Guadeloupe’s two main islands are shaped like the wings of a butterfly and joined together by mangrove swamps. Grande-Terre, is the eastern wing and Basse-Terre the west.
Guadeloupe was ‘discovered’ by Columbus on November 14th, 1493. It was inhabited by Caribs who called it Karukera (Island of Beautiful Waters). The Spanish made two attempts to settle here in the early 1500’s but were driven off by fierce Carib resistance. Finally in 1604 they abandoned their claim to the island leaving it to the Caribs,
In 1635 the French set sail to establish the first European settlement on Guadeloupe. They landed on the shores of Basse-Terre, drove the Caribs off the island and by 1674 a slavery based plantation system was well established. The British invaded Guadeloupe several times and developed the port of Pointe-a-Pitre.
In 1763 British occupation was ended with the signing of the treaty of Paris where they relinquished French claims in Canada for the return of Guadeloupe. During the chaos of the French revolution the British, once again, invaded. In response France sent soldiers under the command of a black nationalist, Victor Hugues. He freed and armed the Guadeloupe slaves. On the day the British withdrew, Hugues went on the rampage and killed 300 royalists many of them plantation owners. It marked the start of a reign of terror. Hugues was responsible for the deaths of more than 1000 colonists and as a consequence of his attacks on US ships; the USA declared war on France.
We arrived at Pointe-a-Pitre, which from the sea looks pretty uninviting; a concrete jungle of high-rises and traffic. This hides a centre city of old colonial buildings and palm-fringed streets. Pointe-a-Pitre was formed in 1654 by a Dutch Jew named Peter. He had been exiled from Brazil and began a fish market on an undeveloped harbour-side jut of land. It became known as Peter’s Point and eventually grew into the settlement of Pointe-a-Pitre.
Our destination was the dive shop ‘Nitrogen’, the only one in the area that services dive equipment. We had not had the opportunity to service our equipment in over a year and it was beginning to show with minor problems. We loaded the whole lot up and took the dinghy into the marina. Once again we had a mild language problem, asking in French brought us no closer to our destination. Finally we found a couple who spoke some English and seemed to be divers as they knew exactly what we were asking about. They gave us directions but explained it was a half day holiday so everything was closed. Muttering and cursing we went back to the boat, we could have stayed a day longer in The Saintes. We had also hoped to have the equipment back by the next day so we could make our date at Pigeon Island for Andre’s birthday.
The next morning bright and early we took the equipment in and explained we had to leave Guadeloupe that evening and could he have it all done. To his credit he agreed we could pick it up at 17h00 just before they closed. Birthday shopping was on the cards and we caught a bus into town and then to a huge shopping complex called Carrefour. Despite a store the size of a large Pick and Pay called Decathlon that sells only sports equipment I could not find items on the birthday list. How frustrating! Back to the marina we collected our gear and found a birthday item in the nearby chandlery so I could relax, a little.
We had two options to get to Pigeon Island, either take the river Salee that divides the wings of the island or go around the Southern Point and up the other side. Although the river was tempting we had heard there were cases of running aground and also the bridges to pass through opened at 0430 and 0500 daily, only. So if we missed one, we were stuck and we had a party to get to. J
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| Birthday Boy! |
So we sailed South and around the point anchoring off of Marina Rivierre Sens for the night. The next morning Sunday was Andre’s birthday and he wanted to skype his Mum. We took the dinghy into town to find everywhere closed. Restaurant le Sens was busy opening and we asked the waitress / manager (all in French of course) if they had wifi and did they serve coffee? She said she could make us coffee in 10 mins or so but that she didn’t have the password to get into the wifi. Our sad faces prompted her to call her boss to try and get it but had no luck. I then explained it was Andre’s birthday and he wanted to speak to his mother in Africa. She wished him and told us not to move to sit and wait she would sort it out. She then sent one of the other workers to her home, which seemed to be close by, to fetch her own computer with her dongle (internet connection) for us to use. Thank you Emillia. This was all done, by the way, in broken French and a smattering of Portuguese, she was Spanish speaking.
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| Tallies, Jeanne and Birthday Boy. |
Having chatted to Maggie, we set off for Pigeon Point and who should be passing out to sea but Johan (Tallies) and Jeanne on Southern Blue. They had a date for a braai on a boat for someone’s birthday. J
We had a wonderful evening, chicken on the braai, rum and lime in the glasses and lots of laughs. Thanks to Tallies and Jeanne for helping make a great birthday evening.
