We spent time over these couple of days exploring the larger of the 2 islands that kiss each other at Pointe a Pitre to make up Guadeloupe. What we hadn’t realised was that they are geologically very different: what looks like a single arc of islands running from Trinidad to Puerto Rico and covering St Lucia, Martinique, Guadeloupe et all en route is actually 2 separate of arcs – an inner and an outer – that were created many millions of years apart through volcanic activity and tectonic plate movement. Thus the eastern island – Grande Terre – is about 30 million years older than the western island – Basse Terre – and much flatter as a consequence of erosion and geological activity.

The two islands have a navigable channel running between them, but only when they lift the two bridges for about half an hour at 0430 in the morning. Ali is not sure that she wants to take advantage of this short cut northwards!

We also lost a wheel trim at some point on the first day with the car (we think it was stolen by an when we returned the car, we found ourselves scouring the roadside for one that matched….we saw literally hundreds of them over the time we drove round the islands, but not one that looked the same as ours. Lots of cars have lost theirs, and we did wonder whether there was a business opportunity here, collecting and selling wheel trims back to the owners….

Just as the drivers here appear to be somewhat reckless, so do the dogs. There are thousands of feral dogs, and some that just have careless masters, and the carnage at the roadside is immense! The last time I can recall such scenes of canine massacre was in Spain 30 years ago, when dead dogs littered the carriageway.  It seemed much better when we spent time in the Iberian peninsula over the last couple of years, but Guadeloupe has the problem in spades today. Since the beasts are often big, if gaunt, you shudder to think what the impact on a small car feels like….

Les Chutes de Cabrit

Ali was very keen to see some of the rainforest, and the waterfalls that cascade down the island rely them in their natural habitat was fascinating. Huge tree ferns, airborne roots, banyan trees, heliconia, in a cathedral of deep and dense tropical forest dripping with water: the fact that we were half way towards the waterfall when a torrential downpour struck meant that we saw at first hand the speed at which damp water courses turned into fast running streams carving out the soil and stone.

It is suggested that Christopher Columbus saw these falls from well offshore when he was sailing round the coast, and knew immediately that he could rely on getting drinking water on Guadeloupe. The waterfall is spectacular, even at this time of year, and must be a phenomenon when the rainy season is in full swing.

Photographs

We had planned to work on the process of uploading pictures to the web diary when we transferred the ARC stuff onto the mailasail site, but things kept getting in the way – no good internet connection, faulty camera, need to resize the photos, and – let us be honest – sheer laziness.

In an exchange of emails the other day, our friend Mike Dingwall embarrassed us into resurrecting the intention, and hopefully turning it into action. With any luck, you should start to see a more colourful and illustrative blog hereafter!

Watergaw