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Home >> Articles >> Life of Myden
Crowded Caribbean: Martinique, Dominica, & Guadeloupe
February 1st
We got an early start to try to beat the crowds to the beach to snorkel and hopefully see some turtles. Headed out and our first stop was Grand Anse d'Arlet. We found a parking spot easily, put on our snorkel gear and jumped in the water. The water was nice and calm, however the visibility wasn't great. We snorkeled around a few grassy areas, but we didn't see any turtles. We did see the largest starfish I have ever seen though.
After not having luck finding turtles, we made our way down to the kayak rental place at the other end of the beach. We walked along the beach and arrived and checked in and got sorted out with our transparent bottom kayak.
We paddled up around a pier and into a more rocky type area where we saw our first turtle. We had pretty good luck in the kayak spotting turtles. Chris counted 11 different sightings. It's hard to say whether we saw 11 different turtles or possibly the same one a couple times, but all in all we considered it a successful kayak trip. At the end we saw one really big turtle and he even went under our boat so we could see it through the transparent kayak.
Next we made our way to a beach just north. We had heard parking could be a nightmare at this beach and that turned out to be correct. We ended up parking at the top of the hill about a kilometre away and walking down to the beach. The walk down was quite easy. Once at the beach we found a nice shaded spot where we ate our breakfast and then decided to go for a swim. We took out our water hammocks and floated around in the water for quite a while on them. We kept our eyes peeled for turtles. I thought I saw one in the distance but that was about it. Not as successful as the kayak trip. We relaxed on the beach for a bit and played Tri-bond.
After that we decided to make our way back towards where we were staying with a few stops along the way. We drove through the town of Grand Anse d'Arlet. There was a lot of traffic so we could not appreciate what was supposed to be the beauty of the town. One of the postcard views was of a church with a long pier stretching out in front of it. We apparently drove right by this without even noticing.
Our next stop was for a view of the Diamond Rock. We arrived at the viewpoint and were the only ones there and parked very easily. We made our way down to the view and enjoyed it for a little bit before a tour bus arrived blocking us in. We squeaked out of our parking stall and continued on to a chicken restaurant called Pam's Snack. Chris got a barbecued smoked chicken with a lot of sauce on the side.
Unfortunately on the way to the chicken place we saw a very unhealthy looking cat. We felt very bad for this cat as it was in very poor health. We gave it a little bit of chicken and when we got back we emailed a few rescue places to see if they would be able to help it. Still waiting to hear back.
We continued on our way back to our accommodations. I had to hold the sauce of the chicken out in front of me over the floor mat the entire way as it was leaking from the container. It felt like a long half hour drive. Once back Chris enjoyed his chicken and I fixed myself some lunch but accidentally walked into the door on my way out to join Chris at the outdoor table. It was a glass door that was very clean so it was hard to see that Chris had closed it after I had been inside.
While we were eating the cat came to visit us. Since we didn't do the first day of the journal since nothing eventful happened I should mention that we did find a very nice cat at the place we were staying. Very friendly. Its name is Zanzibar.
We relaxed for a bit and then made some lemon parsley spaghetti for dinner which tasted very good. I enjoyed a late night swim and we also played a round of cards.
February 2nd
Another early morning, we got up, opened our door and Zanzibar was already up waiting to greet us. He must get up very early as well.
We headed out to Plage des Salines beach. We arrived at 7:30 so getting a parking spot was much easier today. We got a good spot right in front of the beach where we could just get out of the car and then put our stuff in a nice shady spot on the beach.
We relaxed on the beach and went for a walk in both directions. We then took our water hammocks into the ocean and went for a swim. Chris did his best to stay facing away from the sun so he wouldn't get sunburned. We got out and sat on the beach for a bit.
By this time the masses had started to arrive with more and more people showing up and piling onto the beach. We had been on a fairly quiet section but soon all the spots around us were full and we decided it was about time to move on anyways.
We headed to check out the town of Saint Anne. We got lucky finding a parking spot just as someone else was pulling out and went for a stroll into the main area. There wasn't too much to see. We did find a good bakery where we bought a baguette. Just after we purchased it, it got very busy. We headed back to the car and made our way back to Marin to go to Carrefour to stock up on some more groceries. They had gotten a new shipment of fruits and vegetables since we'd been there last.
We made our way back to our accommodation. We had some lunch and then Chris napped while I did some yoga and went for a swim. We played a game and planned our day out for tomorrow. Then we tried to pack our stuff up and get organized. I made some pasta for dinner.
February 3rd
Another early start, as we wanted to do a short hike before it got too hot. We headed out to hike Piton Creve-Coeur, a short 2km hike to a viewpoint. The hike was short but sweet, giving us 360 degree views of the surrounding areas of southern Martinique. When we got to the top you could see the beaches to the south and the towns to our north.
