such luck. We think the bird
was pretty good at training the humans.
Now with less bread than before and with rubbery legs from the hike, we
started our drive down the mountain. MaryAnn
complained a lot about trying to drive the stick shift car down the mountain roads
but we made it. We were so proud of ourselves
for completing the hike and would definitely do it again – hopefully on a sunnier
day!
Leaving La Grande Soufriere, we found a great little creole
restaurant for lunch. MaryAnn had a
whole fried snapper while Pedro had the roasted chicken. Also included with lunch, were a couple of
cats that hung around the table. One had
such beautiful blue eyes that MaryAnn felt she just had to share some of her
fish with the cat. The owner came out
once and chased the cat away. Of course
with MaryAnn feeding it, the cat came
back. This time the owner caught her
feeding the cat. Despite the language
barrier – she spoke only French Creole and we spoke only English - with a
strong look of discouragement along with her hands on her ample hips, she got
her point across not to feed the cats at the table.
After lunch we made our way to the other end
of the island to Pointe des Chateaux.
What a gorgeous site! Colorful rocky
cliffs that overlook the amazingly blue waters.
This too required a little hiking but we were experts by this time so we
headed right up. Totally worth the
effort. It’s breathtaking. A must see spot for anyone going to
Guadalupe.
After lunch we made our way to the other end
of the island to Pointe des Chateaux.
What a gorgeous site! Colorful rocky
cliffs that overlook the amazingly blue waters.
This too required a little hiking but we were experts by this time so we
headed right up. Totally worth the
effort. It’s breathtaking. A must see spot for anyone going to
Guadalupe.
Back on the boat, we got word that our package had cleared customs and was being delivered. The next day, we got our windlass installed and we were ready to go. We decided that it was none too soon as we’d gotten in some pretty bad habits while living in this quaint French country. We called it our $1/a day habit. Every day, we went to get a baguette (crusty long French bread). Hey, everyone else was doing it too! When in France!!! We had also allowed ourselves - usually only once or twice a week – a pain au chocolate (fabulous pastry stuffed with dark chocolate) and Pedro got an espresso. Despite the hiking, we couldn’t be trusted around the bakeries anymore! To ease the suffering of withdrawal, we bought 5 loaves the morning we left.
Next, we continued heading north and stopped in
Montserrat. We’d not heard a lot about
this little island except that about 2/3 of it was destroyed during a volcano
eruption that started in 1995 and went on for about 2 years. By the time we’d arrived, the customs office
was closed for the weekend so we weren’t able to go ashore. We spent one night in the somewhat rolly
anchorage and decided to continue on rather than wait until Monday.
Next stop, was Nevis.
Nevis is a traditionally Caribbean county. We found a great mooring spot in a well-protected
anchorage with a fabulous beach. We
explored the beach and then headed into town.
As it was a Sunday, the customs office wasn’t open nor were most of the
businesses (we did find a church about every 200 yards – seriously in a 45 minute
walk, I think we found a dozen). Again,
the people were so friendly and welcoming.
We did find Alexander Hamilton’s birthplace and museum so that was fun.
We left Nevis and planned to stop in St. Kitts. The anchorage that we would have used to dock
the boat prior to going to customs was so rough that we decided to skip the
island. It was adorable from our seaside
viewpoint and we’ll definitely stop next time we’re in the area.
Well, we’re pulling into Sint Maarten so I’ll have to fill you in on more later.
Until next post!
