Sunday, February 3, 2013

Terre D'en Bas, The Saints


Saturday, February 2

We sailed across the channel to second largest island in the saints, Terre D'en Bas, where we heard there were many great hiking trails. We anchored in the only anchorage on the island, Anse Fideling, where there was only one other boat – much different from all the other anchorages we had been to in The Saints which were almost over crowded. After anchoring, we packed a bag with our hiking shoes and headed to shore. The small bit of beach at the anchorage wasn't large enough for the dingy, and the rest of the coast was covered in sharp rocks, so we decided to take the dingy to the bay east of where we were anchored where the ferry dock is located. We were happy to see a floating dock and the fishermen said it was fine for us to leave the dingy there. So we headed off down the main road of Terre D'en Bas. There are a few blocks of houses leading off the main road which served as the only residential area on the island. The road ended at the Grand Anse beach which faces east overlooking the other islands of the Saints. At the end of the beach, we saw a couple of trailheads for hiking trails that traverse different parts of the island. We decided to grab some lunch and then come back to tackle one of the hikes.

Although we had passed a few bar/restaurant places along the road on the walk down to the beach, there was only one that appeared to be open and serving other customers, and lucky for us they accepted credit cards since we had spent all of our Euros. After our lunch of lambi (conch) and fish, we headed back to the trailhead, and decided to take the trail that lead inland and up to the highest point of the island. The trail had a boulder field which you climb to get up to the highest point, then it descended into the forest. The trail in the forest seemed a lot like trails we've hiked in Georgia. The trail was really well marked, so very easy to follow, and a few of the other trails on the islands merged with it towards the end. Eventually we ended up on an old road that runs through the middle island and back down to the main road. There were some pretty spectacular views on the hike down this road, one of which provided a view of the bay where Kalalau was anchored and the other islands of the Saints in the background. We finally met back up with the main road, got back in the dingy, and headed back to the boat for the night.  

Grand Anse 
(View of the other islands in the background)

Trailhead

Pictures from the hike...




Termite's nest


 

View of our anchorage and other Saints islands from the top 



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