Photos.......& Easter Weekend at Point-a-Petre in Guadeloupe
Barada
Paul Downie
Fri 28 Mar 2008 17:04
all sizes coming and going over the weekend causing wash galore for us at
anchor - there is no enforcement of the 5knot limit! Small cruise ships
squeeze through the narrow river entrance to dock at the Town Port. In the
Marina there are a plethora of shops and restaurants with a lively eating
area set around the Polygon Basin.
On Sunday we sailed to the Ilet du Gosier with its old-style lighthouse just
2nm from the anchorage. We snorkelled on the reef but strong winds
persisted through the night and it was very rolly onboard so Monday morning
we sailed back to Pt Fouillole anchorage.
We cleared Customs on Tuesday and anchored south of the Riviere Salee bridge
for the night. The River is a short-cut through the centre of Guadeloupe
south-north or vice versa (imagine it as the body of the butterly, that is
the shape of Guadeloupe).
At 0500 early Weds we wait for the Bridge to open along with another sailing
yacht and motor-yacht. It is dark and cloudy with only a brief sight of the
half-moon.....at 05.10 the bridge opens and the lights change to green, so
we slowly motor through the double-bridge structures into the river passage
following the lit buoys to the 3rd bridge just past the airport. Here we
wait a further few minutes before clearance to proceed through the last
bridge opening. Into the mangrove lined river we glide just as dawn begins
to break......small midges everywhere so not a place to linger.....white
egrets fly by in small and large groups just inches above the river, their
white feathers almost luminous in the half-light hundreds and hundreds of
them flying towards us, a memorable sight. We clear the mangroves and enter
a large expanse of flat water with small islets and reefs which we meander
through still following the buoyed channel - by approx 0700 we enter the
Caribbean Sea and the winds gradually increase from F2 to F5 as we make our
way north to Antigua......
Now adding a few pictures, hopefully in some order:
- P&R Jungle (disabled) path to Waterfall
- Waterfall 'Cascade aux Ecrevisses'
- Volcano Soufriere, view from
- Trecking down Volcano Soufriere
- Thermal Pool, basecamp Soufriere
- Chutes du Carbet
