Yellow-green, shamrock, mountain meadow, tropical rain forest, sea green, granny smith apple green, Caribbean green, forest, fern, these are all colors of green found in a box of crayola crayons, and these are a few of the colors that barely begin to describe the multi shades of green found in the Guadeloupe countryside.  Simply beautiful.

We left Montserrat on Sunday and headed straight to Basse Terre.  There we anchored just outside the marina, close to shore, and at the base of the beautiful mountains and former volcano.  We had any easy check in on Monday, no charge.  Guadeloupe is all french, surprisingly for a big city like Basse Terre, there is little english spoken.  Not to worry.  Dan and I both had high school french (a long time ago) and we were armed with our trusty Cruiser’s Guide to French book.  Trying to find an ATM was tough.  Guadeloupe takes the EURO and we had none.  The customs agent said we could try the post office and people did seem to be standing in line to get cash.  I asked a woman in front of me if I could get cash and she didn’t speak english.  Luckily the woman in front of her spoke some english.  She told me she thought I could get cash here but she wasn’t sure.  She said that instead of waiting in line, I could cut in line, and ask the lady behind the counter.  That would have been a great idea if I actually knew how to say what I wanted.  Instead I decided to remain in line and practice what I wanted to say in French.   Of course trying to put the sentence I want together involves flipping back and forth between several pages, all while Dan tries to make changes in the verbage.

“Ok, ask her if you can get money,”  Dan says.

Alright.  I start to look that up. I practice.  “C’est bien la queue pour le distributeur de billets?” (is this the line for the ATM machine).

“How much do you think we should get out?” Dan asks.

“I don’t know.”

“How about one hundred?”

One hundred sounds good.  I flip through the book to find one hundred, meanwhile I try to keep my finger on the line I wanted to say.  I can’t find it. 

“Excuse me,” I say to the lady in front of me who speaks some english.  “How do I say 100?”

“Cent.” (Sahn)

“Merci beaucoup.”  I reply.  I start practicing again.  “Je  voudrais cent euro, s’il vous plait?” (I want to get 100 euros please)

“Maybe that’s not enough,” Dan interupts me.  “How about 150?”

I struggle with the pages again trying to find 150.  “I can’t find 150.”

“Ok, 100 is probably enough anyway.”  Alright. I keep practicing. He interupts again.

“200.  Do you think 200 would be better?”

I struggle to find 200.  “Je voudrais deaux cents euros s’il vous plait?” I repeat it softly several times. The woman in front of me turns and smiles at me.  Actually the whole line has heard me practicing.   I really want to be able to say this smoothly.

“Je voudrais deaux cents euros s’il vous plait?  Je voudrain deaux euros s’il vous plait?”

“You know, maybe 250 would be better.”

I am getting mad.  “I don’t know how to say 250.”

“Well we may need 250.”

“Fine.   You look it up.”

He just stares at me.   “Ok.  You know 200 is probably ok.  I was just thinking…”

“Enough.” I nearly shout at Dan.  “Do you know how hard this is without you changing your mind every second?”

Finally it’s my turn and I ask for 200 euros (nearly flawlessly I might add) and she answers something back in French which I interpret to mean they don’t take my card.  Great.  That was a wasted effort.  We walked back to our dinghy and reluctantly headed back to the boat.  Later that afternoon, we took the dingy further down to Basse Terreand left it tied to the ferry dock as we searched for an ATM.  As we were going it poured down rain, and within moments we were soaked.  From the guidebook we had a general idea where the ATM was, but we weren’t sure where we were at that point.  I looked up how to say “Where is the ATM?.” (Ou est la banque?”)  Apparently I pronounced it well as the lady I spoke to knew exactly what I said and started rattling off in French. Now I can pronounce in French, I can read French, but I am not so good at hearing french.  We did a lot of hand motions and she did too and somehow with her directions, Dan was able to find the bank.  Amazing!  We got our money, bought a few bananas from a vendor (bananas are the number one export) and headed back to our boat.  With our new money we were now able to hit the bakery close to the marina.  Very good.  I was also able to do some very expensive laundry.  Later that evening I was even able to use my limited French to buy us some fresh tuna from the fisherman at the marina.  It was very good!

