15:57.389N 061:19.319W
Whisper
Noel Dilly
Wed 30 Jan 2013 02:34
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"Marie-Galante - 27th, 28th, 29th
January"
"27th January"
Who said that the winds were good to make
Marie-Galante? The wind gods saw fit to change the direction over
night! It was a grey overcast morning when we left our busy but pretty
anchorage. The Islet du Gosier is approximately 1/4 mile from the shore
and is obviously a favourite spot for many people from the main island of
Guadeloupe. Those without boats, or are just young and fit enough, swim
from the shore across the bay to the sandy island, so
a constant progression of heads, arms and legs can be seen going back and
forth, a somewhat hazardous experience with so many yachts arriving and
departing. Once out of the shelter of the island and it's reef, we laid
our course for the 16 miles to Marie-Galante and found the wind to be once
again on our nose! So in what we have now discovered to be Caribbean
Island sailing tradition, we motor sailed, taking turns at the helm. With
only five miles left to go to our destination and Noel at the helm, I had a
short doze in the cockpit, only to wake up to find us on our ear with plenty of
wind filling the sails and the engine off and our destination approaching
fast.
We arrived at St Louis, a huge beautiful blue
shallow bay, which we immediately found tranquil and
relaxing. The small town of St Louis is undergoing some road
improvements along the front but we walked along it enjoying the view back out
to sea and the quaint small square homes of the inhabitants. Some proud
housewives were outside sweeping their paths and gardens and greeted us
cheerfully, chatting away about the consistent dirt which arrived on their
paths. I spotted some pigs tethered and snuffling in the
undergrowth, as I tried to take a photograph or two, the owner standing
next to his truck invited us to come in so that I could get a closer
shot.
"28th January"
We thought that we would like to take one of
the several walks which the Forestry Department has developed. They
have evidently published a small booklet, which can be purchased from the
Tourist Office, if ever it opens. So far it has not and the locals raise
their eyes and shake their heads when we have asked when it opens.
We felt encouraged that it might open when the ferries arrive, but so far
we have been disappointed. We decided to try and find one of the trails
ourselves as it starts not far from St Louis. Sure enough as we walked
along the main road we spotted a sign pointing up a road to our left
to Les Source, the name of the trail. We wandered up the road, past many
sugar cane plantations and houses with either pigs or cows tethered
outside. There was plenty of grazing, rather like the marshes at
Brightlingsea, but no fences so all the animals were tethered, but had plenty to
eat and often a shady tree to lie down under. Each cow, had at least
one Cattle Egret to keep her company, some had several and many of them also had
a young calf lying close by in the shade.
We walked and walked through this tranquil
paradise, enjoying the peace and shade of the surrounding woods and its
bird population. Fortunately Marie-Galante is a fairly flat island so
there were no steep hills to climb in the heat. We walked until it was
time to turn back and about half way back along the side road we saw somebody
cutting over the flood plain towards the river. Here we found the
start of the trail, quite plainly marked by coloured blazes painted on the trees
and marker posts marking the path across to the forest. If only we
had noticed these on the way up the road, it was too late by now, so we
continued on our way back to St Louis. Despite not walking the trail
we had thoroughly enjoyed our time in the countryside, there had been plenty to
see and enjoy.
After a long day we decided to eat
ashore, quite forgetting that the island being French, not many shops or
restaurants would be open on a Monday evening. Our guide book had
recommended two good restaurants one at one end of the town and the other at the
other end. We walked to both and only found two other places open in
between them. Deciding to go the one of these which was on the beach,
we were encouraged to find two tables occupied with views opening
out directly across the moonlit bay. The evening was interesting, we were
welcomed by the chef, who was also the wine waiter, waiter,
and cashier. We settled down realising that with six meals to cook
and serve before ours, it would be a long evening, but with gentle music
playing and the tree frogs singing in the trees and the waves lapping on
the shore it did not matter. When the rain started to beat down on the tin
roof and we were getting splashed we just moved to the other side of the table,
that was before the electricity went off! We were all left sitting in the
darkness, even that did not matter, except that there was a growing
concern about our dinner! Five minutes later, the lights were back on
and the chef was back in the kitchen, having fetched and opened a bottle of
wine for us. After a second blackout, the young couple
were served their dinner, and the party of four had received their first
course. All the time the chef remained completely poised and
unflappable, quietly passing to and fro from the kitchen. Eventually
our dinner was served and although it was not the best meal we had
ever eaten it had been a pleasant and different
evening.
