Guadeloupe

We left Simpson Bay in the company of Tempo at 5:30 am with our sights set on Deshaies Guadeloupe, pronounced (Day-ay). Of course the weather was not as predicted and there were times when we thought about stopping in Antiqua as the trip was very rolly. Large seas and not very comfortable at all. We plugged on as did Tempo who is a catamaran and rides differently then a monahull does. No one had a good trip. We landed in Deshaies at around 6:30 am the next morning and picked up one of the free mooring balls the town offers up. They seemed to be in good shape, just no pendant to pick up. Usually a mooring ball for those that do not know is a big bouy anchored to the sea floor usually in a large concrete block. Then on top of the mooring is a loop the has a rope attached to that. The rope or sometimes 2 ropes has loops on the ends that you pick up with your boat hook, run your own line through and then back to your boat. This one only had the mooring ball with about a 5 to 6 inch in diameter metal loop on top. No line to pick up so how does one put a rope through there. Very carefully.......it was decided I would maneuver the boat while Dirk laid on his belly on deck as to be as close as he could to the waterline, then we basically threaded the needle and did it on the first try. As usual, a few on lookers yet no one offered to help. Oh well, we were here in a peaceful little fishing village. Guadeloupe is a French country so we would still have those fresh baguettes, and we found a wonderful bakery right off the dinghy dock. Hows that for luck.....Dea Latis was here already as was Uno and Glass Slipper, all part of the Rat Pack. Dirk and David went to check in but found customs closed and locked up tight. Dave had been here for a couple days and could not check in. They really dont seem to mind here so we did not fret. At least we tried, so later that evening we headed to a little spot for a sundowner and free internet.

Dea Latis, Tempo, and of course Renegade toasting another landfall.

Sunset over the anchorage

A couple days later we along with Dave, Tanya, Jackie and David rented a van to go hike the volcano. It was about a 30 to 45 minute drive through twisty turns and up hills that seemed you might slip right off the side of. We elected Dave to drive as the only vehicle they had for us was a van that looked apparently like the busses there as people kept trying to flag us down to stop. Thats basically what you do when you want a ride on the bus, just wave em down. Sorry guys, were not a bus. We finally made it to the parking lot and everyone made sure we had a jacket, water, camera and snacks before we took off.

It says the hike is medium difficulty but I think they lied. Anyway you start off going through this lush rainforest where everything is so pretty.

Pretty pathways

Beautiful exotic flowers

Lots of blooming trees and exotic flowers. Soon the nice path gives way to dirt paths and rocks which are suppose to be paths. All the while you try to take in the sights around you but you must mind your footing. On the way up we were met by about 20 or more armed military men on the way down. This must be how they do their training but it was odd passing these men all armed to the tooth being from another country. We soon found ourselves in misty clouds where the air temp started to fall. My glasses had so much mist on them that I had to remove them. Yippie me, Im blind without them.

Not such a pretty little pathway

We made it

And finally we made it to the crater. Seems there was a bottleneck here as people had no clue where to go, left or right. You coulnt see anything so we guessed.

We went left and found a fence with this sign that said unauthorized access due to toxic gas. What do you think all the men did? Thats right climbed under the fence so they could see what what making that God awful smell like 30 dozen boiled eggs.

You can imagine how it smelled

They found it. It was a vent from the crater as you can see. They all held their breath they swear......we also climbed a bit more and found the crater itself although the clouds were so thick it was hard to see standing right next to it.

The crater

I tell you though, the smell that came from it smelled horrendous but the warmth felt nice. We poked around a bit more at the top before beginning our decent.

View from the top

Skinny little pathway

We all made it back down, no broken bones, no sprains but we would all be very sore the next day. We spent several days here looking around town, shopping the stores and eating baguettes.

Nice shot of town from the boat

One side of the bay

The other side

We loved it here and would love to come back one day. We did stay till the 19th when we finally had weather to make the trip down to Dominica. We left early morning and made our way to Roseau where upon entering the anchorage we were met by a boat boy who helped us tie up to his mooring. We did let him know we would only be staying till morning, gave him the $15.00 for the mooring and another $5.00 as a tip. We in turn got a good nights sleep aloth it was a bit rolly in the anchorage. Next morning at first light we slipped off the mooring and headed to Fort de France, Martinique.

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