Our Great Adventure : Guadeloupe

We're currently in South America, but catching up on some of the very neglected blogging from Season 1!

Leaving Montserrat we had a view of the eruption that most tourists don't get to see. The brown mud floes have significantly extended the east side of the island making our charts useless and requiring us to leave lots of extra room between us and the new shoreline.

After a couple of squalls and motoring the last ten miles through dead calm, we arrived in Guadeloupe. Deshais (day-hay) is a lovely little town on the north west side of the island so we chose to make it our base for exploring. There's not a lot to do in Deshais itself but Guadeloupe is a nature-lover's paradise!

We set out with some fellow cruisers and quickly found the Route de la Traversee highway which winds amongst towering trees, ferns, and bamboo, with lush rainforest and waterfalls.

After a delicious tour of a rum distillery with no limits on taste testing, we discovered the French-Caribbean treat, the "bokit". This is essentially a fried sandwich filled with all sorts of delicious things: fish, meat, grilled veggies, and sauces. Amazing!

We had such a great time renting the car the first day that we decided to rent a car again and do some more exploring. I believe all good hikes, especially ones in French islands, should start with a trip to the bakery. Once we had backpacks full of cheese and bread we set off!

Our second day of driving led us to the trailhead for La Soufriere, the largest volcano in the Lesser Antilles, and an active one at that. The hike was a fairly challenging trail that led up into the clouds with the terrain altering between rainforest, lush hillsides, and nothing but rock and tiny bushes at the top. The coolest part of the hike was reaching the chilly summit and seeing the volcanic gasses escaping from the tiny crevasses in the rocky ground.

Summit of La Soufriere

Looking down to the ocean and villages below one thinks back to the devastation we just saw on Monserrat...

You could probably spend all season just hiking in Guadeloupe, but a favourable wind beckoned and we left for the islands of Les Saintes.

Les Saintes are a group of small islands an easy afternoon's sail off the southern tip of Guadeloupe. If someone said French Caribbean, the tiny village of Terre de Haut is what I would picture.

Les Saintes

Beautiful houses with clay tile roofs, flowers spilling out of window boxes onto the street, the smell of fresh bread wafting through the alleyways, and little goats roaming around foraging for some delicious greens. Add to the mix several trails to explore, a couple of stunning beaches, and a refreshing pool we could use with the purchase of one cold drink and you've got the perfect place to spend a few sunny days. And if all the hustle and bustle becomes overwhelming, you can take a mooring ball at one of the quieter areas, like Isle a Cabrit to do some swimming and snorkelling.

It was very difficult to leave Guadeloupe, but we knew an even more incredible island lay just around the corner...