We headed back to our accommodation where I went for a quick swim and we had some breakfast. Unfortunately we couldn't say goodbye to Zanzibar before we checked out. We had a small incident with the fan before we left, where Chris accidentally elbowed the fan blade as it was missing the cage and snapped one of the blades off. Luckily when we told our hosts they didn't seem to care.
We checked out and continued on our day heading to the mountain garden. The drive up was easier than we expected, however parking at the top was a bit of a challenge. We joined a tour that seemed to have just started. The guide was speaking in French and Google Translate picked up not very much of what he had to say. We saw some interesting things, maybe some pink bananas, some citronella, a pineapple, porcelain rose, and an herb that cured migraines and headaches. Our tour ended with a taste of citronella water or juice.
We then continued on our way. Our next stop was Habitation Clement Distillery. We arrived at the distillery. It was very busy with lots of cars in the parking lot. We made our way into the distillery gift shop and quickly spotted a cat that we beelined for while a lady tried to stop us to ask us if we wanted a tour or just to visit the gift shop.
We went back and looked at our tour options. We decided on the free option which included a short visit to the exhibit. The exhibit was all in French and seemed to be some old artifacts which we walked quickly through. We then arrived in an area that had a scent guessing thing where you pressed a button to smell a scent and opened a book to figure out what it was.
After that, we arrived back in the tasting area and gift shop. The cat was there once again to say hi to. We waited for a little bit and then had a tasting of some different rums. We tried a ripe white rum, a punch rum, an elixir, and a vanilla liqueur. They were all pretty good. Some were stronger than others. We decided on purchasing an Agricol Blanc to make with our ti punch ingredients, a popular cocktail on Martinique. We also bought some cane sugar syrup. The cocktail consists of the rum, the syrup, lime juice, and then we added some ice as well.
Our next stop was a vegetable store as the grocery stores seemed somewhat lacking in their fresh fruit and vegetable selection. We were able to find some pineapple and mandarins grown on Martinique, although when Chris ate the mandarin later, he said there were way too many seeds.
We continued on our way north and checked into our Airbnb, La Jovenchial. It had very nice views of the ocean and Mount Pelée, a volcano. The only thing that was lacking was a nice, shady spot to relax and to sit, as when we sat on our porch, the fence was too high to see over. We relaxed, played some cards, and then it got dark quickly. Our host brought us some acaras, which are deep-fried cod fritters. They're pretty tasty. Even Chris ate them.
We made some quesadillas for dinner. They were pretty good, although we couldn't find true traditional Mexican ingredients in Martinique. We had to settle on some gouda cheese, and the salsa was quite sweet-tasting. We once again remembered why we don't eat Mexican food too far from Mexico. We had an early night as we were getting up early the next day to hike Mount Pelée.
February 4th
Woke up to our alarm at 5:30 this morning and got an early start to hike Mount Pele. Our goal was to try and get a good parking spot and also to make it up the steep parts before it got too hot. We headed out in the dark. Chris only missed seeing one speed bump on the way up to the mountain which gave us a pretty good jolt.
We then found a nice parking spot very easily and started our hike up the mountain. It started off not too bad with some steps and then we got to a steeper rocky section which was still fairly manageable. After that the trail leveled out as we hiked towards the crater. It was very cloudy and we didn't get any views. We sat, ate some banana bread and our snacks while we waited for the clouds to clear. We got a few glimpses of the volcano beside us and we watched another couple climb up this very steep part and we decided that part may not be for us.
Once it started to get a bit brighter we continued on our way and started the loop around the crater. Once around to the ocean side we got some nice views overlooking the towns in the ocean below as the clouds had cleared on this side. We walked around the loop until we got to the steep section at which point we decided it wasn't worth going up as it was still quite cloudy on the other side. We retraced our steps back around the loop and started to head back down.
By this time it had gotten very busy and we had passed quite a few people who were just starting their hike and on their way up. We got back to our car and navigated our way out of the now very busy parking lot with lots of cars parked on the road. We made it down and headed back to our Airbnb where we had some lunch and then relaxed and enjoyed the ocean views. We had a relaxing afternoon and then sat outside and made our tea punch and played a card game of golf.
There was a nice breeze that kept most of the mosquitoes away although we still used our racket zapper to catch quite a few as dusk settled in. We saw some birds, some egrets, some hawks and the host gave us some mangoes from their garden. There was a guy mowing the lawn which provided some slightly annoying background noise but he stopped before he got too close to us. We made some pasta for dinner and then relaxed after our hard hike and early morning.
