Wednesday.  Wonderful walk in the gardens again, with some things we missed in dusk and visit and a great display from the Humming Birds.  They are so difficult to photograph. 

 

T

 

Ruby or Purple Throated Caribe, not showing his best as he is hiding in the shade.

 

 

Aristolochia, supposed to smell like rotting flesh, but not noticeably.

 

The Macaws were a bit put out because their area was being excavated to remove an old tree route, but they still posed for fab photographs. 

 

 

“What is going on around here?”

 

 

Skipper, sitting in the gardens at Deshaies.  Maybe he has had enough of plants and birds.

 

We also made the most of being on French territory with a visit to the bakery for a yummy patisserie, very fattening!  With all the electric gizmos on the boat, we are going to have to do a lot more swimming and walking to keep in shape or forego the “snackerrela” treats.  We then motor sailed to pigeon Island with the washing machine running and a plan to make water.  With the gusting winds from all sorts of directions, the boat was healing so much at times, we lost our nerve with the washing machine and had to suspend all domestic activities until we arrived.  Pigeon Island is in the Cousteau National Park, so snorkelling before dark was the priority, in the anchorage in the late afternoon.  Wonderful coral, but not as good as it was in Venezuela and the fish are not as numerous as they were all those years ago when we joined Sue and Scrap on Swaraj.  What a fantastic time that was and how lucky and privileged we were to have been there, as it is too hot a pirate spot to visit now. 

 

Thursday.  Another very disturbed night, with gusts from all directions, the wind generator screeching and the anchor alarm going off three times in all.  We did not drag, but it is quite wearing on the nerves and we are hoping there will be some moderation in the squally weather eventually.  We found an excellent Carrefour, the French do understand food, where a delightful French couple gave us some very good advice on components for rum punch. Back on board we quickly unloaded and then took the dinghy over to Pigeon Island for a serious snorkel.  Huge parrot fish of every colour and type, lots of other fish and reasonable coral, but it is a worry that this is a national park and the coral still looks depleted and nothing like as healthy as it did in Venezuela.  In the afternoon we snorkel and going from the boat to the shore we had a real treat with 7 turtles grazing on the grass around the boat, 2 of which surfaced within 3 feet of us as we swam over them.  It was an absolute gift. 

 

 

Sunset over Pigeon Island.

 

You might be interested to know that the washing is almost dry and we have made some water.  The weather is not conducive to drying on the guardrails or temporary washing line, as hanging it out is as good as performing a rain dance, so it has been draped around the shower room and guest cabin. 

 

Tomorrow, all being well, we are planning to go back to the Saints, which the Skipper rather fancies.

 

Alcedo