Basse Terre             

 We needed a part for the engine, and Pointe-A-Pitre is well known for its yacht services so we rented a car.  It wasn’t until I was behind the wheel that we realized it’s a manual transmission.  I haven’t driven a stick shift in at least 14 years.  Luckily it came back to me and we headed out for an adventure in the countryside.  What a beautiful country.  The greens just pop.  The road wound through palm trees, banana plantations, up and down steep mountains, around sharp curves that skated above cliffs leading to the ocean below.  Wonderful.  There was something better to see around every corner.  It took us about an hour to get to our destination, and when we got there, the marine store was closed for lunch.  So we headed for lunch ourselves.  At the restaurant we ran into Patrick and Sylvie, our french friends we met in Montserrat.  They were on their way to the airport to pick up a friend.  Sylvie told us that if there is one thing you do in Guadeloupe, make sure you stop at a waterfall.  She told us there was one just off the road on the way back.  Luckily the marine store had the part we needed.  On to the waterfall.

The Chutes Du Carbet is located in a national park, a 20 minute drive off the main highway, on winding roads and through small towns.  It was an easy drive, even if we seemed to just go up and up.  At the end of the road is the car park, and from here it is a 30 minute walk to the first falls, and about an hour to the second.  Since it was already 4:00pm we settled on the first one.  It was an easy walk down steps, which we knew we would curse on the way back.  The view of the waterfall at the end of the trail was impressive.  But we found out back at the carpark, you actually had a good view of both waterfalls.  The second waterfall is higher up and flows red, reflecting the volcano it comes from.  It’s a very nice park and well worth the trip if you are in Guadeloupe.

   

On Wednesday, Makai and Salida were coming around the bend and we decided to up anchor and join them on the way to the Saintes.  As we hauled anchor, a huge fishing net wrapped around our chain, and we couldn’ t get the anchor up.  Thank goodness our friends were there!!  Craig and Liz on Salida had a Hookah.  It took Dan and Craig over an hour, breathing through the hookah, to cut through the fishing net.  I don’t know what we would have done without them!!

Guadeloupe is beautiful and charming.  We loved the food, the adventure of trying to speak another language, the picturesque countryside.  We wish we could have stayed longer.  It will go down as one of our favorite islands.

  It was a toss up that morning of where we were headed.  I really wanted to go to Montserrat, it has been on my top list for this trip.  I mean an island, with an active volcano???  You can’t pass that up!!  Salida and Makai were headed for Antigua to take on fuel and meet up with Fine Line and Dawn Dancer.  As we left Nevis that morning, we hit higher than expected winds and higher than expected seas.  After being beat up for an hour, and the prospect of 7 or so more hours of this heading for Antigua, versus about 4 to 5 for Montserrat, we said good bye to Makia, Salida and headed to Montserrat.  Great choice.

In 1995, with 11,000 people on the island, the Soufriere Hills volcano erupted, destroying the town of Plymouth.  Tons of ash came down the mountain, burying the town and extending out to the sea, extending the coastline.  The government came in and put in an exclusion zone.  About two thirds of the population left.  The island started getting back to normal, but then the dome on the volcano  started building up again.  In the summer of 2003 the dome collapsed, spewing out more ash, and killing 19 people.   Another close one for the islanders, and it looked like the worse could be over.  Unfortunately, the dome is building again.  In May 2006, the dome collapsed again, dropping another inch of ash over the town.  More people left the island, with the British government paying for relocation for those who wanted to leave and head either to England, or to Antigua.  The population started dwindling down to the current 2000.  If the population drops to 1000, the British government will close the island.  The volcano is still active, with more rumblings this past May.

As soon as we had anchored, a dinghy appeared at the back of our boat.  It was Patrick, from the catamaran Passage.  He and his wife Sylvie, both from France, had pulled in earlier.  Patrick stopped by to see if we wanted to share a taxi for a tour of the island.  Of course. 