February 5th
Our first stop today was at the Gorge de la Falaise. It had a nice easy parking lot and we pulled up and were one of the first people there. We got out of the car, paid our entry fee and followed our guide down into the gorge. He went very quickly down some very steep stairs where we crossed a river to a starting point.
Once there, while we waited for the rest of the group to join us, he went over to a couple of leaves by the Gorge de la Falaise sign. He peered curiously into them and extracted a giant tarantula. He didn't speak English but it appeared to be gesturing to us to ask if we would like to hold the tarantula. Slightly unsure, we said yes. I put out my hand and he transferred the spider onto my arm where it proceeded to follow my arm all the way up. He then gave it to Chris and found a baby tarantula in the next leaf. Chris got to hold both the mom and the baby.
We then waited for the rest of our group. A couple from France and a man from Quebec. They seemed unsure as to whether they would want to hold the tarantula or not. One of them did. After that we made our way into the gorge. We swam up some streams up a small waterfall, climbed the ladder and then made our way to the end where a large waterfall awaited us. We were able to wade in behind the waterfall. The waterfall coming down was quite strong on your head. I had to keep my eyes closed as I was worried the water would wash my contact lenses out of my eyes.
After we all visited the falls and took some photos, we made our way back down the gorge again. We had the option this time at the ladder spot to either jump or descend the ladder. Chris and I both chose to descend the ladder. It seemed a little sketchy jumping in and it was confirmed by the other guy in our group who said he hit the bottom quite hard after he had jumped into the pool. We made our way back to the start and back up the stairs which were quite a bit steeper and I remembered them coming down and got a good workout.
Once back at the car we changed our clothes and headed to our next stop, JM Distillery. We took a self-guided tour of the distillery. We saw the sugarcane and part of the rum making process, smelled some different scents and then arrived at the tasting room. We started off with some white rum and some tea punch. It was quite strong. Then we moved on to the aged rums. We both enjoyed the volcanic rum.
After the distillery we headed further south down the coast to Tombolo, a large rock just off the coast. We had planned to arrive at low tide where you could cross a sandbar to reach the rock. However when we arrived we found it was exactly the opposite. We seemed to have arrived at high tide and the water was very rough choppy and deep making the crossing impossible. We waded in a little bit and enjoyed the waves washing over us from both sides and viewed the rock.
After that we walked along the rugged beach enjoying the waves rolling in on the black sand. We decided we had time for one more stop so we went to The De Paz distillery on our way back to our Airbnb. We did another quick self-guided tour where we saw a nice old house and some ringed parakeets which were apparently quite rare in this area. We then stopped at the tasting room for a couple samples and then visited a few cats in the parking lot before getting back in the car and heading back to our Airbnb.
Once back at our Airbnb we realized there was some confusion about our rental car about where we were supposed to return it and what we were supposed to do to return it. Apparently we're supposed to wash the car and vacuum the interior before returning it which seemed like kind of a daunting task when you're on vacation. We had some quesadillas for dinner and then went to bed early.
February 6th
We woke up very early as we were worried about the amount of traffic heading into Fort-de-France to make it to the ferry terminal which was in the downtown area. We headed out, hitting the road at 5.45am in the dark. We made our way toward Fort-de-France. We had found a car wash we were supposed to stop at, but upon seeing how bad the traffic was, we decided to forego the car wash and just make it into the downtown area.
Once there, we stopped in a parkade where we attempted to wash the rental car with a bottle of water and a cloth. To us, it looked pretty clean. From there, we made our way to the drop-off point where we returned our rental car. Apparently it was very dirty and not nearly clean enough to the satisfaction of the rental car owner.
After that, we headed into the ferry terminal which was quite busy. There seemed to be quite a few troops of some sort making their way from Martinique to Guadeloupe for the carnival festivities. There was quite a large volume of people trying to board the ferry and we ended up departing a little late. Once on the ferry, we had a fairly rough crossing to Dominica.
Once we arrived, we waited in a very long line to get through the passport control into Dominica. It was quite a slow process with everyone crowded into a cramped area, filtering into three lines. We finally made it through and then met Kadim who gave us our rental car. We followed him back to our accommodations at El Dorado Guesthouse where we finished our paperwork and then decided to venture back into downtown to grab some groceries.
We went to the grocery store which was very busy and seemed to have limited stock. We grabbed what we could and got about half of what we needed but we figured it was better than nothing. After getting groceries, we made our way back to the guesthouse where we relaxed and watched some Olympics for a bit before heading next door for dinner.
We took a short walk to the neighbor's restaurant called Prots Patio. Chris had a hamburger and fries and I had some tuna and plantain. Our meal was quite tasty. We accompanied it with the local BB rum and coconut juice. Our meal was a pretty good value at about $40 Canadian. After dinner, we came back and went for a swim in our infinity pool.
