Pigeon Island

1/31/13

We spent 3 days at the mooring at the Island of Terre Den Haut, did a little exploring on land and really enjoyed the town Bourg De Saintes.  We also enjoyed frolicking for 2 mornings in a row with a pair of dolphins that frequent the mooring area.  I believe it was a mother and her young, I was able to swim alongside them close enough to touch (although I did not), this was really special as I had not been this close in the water to these beautiful mammals before, very very cool.

We decided to move over to Ilet A Cabrit, a small island just west of where we were moored, we spent 2 nights there.  I went for a hike to the top there was the remnants of Fort Josephine.  Along the way there were numerous goats and it seemed rather sparse in vegetation for foraging, note sure of their future fate but it did not seem as though there was much to support them.  

Overlooking the mooring area at Ilet A Cabrit

Remnants of Fort Josephine

"Feed Me"

Looking towards Terra Den Haut

Reservoir at the fort and roof as a catchment system

Spent one day checking out several snorkeling sites around the islands, the best we found was an area around a marker between Ilet A Cabrit and our mooring at Terre Den Haut, and on the southwest end of Ilet A Cabrit.  We decided we really like the Saintes and would certainly make this a stop if we return here.

On Monday the 28^th we left early morning north with a reefed main and partial jib, winds ENE 12-16 gusts 18-20. It was a nice sail, we stayed close to land once we crossed the passage between the Saintes and Gudeloupe.  We arrived mid-day at the Pigeon Island anchorage home to the Cousteau National Park.  So as you may guess the snorkeling here is excellent including the area near we anchored along the north shore.  There are also numerous and friendly turtles everywhere.  I must say this is the mot popular snorkel/dive area we have yet to encounter, there are 5 or 6 dive operations and they are busy all day long.  We have explored just about every snorkeling area since we have been here and will continue for a couple of more days before heading to Deshaies which will be our next jumping off point to another Island yet to be determined.  We have been waiting out the weather which has been high winds and squalls but we are enjoying this well protected anchorage.  Wifi has been difficult and there is not much for services for cruisers here.
Stay tuned 
Elizabeth

Southwest end of Guadeloupe, note lighthouse on the point

Beach area at Pigeon anchorage before the crowds, very busy beach/waterfront.

Pigeon Island and Petite Isle, great snorkeling

Moving North

1/24/13

Before leaving Roseau we enjoyed going to and snorkeling at Champagne Beach to the south.  Very cool as there are gas bubbles coming from the sea floor and it looks like champagne bubbles.  This is of course another phenomenon resulting from volcanic activity.  The water around the bubbles was much warmer than the surrounding water, the reef in the area was ok but nothing to write home about.

Bubbles at Champagne Beach

That afternoon we ended up going into town for the opening parade for Dominica's Carnival which lasts a month.  It was a lot of fun and glad we were there for it.  There were steel drum bands, school flag twirlers, people dressed up in all kinds of costumes.  There were also several float queens of all ages and they even had plus size queens.  And the usual political statements.

Sunday morning we went into the dock to top off water and fuel and then sailed north to Salisbury, winds were anywhere from 0-22kts.  We picked up a free mooring courtesy of East Caribe Divers.  This is a nice spot, we had stopped here on the trip down, we went on several snorkeling adventures much of the north side of the bay that I had not done before.

View from our anchorage in Salisbury

Monday we left mid-day after some more snorkeling, had same wind as previous day. We arrived in Prince Rupert Bay, anchored in almost the exact location as we had on our trip down.  Tuesday it rained steadily in the morning and when it cleared Stan and I went to Fort Shirley and hiked from there to a view point looking north towards Douglas Bay.

Overlooing Prince Rupert Bay from Fort Shirley

Douglas Bay to the north of Fort Shirley

View of Prince Rupert Bay anchorage from the Purple Turtle Beach Club

Wed. we were on the move again and headed for The Saintes is which part of and on the south side of Guadeloupe.  We had a great sail reefed main, full jib with winds 18-22 kts and a gale of 24-28 at one point we were going 10 kts which is way above hull speed, current helped us with that. This is a new spot for us that we skipped on the way down, it is a french territory so we are back in the land of baguettes. This is a small group of islands and a very beautiful clean little town.  It get over run daily by day visitors coming in on the ferry or cruise ships of various types and sizes, Stan said the day time population reminded him of Catalina Island. 