The tour consisted of a ride to the Volcano Observatory, and then a drive around the island.   The observatory showed a video of the eruptions, and the outside deck offered a great view of the volcano.  Steam was streaming out the side vents on the volcano, and you could tell the dome was building up again.  After that, Christian, our driver, took us into the exclusion zone to see the ash flow. 

    When the ash and rocks spewed from the volcano, they formed a river coming down the side of the mountain, burying the town of Plymouth in its path. Rocks the size of houses, exploded from the dome and made their way to the town of Plymouth, following the flowing ashes. Christian drove on the ash “river”.  The ash here was 58 feet thick.  Christian stopped the car and let us walk on the ash. It was like being on the moon.  Large gray rocks, sitting on top of gray dust, and not a soul in sight.  Tristan felt the ash and then “knocked” against the road. It was hollow sounding.  Very weird.  I picked up a few small rocks to bring back with me, and Tristan picked up what he thought was a rock to take with him.  Christian took it from him, telling him it was ash and he couldn’t bring it in the van.  Not a friendly driver.  From there we drove up to a hill as far as the van could go, then we had to walk, almost straight up, to the top of the hill, where we had an unobstructed view of the devastation.  Unbelievable.  It was as if a nuclear bomb had gone off.  Everything was grey.  The buildings were still intact, but the ash filled the interiors to the second floor.  No animals, no birds, no people, nothing,  Just ash.  From there we drove through the country club, and on the golf course.  Beautiful, expensive houses, still fully intact, lights hanging from the ceiling, glass still in some windows, beautiful carved wooden doors, and ash filling up the space to the second floor.   We stopped by a hotel in the exclusion zone.  There were curtains in the window, glasses on the counter, an open  magazine next to a chair.  Everything was just as they left it after the last explosion.  It was so erie.

Montserrat also has a green side, it isn’t all gray.  But the volcano has done more damage than just to the island, it also seems to have put a pall over the people.  Monterratians are not unfriendly, they just seem tired, a little wary, as if waiting for the other shoe to drop.  The schoolchildren, usually the most animated on other islands, passed us with small smiles.  The people here have seen it all, death of friends to the volcano, loss of property and the pain of family members who have chosen to leave and start anew in another land.  I believe there is also a big fear that that Britain could close the island and force them all to leave.  It’s sad.

On the tour, our taxi driver stopped alongside the road, where a freshwater stream was cascading down the mountain.  We all took a drink from the cool, refreshing water.  Legend has it that if you drink from this stream, you will return to Montserrat.  May Hope take a long drink. 

 Abandoned houses in the exclusion zone  Ash flow

 River of ash  

    Town of Plymouth     

 You can see the cruise ship dock that was put in and never used, as the lava flow surrounded it, extending the coastline out another kilometer. 

 Gullies formed by the lava flows.

 

  It seems as if we are flying through these islands.  The truth is, the anchorages are rough and we are trying to make the most of the islands and our time as we head in to hurricane season.  Still, things are starting to blur together.

We came into Nevis yesterday after another bouncy ride.  I guess big seas are the norm for this area.  We met up with Fine Line who had been here already with Dawn Dancer.  Since we were too late for customs yesterday, we checked in today.  Checking in took awhile, and the customs officer came out and took a good look at Tristan and Tessa, matching their pictures to their passports.  They passed, good thing!  We walked around town, but the town, I hate to say it, didn’t have that much appeal to us.  We did find a nice internet spot owned by Shelley.  Later that evening we went to the “famous” Sunshine Bar.  It is right down the beach from the Four Season resort, and is famous for a drink called the Killer Bee.  Of course the walls are covered with pictures of all the famous celebrities that have visited the bar.  I guess they wandered down from the Four Seasons Resort.  The drink was good, the food pretty good, but the atmosphere wasn’t there.  I did buy some DVD’s from a guy selling them so we now have some new movies.  All in all, I wasn’t that impressed with Nevis.  Or maybe I am just tired from moving too fast.  Of course we are leaving tomorrow for either Monserrat or Antigua. 

Dock in Charlestowne, Nevis   Sunshines Bar