It was a very nice pool overlooking the sea and it truly felt like an infinity pool like you're going to go into the ocean. We lounged around in our water hammocks and enjoyed the different color lights of the pool as they changed very rapidly from blue to purple to red to green.
February 7th
We got another early start this morning as we were worried about how busy things might be given there was a cruise ship supposed to be in port today. Our first stop was Bubble Beach Spa. We were the first ones arriving and we put on our snorkel gear and made our way into the water.
Once in the water, you'd see many bubbles coming up from the vents in the bottom of the sea where volcanic gases heated the water. The water was very nice and warm and it was an interesting experience snorkeling among the bubbles.
I lounged for a bit in the water hammock while Chris continued snorkeling and then we both made our way into the maintained pool portion of the beach spa, a spot that had been dug out with rocks surrounding it to encase the warmest part of the waters.
We relaxed for quite a while in the nice warm spa-like ocean setting, moving around the pool and noticing as we dug deeper in the sand, the warmer the water became. After worrying we might get sunburnt, we finally made our way out of the pool and continued on to our next stop, Scott's Head.
We parked the car and decided to hike up to Scott's Head. You could drive but the road was very narrow and we were worried about what might happen if you encountered another vehicle.
We hiked up to the top where there were very nice views of the water around us. We had hoped to maybe sit and watch for whales but unfortunately there was no shade so we didn't linger too long at the top.
Once down, we made our way to Scott's Head Beach where we noticed some other people snorkeling and it turned out to be quite a good snorkeling spot. Unfortunately most of the coral had died off but there were lots of different fish. We snorkeled around for a while in the crystal blue waters, enjoying the fish and seeing some different things. Something that looked like some sort of calamari-type creature was the highlight.
Once back on shore we relaxed for a bit in the shade while we dried off. I sat and read my book for a bit and upon leaving we noticed there was a warning sign beside us warning us not to sit under the trees as they were poisonous and the sap could poison you by being underneath them. Luckily we are both fine so far so we have not suffered any ill effects.
So far none of the locations we have visited were busy at all. I think after Martinique it has been much quieter on Dominica. So we decided to make our way to the Champagne Reef, known for being one of the busiest destinations just south of Roseau with cruise shippers.
We arrived and easily found a parking spot and made our way down to the beach. Once again there were very few people here and it was very quiet. We made our way into the water and swam along heading towards where one of the snorkel boats was as we figured that is where the best snorkeling would be. We saw several fish on the way including a long water snake.
Chris found an area that had the highest concentration of bubbles and we snorkeled around there taking some videos of all the bubbles venting up from the ocean floor. It was an interesting experience. At some points you could even hear the sound of the bubbles coming up. We swam for quite a while and then made our way back. It was a little tiring as we were going against the current.
Once back on shore we relaxed for a little bit and then headed back to the car and did a quick grocery shop on our way back to our accommodations where we relaxed and watched some Olympics.
We were able to order some takeout pizza through WhatsApp from Peacock Pizza. Their specialty was the plantain pizza. The pizza came and it was an interesting pizza with a very dense crust but tasted quite good.
February 8th
We left our guesthouse at 7:30 in the morning to head to Emerald Pool. We arrived at 8:30 and just enough time to meet the tour groups coming off the cruise ship.
We were the first ones there. We made the short walk down to the falls and went for a swim in the pool at the bottom of them. The pool was a nice blue color and we swam in the cool water and took some photos. It was a little chilly being in the shade and in the cold.
We enjoyed our swim and got out and were admiring the falls when the first of the tour groups arrived. We spoke with the tour guide named Pepper. He told us that his group was German and therefore very efficient and they had arrived very quickly ahead of all the other groups. We watched the tour groups swim the falls and then they left. We lingered a little longer and then made our way back up the pathway.
At this time we were shocked to see the volume of people coming down the trail one after another group after group and the parking lot full of tour buses when we left.
We then headed to Jacko Falls. After some confusion about where to park we arrived at the falls and made our way down. Luckily our timing was pretty good as we were there in between groups and had the falls mostly to ourselves again.
Jacko was a little different as there was a rock splitting the falls in the middle and also very cold water to swim in. After this we made our way to Mero Beach. We grabbed some lunch at a mediocre place. I had a fish burger and Chris had a regular burger called Baps. We then sat on the beach. Chris couldn't go swimming because he didn't want to get sunburned so I lounged in the water on my water hammock for a bit before getting out.
We then left and tried to get to the grocery store before they closed. We arrived at the grocery store and it was the best one yet as they had a few different types of vegetables so we grabbed a few more pizza toppings as well as some tortillas to make some wraps.