"29th January"
Today, we took an excursion around the island
expecting it to start as arranged at 9am on the jetty. We arrived and were
told that another party of 12 were expected. We decided to go and have a
cup of coffee at the Boulangerie on the corner at the end of the jetty.
One hour later we walked back along the jetty only to find that the boat
bringing the other people had still not arrived. Eventually they turned up
and we all climbed into the transport,10 into the mini bus and the remaining
four of us into a car. We then drove 50 yards down the jetty and stopped,
whereby the 12 all piled out to use the French style automatic cylindrical
Toilette, which necessitated the correct coinage to open the door and should
have automatically closed, but didn't so the poor incumbents had to push the
stiff mechanism closed. This took some time but eventually all 12 had
successfully escaped the cylinder and we were finally on our
way.
The whole island is reliant on its sugar cane
production, so there is sugar cane everywhere. Mainly it is used for their
rum production but they do also export it. This is done from a special
depot with its own jetty, but as the sugar cane is seasonal this depot
is only operational for three months of the year. The farmers
are currently trying to produce two crops per
year.
We visited the ruins of an ancient sugar
plantation and distillery called Habitation Murat. It was quite beautiful
and situated high above the sea. The main house, now restored as a small
museum, has wonderful views across the plantation and down to the
sea. As well as using a wind mill to grind the sugar
cane they also used a mill worked by animals, but they found that
they could not use horses as they soon became tired and oxen were too
slow, so finally they used mules for the task. Although this plantation
was exceptionally picturesque and the main house so grand, it was very
poignant to remember that this plantation was worked by 300 slaves.
We stopped off at the main town of Grand Bourg to
look at a church and we wandered into the local colourful market full of home
grown produce. I needed a green pepper and a few carrots, which I selected
and then had to wait five minutes whilst the very irate vendor had a furious
argument with a "yachtie" who was telling her the cost of the items he wished to
purchase based on prices he had paid on other islands. Once he had left,
she then spent sometime heatedly telling us her prices and comparing them with
the other stall vendors, she was very cross indeed. We happily gave
her 1.60 euro for our purchases and hurried back to our
driver.
The car which we were traveling in did not seem to
be running very well, the gearbox appeared a little suspect, so we were slightly
disturbed, when all of a sudden instead of following the mini bus as we had
been, we found ourselves hurtling up the streets out of the town only to come to
an abrupt halt on the edge of town and told to get out, as more petrol was
needed. The four of us got out and stood about, wondering what on earth
was going on. We were very relieved when the mini bus appeared and drew up
beside us. The rest of the party got out and we were led behind a half
constructed building, treading over various building debris to a shed
behind. This shed was in fact a small antique distillery, very messy and
sticky which produced a sugar cane syrup (Sirop) which we were able to
sample. We were then taken to a massive modern thriving Rum Distillery, in
contrast it was gleaming. The sugar cane plantation lined the
drive up to the distillery and heavy plant machinery was being used to grade and
flatten the sandy chalk drive. The original rather beautiful stone
distillery building stood empty with its renovated wind mill carrying a set
of sails stood high in front of the new shed with all its
latest stainless steel and copper pipes. The most amazing sight was
the vast open fermentation vats which were outside and solar
heated. Two of them were clean and empty, whilst the third was in the
process of being cleaned and the sludge pumped out.
We continued on our way and visited a beauty
spot called Gueule Grand Gouffre, a round sinkhole with a rim of about 200 feet
high and an arch at the bottom opening to the sea. We passed by several beautiful beaches lining the light
turquoise blue sea and a navigable river in a mangrove swamp, where one can hire
canoes and venture up the river for about 3/4 of a mile which we
thought might be an adventure for tomorrow.
Photographs: "Fermentation Vat", "Sugar Cane Grazing", "Country Home"
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