Monday was snorkel day. Pigeon Island is home to the Jacques Cousteau underwater marine park. We took the dinghy over early anchored it in the shallows and took to the water. WOW!!! This is the most amazing dive / snorkel site in the Caribbean. It is like diving in an aquarium. The fish have no fear and swim lazily beneath you watching you watching them. Huge Queen Trigger fish, schools of Black Durgon, Spotted Drumfish in their black and white, Spotted Morey Eels peeking from crevices in the corals. The triangular shaped Smooth and Spotted Trunkfish, The Smooth black with white spots and the Spotted one, white with black spots are one of my favourite. The shy spotted Porcupinefish with his huge eyes pause to watch you swim over. Schools of the white and yellow Sergeant Major fish part to let you join them as you swim through. I love becoming part of a school, you dive down and swim into the middle of the school it opens to let you in and then closes around you, close enough to touch but with a wiggle of their tail they keep out of your reach. Stoplight Parrotfish compete with the Triggerfish for tasty bit of coral to chew on. Underwater you can hear the crunch of their jaws and they gnaw on the coral heads. Another of my favourites is the Peacock Flounder. This fish is almost completely flat, when lying still on the bottom it blends in perfectly, projecting from its top surface is a fin and eyes. It looks as if it is a fish lying on its side and will get depth when it turns upright, but of course it doesn't.
This says nothing of the coral gardens, Sea Fans, Sea Rods, Sea Plumes, Sponges, Brain corals and the pot shaped “Touch-me-nots” vie for place around a statue of Jacques Cousteau. It is said divers who touch the statues head have good luck and good diving the rest of their underwater lives. We should have lots. J
We had decided with the snorkelling so good we had to scuba. The next morning bright and early we lifted anchor and motored to the Island. Only about 10 mins from where we had been anchored but with scuba gear it is easier to take the mother-ship. Geared up and ready we entered the water, only to discover that the high pressure pipe from the tank to my BC (Buoyancy control jacket) looked as if someone had attacked it with a pin and was leaking air at an alarming rate. Dive had to be abandoned. Frustration reigns. It was over an hours ride on three busses to get back to Pointe-a-Pitre to Nitrogen who had serviced the equipment. We had no choice, there are no other service shops on the island and we had paid a small fortune for the service. We moved the boat back to our original anchorage, had a quick shower and we hit the road.
We finally got back at about 18h30 and as we passed Southern Blue on our way back to the boat they hailed us to join them for a drink and dinner. Life savers; we were tired and cooking was the last thing on my mind. Relaxing with good friends helped the frustrations of the day pass and we turned in early.
Southern Blue was leaving the following morning back to Dominica where they were collecting friends flying in from South Africa. We bid them a sad farewell and then moved the boat back to the mooring at Pigeon Island.  |
Rubbing Jacques head for luck. |
Kitted up and ready to dive we submerged only to discover my DV (Demand valve you breathe through when underwater) was leaking water, so I was breathing over a puddle of water. There was no way I was giving up again and no way we were going back to Nitrogen so I completed the dive using my emergency DV. What an incredible experience. The diving was awesome. We did some underwater Salaam’s to Jacques and gave his head a good rub to ensure our diving troubles were a thing of the past. Andre did a MacGyver on my DV between dives and it was good for the second dive. Diving done we decided we would move to the next anchorage being Dashies (pronounced Day-ay: go figure; I told you French was a weird language, I mean how the hell do you get Day-ay out of Dashies??)
As we approached Dashies we were hailed on channel 16 on the VHR radio. Our German friends Peter and Helga on Twiga had heard we were on our way into Dashies and invited us for dinner with them. A super evening, but after two dives and a long day we decided it was time to go home when I started falling asleep at the table. Sorry Peter and Helga. L J
The next morning we found a local dive shop with an owner who could speak English! So we explained the problem with my DV and he volunteered to send it to Point Pitre with his colleague. So luckily now our dive equipment is all good!
A hike described as “a cool, shady scramble” up the Dashies River appealed to us and we set off early. We are not sure about their description; it appears deceivingly flat as you wander along the banks of the river. Frequently the bank disappears under water and rocks and you are forced to climb over them. Just over an hours and halfs hike you come to a bend in the river where the road joins the river. Thirty minutes further up the river disappears into a giant cave like gully. At the back of the “cave” the water runs over a huge rock cascading into a shallow pool. After that walk we had no choice but to take full advantage and submerge and cool down before enjoying the lunch we had brought with. The path back along very steep roads took about 20 minutes and gave us an idea of how high we had climbed.
The next day was R & R. We walked to Grande Anse beach where we tanned and swam, reading our books and chilling. We were not keen to walk all the way back but discovered we had missed the last bus. No problem hitch-hiking has always been my last resort and we caught a lift from a young Frenchman visiting from Paris.
Another two days on anchor catching up on boat chores and filling our water tanks and Antigua was calling.
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