We relaxed in a room for a bit and watched Olympics. It was again very sunny out on the patio. We went down to the pool just before sunset and enjoyed a swim in the infinity pool while we watched the sunset.
February 9th
We started off the day today by heading back to Champagne Beach for a snorkel. We had hoped to see some turtles. When we arrived the waters were a little rougher than when we had snorkeled here a couple of days previously. We got in and made our way over to the area of the reef and to where the bubbles were. The seas were a little rougher today and visibility wasn't as good. We swam around for a bit but it wasn't that enjoyable so we quickly made our way back to shore again.
We made it out and then watched the tour group of snorkelers behind us try to get out of the water. The waves were pretty turbulent at this point and several people got knocked over as they were trying to get out while their guides helped them struggle out of the water. A few people lost their fins into the ocean.
We carried on to Bambooze Hot Springs. It turned out to be a good plan as the seas were too rough to do any water based activities and Bambooze was also off the cruise ship route so it was very quiet with only us and a handful of other people.
When we arrived we first spotted our neighbours from where we were staying. We said hello to them and then carried on our way into the grounds where we met the resident peacock. He proudly displayed his feathers for us but unfortunately I wasn't fast enough with the camera to get a good photo.
We then started off in the pools. Chris picked the one in the shade to start with. We relaxed in there for a while. We rotated our way through all four hot pools. The one in the middle was very hot and the three around the edges were varying degrees slightly cooler and there was also a cold plunge.
We hung out at the nice grounds for quite a while. We had some lunch and played Monopoly deal and went for another circuit of the pools. While we were playing cards the peacock did another feather display and this time I was fast enough with the camera to get a good photo.
One of the activities they had there was a clay scrub. You covered your body in the clay and let it dry and then exfoliated it off and made our skin very soft.
We headed back towards our guest house where we relaxed in the afternoon and then went down for another sunset swim. We definitely have been getting a lot of swimming in the last few days. Unfortunately Chris had come down with a cold so he was pretty tired that night. He mostly just sat inside and watched Olympics on his laptop while I made dinner, did dishes and packed.
February 10th
We checked out early and after a quick stop at the bank machine we headed up towards Laudat and our boiling lake hike. We dropped off our luggage and then made our way to the trailhead where we met our guide Shady. We parked and headed to the trailhead.
In our group were four other people. Two of them were on time but two of them were late so we sat around for half an hour while we waited for them to arrive. Finally they arrived. We introduced each other. We hiked with two girls from Germany and a couple from Switzerland and Poland.
We started the hike off with a series of steps. Our guide told us this was just the warm-up before we got to the actual hike. We hiked for quite a while and then reached a fairly steep section. We went up a series of steps and arrived at our first viewpoint that overlooked Rousseau in the ocean below. We had a quick snack here but it started to rain so we headed out quickly.
Next up was a descent into the Valley of Desolation. It was a very steep downhill that had gotten quite slippery with the rain and wet weather. We navigated our way down over many steps, drops, slippery rocks and a couple creek crossings. We made it to the Valley of Desolation where there was bubbling water all around us that was a silty gray color. Some of it was boiling hot and others was just warm to the touch where you could put your hands in and feel it.
Our guide went and found some clay where he made us some clay masks which he put on our faces for us. Our skin is going to be excellent after this trip. After enjoying the Valley of Desolation we once again started going back uphill towards Boiling Lake. We finally arrived at Boiling Lake. It was an interesting lake bubbling up like a pot of water boiling with lots of steam coming off of it. We had a quick lunch break but once again it started to rain just as we arrived so we didn't linger too long.
We took some photos of the lake and then headed back on the trail retracing our steps. We went back through the Valley of Desolation and by this time it was starting to rain a little bit more so our climb back up the rocks was quite slippery. We made it to the viewpoint and this time it was all clouded back in so we couldn't see any views. We were lucky to have seen them on the way up.
Along the way of our hike they were building a cable car to Boiling Lake. We were lucky we hiked it now before the throngs of cruise shippers come riding up in the gondolas. We continued back down. Although the hike was only four miles each way it felt much longer due to the very steep and slippery sections. By this time our feet were pretty soaked along with the rest of us between the rain and the mud on the trail.
We walked down for what seemed like quite a while before arriving back at the start of the hike. We bought some plantain chips and passion fruit from a lady selling them at the shop. We gave our guide a short lift back to Laudat and then went back to our accommodation at the nature lodge, Cicero Lodge. I sat outside and watched for birds and a cat kept me company on the chair beside me. Chris slept as he was feeling quite tired after the hike as he still wasn't feeling very well.
February 11th
We woke up to the sound of rain on the roof. It had also rained a lot in the night, so we were a little unsure what to do. We debated whether we should just stay at our place or head out in the wet weather.
