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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