Grand Case is a lovely waterfront town with a long main street that runs parallel to a curving golden beach. It struck me as the perfect place for a low key beach vacation. The main street is packed with unique shops and restaurants ranging from inexpensive BBQ bars flouting ribs to fancy French cuisine with lobsters awaiting their fate in well-lit display pools. At night the town comes to life: tourists and locals spill onto the street, irresistibly danceable music pours from countless speakers, and welcoming light seeps from shops open well into the night.
A rocky island called Rocher Creole sits off the north end of the bay with excellent snorkeling. While testing out our new waterproof camera chasing various fish around we were lucky enough to see three spotted eagle rays soaring off into the deep water to the north. The only other time we've encountered them was in the BVIs while scuba diving.
Speaking of the BVIs, we've decided it is time to move on again and will be sailing back to Virgin Gorda this evening. We should arrive back in familiar waters tomorrow morning. Part of the desire to return is to enjoy some more of the amazing scuba diving found there. It is by far the most convenient place for it, with dive shops scattered throughout the islands and mooring balls available at most dive sites.
Also it will be nice to have free Internet again. The French islands have a strong hold over wifi and we've only been able to access the Internet through the chip in the iPad. So pictures will be coming soon!
Until tomorrow,
Nicole.
Update: We are actually leaving tomorrow night as customs was closed today due to elections.
Showing posts with label Snorkeling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Snorkeling. Show all posts
Sunday, March 18, 2012
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Baguettes and Best Yets
In Deshaies there is a small main street with colourful shops and restaurants. The local shops open early and break for several hours over lunch, so motoring in early in the morning is a must to purchase produce from local farmers and baked goods from the shops. While dusting off their basic French skills to purchase fresh produce, Mom and Dad found some amazing baguettes brought fresh from a bakery every morning. Since this delectable discovery we've been gorging ourselves on fresh bread smeared with nutella on a daily basis. The first day they returned with three baguettes, but they quickly vanished, so yesterday they upped the number to four and we still managed to eat them all in one day. Our logic was that they go hard by the next day, but it wasn't exactly a struggle to finish them off.
The road leading south from the village of Deshaies climbs steeply over a peak and disappears into the mountainous distance beyond the Jardin Botanique de Deshaies. On a rainy day, Sarah, Dad and I hiked up this hill with cameras in hand to visit the sprawling, lush, overgrown tropical gardens. Our cruising guidebook captures the essence of these magnificent gardens when it says, "This is a perfect botanical garden - nature with a dash of theatre." Nestled among the overflowing tropical greenery and carnival-esque colours of the flowers you can observe the dramatic shenanigans of koi, flamingoes, parrots and a multi-coloured bird called a Lori de Swainson. If you spend .50 Euros for a small cup of bird food, the purple and yellow headed Lori De Swainsons will proceed to land all over your head and arms, nudging their way towards the cup in the most comical way. Even if you don't have any food, if you approach someone with any the birds will land on you all the same, leaving you laughing and hoping they don't leave anything behind when they fly off.
Along the coast of Basse Terre there are several bays where boats can tuck in for the night. Yesterday we sailed to Pigeon Island and the Cousteau Underwater Park. It is by far the best spot we've snorkeled yet, right up there with "the Indians" and Norman Island in the BVIs. Pigeon Island, Petit Ilet and a brief stretch of the coast at Pigeon Island anchorage combine into an underwater amusement park with hundreds of colourful fish and corals. Between the two islands the water is a bright blue, but as the water deepens fingers of darker blues blend together. Over one short snorkeling session we saw practically every fish we've seen yet on this trip, all in one fantastic location. Floating a few inches above large parrotfish and black durgon felt like swimming in an aquarium. Among the creatures sighted were a snake-like sharptail eel, large squid, and a flat place camouflaged among the rocks. It was a site well worth visiting despite the rolly overnight anchorage we were forced to contend with.
Pictures of the Jardin Botanique and our hike up Riviere de Deshaies will follow when the internet improves, but so far it has been weak everywhere along the coast. In the meantime, check out pictures from our drive around St. Kitts on the "Travel Photos" side bar. Over the weekend we will continue sailing down the coast of Basse Terre to explore a small group of islands south of Guadeloupe called The Saintes.
Nicole.