The weather seemed to break a little bit, so we decided to head out to our first stop of Trafalgar Falls. Again, trying to get there early enough to beat the cruise shippers.
We arrived to an empty parking lot, but by this time it was pouring rain. We debated whether we should sit and wait for the rain to subside or just go. We decided on just going, otherwise I think it would have become way too busy.
We started up the short trail to the falls. Once at the falls, it was two falls coming down each side of the valley, each into their own stream. Apparently one side was hot and one side was cold, and you could swim at the base of the falls. However, at this point it was still raining fairly hard, and there were some warnings about not heading down into the valley and the pools below the falls due to risk of flash floods. So we decided just to view the falls from the viewing decks. We enjoyed the falls and sat and watched them for a while. And then decided we shouldn't hang around for too long to try and stay ahead of the tour groups.
We made it back to our car and started back down the road, just as the first of the tour buses were starting to arrive. Our next stop was Wotten Waven to go to the hot springs. We followed Google Maps, but unfortunately it led us to a dead end. After some confusion, we realized that the turn to the hot springs was back where we had just been at Trafalgar.
So we retraced our route, driving back up to Trafalgar and finding the way down to Wotten Waven. We went into the hot springs. We made it down to the first pool, which was very hot. We sat in it for a bit. It wasn't the most relaxing as there was someone doing some maintenance on the roof of the shed beside us that was quite loud.
We decided to carry on to the next pool. The second pool was quite a bit cooler than the first one, more of a warm bath temperature. We relaxed in there for quite a while until some French tourists arrived and one of the ladies started smoking, which also made it not super enjoyable.
We then went in search of more pools. We found one that was labeled mud bath, which we crossed a river to get to, and a natural pool of murky brown water with some nice plants and flowers surrounding it. We sat in the mud bath for a bit. It was quite shallow and again, also not very warm. So we decided to head back to the hot pool.
We relaxed in the hot pool until a large group of Spanish tourists arrived. They were very loud and took turns in the cold plunge shower, shrieking and shrieking about how cold it was. Eventually they moved on to the cooler pool, only to be replaced by some American cruise shippers. We weren't sure who was more annoying.
Finally, they decided it was too hot for them and moved on as well. We then enjoyed a few more minutes of relaxation, alternating between the hot pool and the cold plunge, and then again back to the warm pool before leaving the hot springs.
We came back to the cottage and had some lunch. I sat outside and watched Olympics while Chris stayed inside and relaxed and napped. When we got back, the cats were quite happy to have our car to sit on. Although they were kind of scared of us, they enjoyed lounging in the sun on the hood of our vehicle.
February 12th
We headed out to hike Middleham Falls. It was a short drive from our cottage, down a rough road where we arrived at an eco resort under construction, parked the car and then started the hike. It felt very easy compared to our boiling lake hike a couple days before. We made it to the falls fairly quickly where we arrived at the viewing platform. It was the best falls we had seen so far.
On the way to the falls we thought we'd heard some parrots in the distance but we couldn't spot them. We didn't stay long at the viewing platform because Chris was keen to get home and back to his laptop to make camping reservations for Two Jack Lakeside. We made our way quickly up the path where we heard another interesting bird on the way. We recorded it to try to identify it later.
We didn't take any photos along the path on the way back even though I wanted to because Chris was in a rush. We made it back to the car and home just in time to log in to try to get our camping secured for the summer. We had fairly decent luck. Jeff was able to get us a site for August. I was able to get in for June and Chris got August. All of our camping worked out.
We had lunch and then relaxed for a bit and then headed out to our next destination the cathedral that was part of Titou Gorge. It was supposed to be a lesser visited area. Our host gave us directions to the trailhead and we walked there from our cottage.
We found the turnoff as there was a canyoning tour group coming up from there. We made our way down and what we thought was on the pathway. We weren't 100% sure we were going the correct way but as we passed more people coming up we felt confident we were headed in the right direction.
We stopped a couple times to check the phone as we were worried we might accidentally go over Trafalgar Falls which would not end well. We finally made it to a ladder where we descended beside a small waterfall and made our way upstream into the cathedral. We had it all to ourselves. There was a waterfall coming down into a pool. It was fairly dark as the walls were quite high around us. We swam around and took some photos before retracing our steps back out of the canyon.
Going up felt much quicker than coming down since we knew exactly where we were going this time. We thought about doing the tourist version of Titou Gorge but then decided not to as we'd already had a pretty good experience and I'm sure the popular one would be filled with cruise ship passengers.
We headed back to the cottage and sat for a bit in the little stream that was supposed to be warm but felt more cool and hot. We relaxed for a bit enjoying the views of the garden. Unfortunately we didn't see any parrots.
