Day Three
Beez Neez now Chy Whella
Big Bear and Pepe Millard
Mon 13 Apr 2009 23:48
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Day Three - The South of
Grande Terre to its most easterly point.
Despite heavy rain all night and
waking to it lamming down. Skipper spoke: I know today
is planned as beach exploring along to the east, well we have the car, we're
using it. "Rightey-oh Captain, I'll pack the picnic" I so enjoy
sitting on a beach in the pouring rain or having a picnic in a sweaty car -
still off we went.
   Just as Skipper said It's not too bad now we have got going - the heavens
opened for all their might. Skipper began to question my reasoning for a DVD
fest at home.
   I'm afraid Le
Gosier got photos taken from the car, although we did get out when we saw
a fantastic bakery - French stick, cakes and an ice pop each.
   Sainte Anne
with people swimming in fine rain, we went for a wander and saw huge family
gatherings - but this time under brollies.
     The first beach we came to at Sainte-Francois, popular with holiday makers and locals, a
tree showing how its roots hold the sand in place.
  It showed us once again - we never
know what we will see next. Great family gathering, in a
sandy car park, pots, pans, travel cot and fun. A man
trotting down the main street on his steed, lit spliff in
mouth.
    The marina, the
capitainerie, a building site and the finished result led us to
immediately like this town, it has a friendly and welcoming feel about
it.
Chris Doyle in his guide book says -
"Saint-Francois lies eight miles east of
Sainte-Anne. A well-protected reef anchorage lies between the town and some
large hotels. Although the deep water anchorage in this area is quite small, the
reef encloses miles of turquoise water, giving a wonderful feeling of space. Add
the municipal marina and you get an area that is attractive to yachts people,
yet just far enough off the beaten track not to be crowded by yachts.
Saint-Francois has two harbours: a fishing port in front of the town, currently
for small fishing boats, though they have built what looks like a big ferry
dock, and a larger yacht marina to the east. The outside anchorage off the yacht
marina can easily take yachts of up to eight foot draft......... The municipal
marina, low key and quiet.............It has about 120 berths and they will
always find room for another boat......you may be lucky and catch the port
captain in the marina office sometime from 07:00 to 17:00".
   Arriving in Grande
Saline via a long white road down the middle of the isthmus I realised
how seriously I took my flora and fauna. Yes Dear but DO
stop dribbling.
   Can anyone name
this spider for me. He is about an inch by a half, and his legs are a
good inch, he swung his web back and forth when he thought I was interfering
with him. I found a similar picture on the internet but sadly it didn't say what
he was called. The sandy beach here was stunning and
we settled for our picnic.
 This cloud overhead and over La Desirade rained hard to the right of us whilst
brilliantly sunny to the left.
La Desirade was discovered by
Columbus on his second voyage in 1493. It was first occupied by the French in
1725 and for more than two hundred years it was a leper colony finally closing
in 1958. It had a leper hospital built on it in 1930 closing in 1954. It is a
coral island today making its living from tourists, yacht visitors and
fishing.
  The beauty of this place and the
colour of the sea is stunning.
   The rough basalt rock shows coral embedded, salt crystals form in the holes and you can
clearly see patterns formed by the once molten
lava.
   Once we had packed the picnic stuff
in the car it was time to climb up to the cross that
dominates the skyline. Once there we both placed our hand on it for
Kate who faces her operation on the
23rd of this month, God Bless and all love and best wishes.
  The views from the
top just beautiful.
   En route back to the car, we walked
along the beach, I stopped to take a picture of this pure
white sea plant, the first time I had seen it. Beside were some pretty snails - white with black dots and black with white
dots. As I got closer to take the photo a breaker came over me, I returned to
the car soggy and we had to have the de-mist on full pelt. I choose to stay very silent at this point. We
took a detour off the main road on our return trip via Morne l'Escade, reminding
us of St Lucia, very high with deep gorges. And a pretty
orange house perched high.
   Time to fit in a quick "one careful owner" AND a bits and bobs collection before
getting back to the marina.
 This yacht from
Finland is seven or eight boats down from Beez Neez, it is a happy boat
and a busy boat. We have counted three car seats, four buggies, two prams, a
variety of life-jackets, babies, toddlers and a gaggle of adults. The wet on the
pontoon shows they had a lot more rain than we did as proven by the bath depth
of water in our dinghy.
ALL IN ALL a great day after
a shaky wet start.
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