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The road leading south from the village of Deshaies climbs steeply over a peak and disappears into the mountainous distance beyond the Jardin Botanique de Deshaies. On a rainy day, Sarah, Dad and I hiked up this hill with cameras in hand to visit the sprawling, lush, overgrown tropical gardens. Our cruising guidebook captures the essence of these magnificent gardens when it says, "This is a perfect botanical garden - nature with a dash of theatre." Nestled among the overflowing tropical greenery and carnival-esque colours of the flowers you can observe the dramatic shenanigans of koi, flamingoes, parrots and a multi-coloured bird called a Lori de Swainson. If you spend .50 Euros for a small cup of bird food, the purple and yellow headed Lori De Swainsons will proceed to land all over your head and arms, nudging their way towards the cup in the most comical way. Even if you don't have any food, if you approach someone with any the birds will land on you all the same, leaving you laughing and hoping they don't leave anything behind when they fly off.
Along the coast of Basse Terre there are several bays where boats can tuck in for the night. Yesterday we sailed to Pigeon Island and the Cousteau Underwater Park. It is by far the best spot we've snorkeled yet, right up there with "the Indians" and Norman Island in the BVIs. Pigeon Island, Petit Ilet and a brief stretch of the coast at Pigeon Island anchorage combine into an underwater amusement park with hundreds of colourful fish and corals. Between the two islands the water is a bright blue, but as the water deepens fingers of darker blues blend together. Over one short snorkeling session we saw practically every fish we've seen yet on this trip, all in one fantastic location. Floating a few inches above large parrotfish and black durgon felt like swimming in an aquarium. Among the creatures sighted were a snake-like sharptail eel, large squid, and a flat place camouflaged among the rocks. It was a site well worth visiting despite the rolly overnight anchorage we were forced to contend with.
Pictures of the Jardin Botanique and our hike up Riviere de Deshaies will follow when the internet improves, but so far it has been weak everywhere along the coast. In the meantime, check out pictures from our drive around St. Kitts on the "Travel Photos" side bar. Over the weekend we will continue sailing down the coast of Basse Terre to explore a small group of islands south of Guadeloupe called The Saintes.
Nicole.
----------
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for information see: http://www.sailmail.com
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Impressions of St. Kitts
Basseterre is a Caribbean city with friendly people and a tangible culture. Many buildings are older in colonial British and French styles, the streets have open sewer drains, and reggae and calypso music play from many store speakers. Throughout the day people sit along the downtown streets just "liming"- a relaxed attitude that involves sitting around, chatting and enjoying life. Walking through the roundabout of the circus, taxi drivers called out to us from all sides asking if we wanted tours of the island. No cruise ships were docked so many unoccupied taxis with unique names painted on the front sat waiting. One driver with a brightly tie-died shirt and matching green, red and yellow beard shouted "ah sailors off the boat! The one's yesterday were delicious!" leaving us laughing as we walked deeper into the city.
Funny enough, our guidebook talks about this colorful character saying, "Ready to party? Call Christian Rameshwar at Tangerine Tours. Christian is from Trinidad and likes to get his passengers in fine spirits with an open bar of lots of beer and four types of rum. He wears very brightly colored clothes and a beard tinted to match. His tour vehicle is a big open bus, where you sit with the breeze and the view. Christian, who loves having fun, will jolly along anyone with Eeyoreish tendencies. He is knowledgable and eloquent on historical tours."
As the day progressed vendors filled the streets selling fruit, vegetables, homemade rum, and knockoffs of jewelry. One looked like a typical hotdog stand but instead of street meat they sold packets of candy. Port Zante sits along the waterfront just off the long cruise ship dock. It is filled with duty-free shops selling jewelry and what I like to call 'made-in-China tourist crap.' Tacky tourist stuff that you can find just about anywhere. Happily I stumbled upon a lovely little craft shop beside the National Museum that had a small hand painted sign outside advertising, "Made in St. Kitts and Nevis, not China." I couldn't resist going in and I'm so glad I did. The lady running the shop made us feel so welcome. She told me all about growing up sailing with her Dad around St. Kitts, Nevis and Statia. I ended up buying a few small things, including some hand painted items made from calabash, which she explained is a large hollow fruit grown on trees and made into bowls and other small objects. She also assured me that everything in the shop was made by local artists.