Our host had told us they sometimes come to eat the grapefruit but they did not come while we were staying there. We made some spaghetti for dinner and then relaxed while watching Pirates of the Caribbean which was filmed in Dominica.
February 13th
We had breakfast on our back garden porch while we hoped to see some parrots but still no luck. We packed up our stuff and made our way back into Rousseau to catch our ferry to Guadeloupe. We got the rental car returned and were dropped off at the ferry port.
The ferry port was a little confusing. First of all we stood in line to check in and people randomly got out of line and went to check in. We then got in another line to pay our departure tax where we were then all ushered into a tiny waiting room which was very hot and congested with many people while we waited for security. Security finally opened and one group by one group was ushered into a different room where they shut the door behind you and rushed you through security. By now we had been here for about two hours so it was not a fast process.
We arrived on the other side of security where we bought some drinks and chips to use up the last of our Caribbean dollars. We then made our way to the rooftop waiting area which turned out to be a very nice spacious peaceful place with many picking tables and we couldn't understand why they kept you in a hot tiny room for so long instead of letting you come up here sooner. Our ferry arrived and it took a while for everyone to get off and for us to get on. We were about 45 minutes behind schedule at this point.
We got on the ferry which was already pretty full so we couldn't get a seat by the window and made the just over two hour journey to Pointe-a-Pitre in Guadeloupe.
At this point we had learned that it was beneficial to try and be some of the first ones off the ferry so that you wouldn't have to wait in the line for passport control for hours. We got up early and stood by the door for a while waiting to get off but luckily we were able to get through passport control fairly quickly where we picked up our bags and made our way outside and then again waited for our rental car guy to show up.
He didn't speak English very well so he gave us all the instructions in French using Google Translate. He was very thorough. We then made our way to the Carrefour. It was in a busy shopping mall. Chris parked the car in the busy parking lot while I went in just to grab a few things.
It turns out just grabbing a few things took at least an hour. The store was huge and very busy and I waited in line forever to check out. Finally we got back on the road again and headed toward our Airbnb near Deshaies. Traffic was very bad leaving Pointe-a-Pitre so it took us quite a while to drive here in the dark. We finally arrived feeling exhausted after a 10 hour day of traveling.
10 hours for a two-hour ferry seemed like a lot. We thought this would be easier than flying but in hindsight I'm not sure it was. We got to our Airbnb and had our sandwiches for dinner that I'd picked up from the grocery store and then went to bed as we were pretty tired after a long day.
February 14th
We woke up early and went out to our porch. It turned out we had an amazing view which you couldn't see the night before because it was so dark. We were right on the ocean overlooking a bay. We had read in the reviews of our Airbnb that people sometimes spotted turtles in the water. We sat enjoying the ocean watching for turtles, but unfortunately we didn't see any. We did see one hummingbird that liked the yellow flowers right in front of our porch and sat and watched it while we had our breakfast.
We packed up our stuff and made our way to Crystal Kayak on Malendure Beach. We arrived at the kayak rental and there was a large group of people already there preparing to set out for the 8:30 a.m. time slot. The route was explained to us and we finally launched our kayak and headed out towards the Jacques Cousteau Marine Reserve. On our way paddling out we spotted three sea turtles, although none of them were too close to our kayak.
We had booked the 8:30 time slot for our kayak tour as we thought this would beat the crowds to the marine reserve. It turned out this was not the case. We arrived at the marine reserve only to see kayaks already filling the first beach. We decided to continue on to leave our kayak on the second beach, thinking it would be emptier than the first beach. As we rounded the bend, this was not the case as it was jammed full with kayaks. We navigated our way through the many snorkelers already in the water and found a spot on shore to leave our kayak.
We put our snorkel gear on and made our way into the water. We made our way out toward where the kayak person told us would be the most fish. Unfortunately the coral was all dead, but there were quite a few fish swimming around. We didn't see any fish that were too memorable, mostly ones that we had seen before like the parrotfish and angelfish.
We then swam back to shore and found a spot to sit on the rocks and eat our pain au chocolat as a mid-morning snack. Chris stayed seated there as his water shoes were deteriorating quickly. It was getting difficult to walk. I explored the island a bit. First of all, I climbed up to the opposite shore to a viewpoint that I could see back to the mainland from. I made my way back down and over to the third beach facing the other side. It was quite rocky and it had a bay where a large group of snorkelers from a tour boat were snorkeling.
I made my way back to Chris and we decided to do one last circuit of snorkeling before making our way back. We got in the water again. This time the most interesting thing we saw was a peacock flounder. It had blue spots and camouflaged into the rock that it was sitting on.
