Diving Aure Thomas and Pointe Ferry, Deshaies, Guadeloupe

Today we went on the dive trip we mentioned booking a couple of days back. We were really looking forward to the dives, especially because our cruising guide had made the diving sound so great here. It turned out that the diving was nice, but not anywhere near as good as we had expected. Unfortunately, we had a nightmarish experience with the dive company. We’ll start by telling you about the good stuff, the dive sites, first, then go into the saga about the dive company.

Visibility was fairly good, and we were told today is a bad day and it is usually clearer. It was gloomy and raining hard, so there wasn’t a lot of sunlight getting down into water, and there may have been runoff from the shore. The dive sites were Continue reading

Waterfall and The Mammal Park in Basse Terre, Guadeloupe

Today Eric’s arm was looking less swollen, so we didn’t bother going to the doctor. Phew! We went back to Basse Terre. This time we took the road that bisects the middle of the island. When we first got on the road, there was a lot of sugar cane fields and a few pockets of housing, but within a few minutes of driving, the land suddenly appeared untouched and we knew we had entered the national park that encompasses a large amount of the center of Basse Terre.

As we were driving along, we saw a sign for a wheel chair accessible waterfall. A super easy hike to a pretty viewpoint was irresistible, so we pulled over into the small, muddy parking lot, where there was only two other cars. It was indeed a pretty short walk on a paved path through lush rainforest to the waterfall. It is a pretty viewpoint, but nothing phenomenally spectacular.

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Across the street was Continue reading

Exploring Basse Terre and the Coffee Museum

This morning we once again said our goodbyes. Colin spent the day puttering around Kosmos and the marina, spending most of his time reading and enjoying the sun between bursts of rain until it was time to take a cab to the airport. Eric and Christi went for a drive to check out Basse Terre.

From Pointe a Pitre we took the highway across Salt River over to the Basse Terre side, then took the coastal road south. The top of the mountains were enshrouded in a thick cloud, and as the road took us higher and lower, we’d pass in and out of the cloud cover. Inside the cloud cover it was cool and damp. Outside the cover it was idyllic temperatures. It rained on and off. We would occasionally see glimpses of the ocean through the clouds.

The entire southeast coast of the island looks to be Continue reading

Exploring Point a Pitre and Gosier

Yesterday at lunch we had scanned through our e-mail messages quickly looking for anything urgent. This morning we actually read through all the messages, which took hours. We also did a little tidying around the boat. Colin packed and got ready for his flight. It didn’t seem like we had done much, but suddenly the morning was gone.

At lunch time, we went to another restaurant within the marina complex. The food was Continue reading