Tamaran to Saint Isles
Trip Start
Oct 14, 2006
1
2
5
Trip End
Oct 21, 2006
Terre des Hauts, Guadeloupe
Monday, October 16, 2006
We departed at 7am and were greeted by a heavy down pour while getting on board. Our wet heads were happy to find strong cups of coffee waiting for us on arrival. A few minutes after departing, the clouds cleared and the sun poured on us for the entire 2 1/2 hour tour down to the Iles. We arrived in the harbour of a typical village of about 1600 residents with gingerbread houses sprinkled on the step mountainsides overlooking the water. Terre-des-Hauts is famous for the Napolean Fort located 25 minutes up hill by foot but there is also a minivan that brings visitors up for about 4 Euro round-trip. We didn't have time to visit because we were drawn to the village itself with its shops, juice bars, boats, city hall and cute hotels. Some of the visitors opted to rend motor scooters and zoomed all over to hidden beaches during our 90 minute stoppover.
At one o'clock we were back on the boat for lunch, and did a mention rum and wine. It was all self-service so you can imagine some of the guests were getting a little loud. We finished the day with a long anchor for snorkeling and swimming in a private bay. There was a house here that has a beach on both sides and is rented for about 1200 Euro per week - ideal for a family reunion or a get-together among friends. It looked like it had at least 4 rooms.
We took the boat back to Gosier in foul weather with lots of bumps. We even saw a twin cyclone (like a mini-tornado over the water) and several rainbows. The crew did an excellent job keeping us afloat and maintaining our confidence that we would not sink. While overall a great day, it was sad to see the hundreds of empty plastic bottles in the sea - they were everywhere floating on the water sometimes in pairs and rows - needless to say it really distracted from the beauty of the area but was also ominous to the poor treatment of the environment.