We then got out and made our way into the kayak and started heading back towards Crystal Kayaks. We floated in slowly, hoping to see more turtles as we paddled back. Unfortunately we had no luck. We returned to the kayak rental and then headed back to our Airbnb for some lunch. We enjoyed our pita wraps as we sat on the porch hoping to spot sea turtles. Chris was lucky enough to see one. We had some cocktails, played cards, and saw a large iguana crossing our patio.
We made some spaghetti for dinner. While we were making dinner, a little cat came to visit us who looked to be pregnant. She was hungry. Unfortunately, we didn't have any food to give her. We could only offer her a bowl of water.
February 15th
Today we decided to spend the day relaxing. We had quite a few options for things to do planned, but they all seemed like too far of a drive and too much of a hassle with how many people there were at everything we've been to so far.
Woke up, did some yoga, had breakfast on our patio, and watched the hummingbird come to the flowers in front of us. We also spotted quite a few turtles about 30 feet out from shore. Once it started to get a little hot on our patio, we decided to make our way into town where we went to the Carrefour Express to buy some cat food in case the cat came back tonight. We also stopped by a bakery where we picked up a baguette for dinner that was curcumin-flavored.
Came back, had some lunch, and decided to go for a snorkel. We had seen other people snorkeling out in the bay in front of us, so we grabbed our snorkel gear and got in the water. Turned out it wasn't that great. Visibility was pretty terrible, so even if there were turtles out there, our chances of seeing them probably would have been pretty slim.
We relaxed for the afternoon, played some cards. The cat made a brief appearance, but she dashed by too quickly for us to feed her. Once again, we made some pasta for dinner. I should also mention that the iguana made an appearance again today at the same time, crossing our patio. We saw him in the morning as well, coming up from the rocks below us.
Today there was a large carnival celebration in Pointe-a-Pitre. We had thought about going in to watch, but it seemed like way too hot and way too much traffic, so instead we watched it on TV. There was a lot of drumming and dancers, with slightly less elaborate costumes than I had pictured in my head.
At one point during the evening, we could hear some loud noises of drumming outside. We ran around to go see what it was, and there was a small carnival parade going down our street, with drums and somebody cracking a loud whip. You could join in behind them, but we chose to continue on with our dinner instead.
February 16th
We got up early again to enjoy some time on our porch. While I was sitting there, a frog jumped down from overhead and landed beside me. The hummingbird was also back again this morning. We also spotted a few more sea turtles. The cat made an appearance and this time I was fast enough to grab her some food before she headed on her route. She was quite hungry and gobbled it all up.
After breakfast, we headed out to our first stop of the day, the zoo. We arrived at the zoo just before they opened in time to beat most of the crowds there. We wandered through the zoo. It was a pretty good zoo. It was nice, cool, and shady and we saw lots of interesting animals.
One of our favorites included the lemurs, which was an interactive exhibit where they hopped all around you. When we got there, it seemed like they were just finishing getting fed and they were quite interested in what else we might have to give them. After the feeding was over, they went and all piled together and all groomed each other.
The other interesting thing was the puma. It was an all black jaguar, but he had some very faint spots on him. He was quite big. We got there just in time to see him walking up onto his perch to have a bath before he settled in for his nap.
The zoo also had a suspension bridge park where you walked over a series of suspension bridges. Other animals included red pandas, a few different types of monkeys, a sloth, some birds, and some giant turtles.
After the zoo, we came back to our Airbnb where we relaxed and had some lunch before we headed up to our next stop, the Botanic Gardens. We arrived at the Botanic Gardens and it looked to be quite busy even though we planned to get there late in the day after the crowds had left. We bought our tickets and proceeded around the gardens.
Soon after entering, we came to the lorikeet exhibit. You walked in and the lorikeets were flying all around. Some people had purchased nectar for them at the beginning that they were trying to feed to them. Some birds were more interested than others. It was very loud in the exhibit with the constant shrilling of the birds. They all seemed quite excited and there was quite a bit of interaction between the various birds. They didn't seem scared of people at all and you could get quite close to them.
After sitting and watching the lorikeets for a while, we then made our way through the rest of the Botanic Gardens. We saw a tree called La Grande Fromage and lots of other nice plants and flowers. We weren't entirely sure what we were looking at because all the signs were in French.
We came upon some exhibits of a few more birds. One area had a bunch of different macaws in them. One of them named Jaco liked to dance. There was another one named Roger who could apparently speak and say bonjour, ca va, and voila. However, he wouldn't say anything while we were there.
We continued on through the gardens until we came to the end where there was quite a nice view overlooking the bay below. It was then closing time so we made our way back to our car and headed out to get some pad thai for dinner from Asia Dishes. We took it back to our Airbnb where we sat on our porch and had dinner. It wasn't quite authentic pad thai like we would normally get.
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