Looking north towards Guadeloupe from mooring area at the Saintes

From mooring looking towards the town

Stan took a lot of photos today when we walked around town which I will post a few of when he gets them to me.  We will likely be here another day or 2 and then head north along the east coast of Guadeloupe. Stay tuned and take care.

Elizabeth

The Boiling Lake

1/18/13

Finally after a couple of false starts made it to the "Boiling Lake" as mentioned before the 2nd largest in the world.  The group I ended up going with was from a schooner from Maine with a couple of dozen college students ages 20-21.  Being "the old lady" of the group I was concerned about whether I would be left in the dust or not.  Fortunately that was not the case as there was one other student happy to have someone else along "sucking wind" at times  The weather was a mixed bag but generally good, the rain we did have did not last long, the wind was very strong in some locations and it was quite cool at times as was expected. 

View from the trail early on during the hike

We set off about 8:00am as one large group, our guides were Sea Cat and Bamboo.  Sea Cat spent a lot of time sharing information about the history, geology, vegetation, trees, wildlife and birds in the area. It is interesting to note that Dominica is the youngest of the islands in the Caribbean and is still growing due to volcanic activity.  It was nice as Sea Cat stopped often which made the ascents & descents (of which there were 3) easier for some of us.  The first real break he shared some fresh squeezed orange juice at the highest elevation of the trip.  Then we made the descent down to the "Valley of Desolation".  At this point there were several areas of boiling water, sulfur and steam being released.  Sea Cat gave us all facials here using the mud which was clay like material.  While he was having fun painting our faces, he had placed a bag of eggs in one of the holes where there was boiling water and shared hard boiled eggs with each of us, it was very cool.

Looking down over a ridge, very steep.

Juice break at the highest point

The Valley of Desolation is behind me. What looks like fog is steam and sulfur gases.

Hiking down to the Valley of Desolation

Still working our way down

Below video of me slipping and falling my way down to the Valley of Desolation. Note to self: do not try videoing while negotiating down steep slippery trail, everyone got a good chuckle.

Sea Cat giving us a geology lesson.

Sea Cat giving facials

My first facial ever.

Escaping sulfur and boiling water, this hole is similar to the one Sea Cat boiled our eggs in.

White deposits on rocks in stream allows for notes to be written

Sea Cat makes a cup out of a leaf and captures spring water and gives us all a good drink.

From there we set off for the last leg of the journey to the boiling lake, descending more for another ascent.  Just before we got to the boiling lake one of the students Ian sprained his ankle and I being the only one with a walking stick gave it to him to make the rest of the journey.  We got to the boiling lake around noon and Sea Cat made lunch for everyone,  and enjoyed the scenery.  Fortunately there was ice available for Ian's ankle which helped him a lot, I was pretty concerned about him getting back out.  It was very impressive site no doubt and the photos do not do justice especially with all the steam or fog created made it hard to get a really good photo.

Finally made it to the Boiling Lake

Videos of the Boiling Lake

I opted to have a quick lunch and get back underway before my muscles stiffened up.  It was more of a free for all on the return trip, with everyone going back at their own pace.  There was a spot just below the Valley of Desolation with pools of hot water and most of the students stop for a good soaking.  Essentially I was alone most of the return hike which I found peaceful and surprisingly I was the first one to return around 3:45 pm.  The estimated time for doing this hike is 6-8 hours so we did it in the allotted time frame.  The return location is at the Titou Gorge and most everyone enjoyed a swim there before boarding the buses back to town.

One of many sets of steps after leaving the Boiling Lake. The trail had steps put in 10 or 12 years ago and I could not imagine being able to do this hike with out them due to steepness and mud.

A couple of the students enjoying a hot pool and cigars

Looking back down another steep set of steps

View from the highest elevation on the return, the weather had cleared for these views

Same location as above, note the fog in the middle of the photo is coming from the boiling lake.

Photo from same location as previous 2 photos

Titou Gorge

Another photo of the gorge.

Entrance to the gorge, a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean 2 was filmed here.

Photo looking across the valley on the bus trip back

I am glad I did the trip although a little on the sore side it was definitely worth it and Sea Cat is definitely a great guide to hook-up with, my cost was $40 US but it was a large group, smaller groups it could cost $50. The following link is a virtual tour and description:
http://www.avirtualdominica.com/thelake.cfm

That is all for now, we may be moving further north tomorrow of Sunday so stay tuned.
Elizabeth