Friday, February 1
Gene
had a pretty sleepless night - our anchor was dragging a bit after we
set it the evening before, which ultimately set us really close to
some of the surrounding sailboats. The boat directly behind us was a
$1M + monohull, so there was legitimate concern on our part. So Gene
decided to sleep in, and I went off to shore in the morning to
conquer the summit to Le Chameau which is the highest point in the
saints. There's a trail that goes to the top where there's a lookout
tower. The trail was pretty steep, but not too far, probably about 2
miles to the top. I only noticed two other hikers on the trail that
were descending as I was hiking up. The scenery on the way up to the
top wasn't anything special. There were a few families of goats that
I passed along the way, and some really cute baby goats. But the
views from the top were definitely worth it with sights of all the
surrounding islands of the Saints and Guadeloupe. It was also a
picture perfect day, with hardly a cloud in the sky. After taking a
bunch of pictures, I headed back down the trail and back to the boat.
Guadeloupe's volcano erupting
Looking down at the main town of Terre D'en Haut
Lookout tower at the top
Family of goats on the trail
Trailhead
Gene
and I went for a dive around Pain de Sucre in the afternoon. Pain de
Sucre is a 200-ft piece of rock that is joined to the main island by
a low strip of land. The rock continues below the surface and is a
beautiful reef that goes down to about 60 feet. We found a couple of
lobsters, and ended up taking one back to the boat (the other one was
too small).
Pain de Sucre
After
our dive, we showered, went to shore to clear out with customs and
grab a drink. Finding the place to clear out of customs was more
challenging here than in Deshaies since the cruising guide's
directions were incorrect. After asking a few vendors, we found a
cyber cafe that has a customs computer. The customs computer is an
easy way to clear in and out of the country, but unfortunately we
don't get our passports stamped. We checked out at the cyber cafe,
and then went on a search to find ice which was another adventure
since ice isn't sold in the supermarkets. We stopped into a few of
the shops to ask several vendors, and ended up in the residential
part of the island somehow trying to follow the directions we were
given. We finally walked into one store that looked like a meat and
cheese shop and specialty store, and the woman behind the counter
said that she did sell ice (and spoke English). We bought some of
her sausages and the ice, then headed back to the boat for the night.
No comments:
Post a Comment