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Guadeloupe |
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March 24, 2008 Some Exploring & A Beautiful Waterfall |
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One could get used to this part of the vacation - waking up at 9:00 is QUITE nice! We enjoyed a yummy breakfast that was a mix of Caribbean, French, and American: steak and eggs with croissants, pain au chocolat, tropical fruits, mango juice, and strong French-styled coffee! After we ate, I ventured into the great experiment for me, no beard! As my beard had gotten progressively greyer and greyer, I had been curious about what it would be like without. I figured that this would be a great opportunity to try it out. If I didn’t like it, I could always grow it back. So after a bit of nervous hesitation, I took it ALL off! |
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The end result (after going through three razors) was quite weird for me—not a face I was used to seeing (I hadn’t seen my face with no beard or mustache since 1988!), although it did make me look a bit younger.
After looking at our guide books and some of the tourist brochures we had picked up on Saturday, we decided to start the morning (late morning at this point) by heading south past Deshaies to the volcanic beach of Plage de la Malendure. Located at the “entrance” to the Reserve Jacques Cousteau, an underwater natural park with incredible scuba diving and snorkeling, the beach was about twenty miles south of us, but took us almost ninety minutes to drive to because of the mountainous driving and all the local traffic out enjoying the Easter Monday holiday. The worst part of the drive was that by the time we got there, Victoria, Chloe and I were all suffering various degrees of motion sickness because of the curvy roads and all the switchbacks.
The beach was black because of the volcano, which was quite unique. Unfortunately, whatever beauty was present was covered up by all the flotsam and jetsam (natural and otherwise) that was scattered across the beach. This was quite a surprise since the both of the guide books we had been using had listed the beach among the best of on the island. I guess they were referring to the proximity of the beach to the diving and snorkeling on Pigeon Island. We had lunch in one of the little restaurants. The experience was mixed. The food was fantastic, but the service was abominable. Even if you adjust it for the slower Caribbean pace, it was ludicrous! |
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La Plage de la Malendure—notice the black sands |
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Making origami flowers while waiting for our lunch |
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Our resident bookworms! |
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Getting used to Daddy’s face |
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About three hours later (no, there is no embellishment here!), we got back in the cars to head up into the hills to see one of Guadeloupe’s beautiful waterfalls. With lots of mountains and plenty of soft rains each day, there was no shortage of water coming down the hills. Our little Ford struggled to get up the hills, but we eventually made it to the park and walked quite gingerly down to the little river that was fed by the waterfall. |
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Carefully making our way to the waterfall |
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The waterfall was beautiful - well worth the effort to get to it! |
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We spent about an hour in the waters. It was absolutely freezing when we got in, but felt great later as our bodies go used to it. Victoria, Estelle, and Chloe went swimming around in the shallow part of the pool while Pascal, Marie-Laure, and I did our best to climb up the rocks without killing ourselves so we could jump off the rock walls into the pool below. |
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Making our way into the waterfall’s pool |
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Having a great time at the waterfall! |
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We made our way back to the cars and then home through the holiday crowds who were enjoying the beautiful weather. We decided to stop off in Deshaies for dinner instead of going back to the house. We went to a restaurant that Kathie and Mélanie found on the first night that was right on the harbor called Barbuto - one of the best restaurants we found on the island. It’s safe to say that we would have stayed well into the night if had not had to worry about getting the girls to bed. The food was great, they had a great wine list, there was a beautiful view looking out onto the harbor, and the service was really good. A definitely recommendation for the next time you’re in “downtown” Deshaies! |
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Tomorrow: A day doing NOTHING!!! |
