December 16 - Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe

Weather

– 26º and

clouds!!

cloudy, rained
torrentially, but only for about 5 min

Steps – 8,632

This is the first day we’ve set foot on land in 4 days. It felt great to stretch my legs. We were here on last year’s Christmas cruise but are visiting a different part of the island today.

Guadeloupe is a lush volcanic island. I remember this from last year’s visit…dense vegetation and

waterfalls. We visited a waterfall last year and did again today - Cascade aux Ecrevisses (crayfish waterfall.) I will never tire of waterfalls. This one different from last year’s is a short walk from the car park. As we were on the way back to the bus, it starts to rain a bit, nah,

Cascade aux Ecrevisses

we don’t need a hat or umbrella…then…whoosh…yup, get the hat and the umbrella. In the 5 minutes back to the bus we got pretty wet despite the hat and umbrella.

Next, was a visit to a rum distillery – we can’t visit the Caribbean without sampling some rum. This place wasn’t exactly set up for tours. They thought they were, but it was a bit of a disappointment. Fine, but meh.

Lastly, we visited Les Jardins de Valombreuse, a

garden where we saw orchids, cacao trees, a palm grove, many other exotic flowers, and birds. We had a bit of a tour on a small train and then explored on our own.

just as the rain was falling

It was interesting to drive all over the island through lush forests.

 

We had hoped for a beer at the pier, but there was

Guadeloupe street art

little going on. Last year things were a bit more hopping, but I think another ship was in port as well, so there was a reason for the shops and bar to be

flowering vines

livelier. So, it was back on the

gorgeous flowers

boat for a late lunch, a nap and the usual evening routine.

red ibis

distillery