Outside of the city we anchored in White House Bay along the southern stretch of St. Kitts. Green peaks rise up along the length of the island, covered in bush and grasses of green, yellow and brown. Many of the beaches are a dark grey-brown, fairly rocky, with cliffs dipping down into the sea. Nevis towers in the distance, clouds capping its main peak. So far we've done a lot of swimming, snorkeled a small wreck by the rocky shore, and gone hiking along the road around two large salt ponds and a trail up a peak right by the anchorage. After snorkeling on the first day here, I was eager to explore on shore. As I walked a beach with large pale oval stones I glanced down the curve of the beach and caught sight of a small herd of white goats trotting towards me. On and on they came, led by a white bearded old man of a Billy goat. The first thought in my head was, "I wonder if they're coming to drive me off the beach?" As they rapidly closed the ground between us I retreated into the shallows to let them pass. Quickly as they appeared they were gone, clambering off into the bushes, leaving only scents of goat cheese and curdled milk in their wake.
On our first hike ashore, Jamie, Dad and I caught sight of our first African green vervet monkey darting off the beach and into the low bushes. Small, shy creatures, they popped out of the bushes along the main road and quickly disappeared from view, like deer dodging cars back home. Jamie and I had fun wandering the main road to view the salt ponds and developing real estate on the many hills. We explored a bay to the north side and Jamie mused about kiting in the large murkey salt pond. Today we took the dinghy into the salt pond where Dad and Jamie intended to try kiting, but it was such a swamp! The water was yellowy-green, rocks and pipes protruded through the murk and when Jamie put his foot on the bottom it stuck about a foot into sticky brown muck.
White House Bay has been an interesting anchorage in many ways. The water is clear and clean, it is fairly secluded with only a few other cruisers anchored around, and there is a useful dock nearby, courtesy of Christope Harbour Development. They are actually converting the nearby salt ponds into a marina, although it is early along in the process. There have been a few negative factors to this anchorage as well. Every day the wind swirls down the nearby hills, tossing the boat around as it funnels into the bay. As Mom likes to say, "The wind goes from zero to sixty knots in five seconds." A bit of an exaggeration, but we did have a problem after the first night when our anchor chain decided to wrap itself around a large piece of metal wreck on the bottom. Every time the wind tossed us in the night the chain would yank and make a banging sound on the bow. It took a lot of maneuvering and Jamie snorkeling in the water telling us what to do to release it. It ended with the anchor free and the piece of metal broken in two separate pieces. After that we made sure to snorkel the area all along the chain to make sure it was clear.
So far St. Kitts has been a beautiful welcoming country. I can't wait to rent a car next week and drive the undulating hills. Jamie and Dad hope to kite off the north side of Frigate Bay tomorrow. So far our plan is to wait for the part Dad ordered for the auto pilot to arrive and then move on to explore Nevis. I think renting mountain bikes on Nevis will be a great way to explore, and the guidebook assures me that you can get around the whole island in one morning at a leisurely pace.
We managed to get a sim card for the iPad so we do have Internet all the time now, but I cannot get pictures onto it, so they will follow soon. Also, Jamie has put together an awesome video of photos and video footage from our time in the BVIs and St. Kitts. So that'll be up when we head back to Basseterre to rent a car next week.
All the best,
Nicole.
Funny enough, our guidebook talks about this colorful character saying, "Ready to party? Call Christian Rameshwar at Tangerine Tours. Christian is from Trinidad and likes to get his passengers in fine spirits with an open bar of lots of beer and four types of rum. He wears very brightly colored clothes and a beard tinted to match. His tour vehicle is a big open bus, where you sit with the breeze and the view. Christian, who loves having fun, will jolly along anyone with Eeyoreish tendencies. He is knowledgable and eloquent on historical tours."
As the day progressed vendors filled the streets selling fruit, vegetables, homemade rum, and knockoffs of jewelry. One looked like a typical hotdog stand but instead of street meat they sold packets of candy. Port Zante sits along the waterfront just off the long cruise ship dock. It is filled with duty-free shops selling jewelry and what I like to call 'made-in-China tourist crap.' Tacky tourist stuff that you can find just about anywhere. Happily I stumbled upon a lovely little craft shop beside the National Museum that had a small hand painted sign outside advertising, "Made in St. Kitts and Nevis, not China." I couldn't resist going in and I'm so glad I did. The lady running the shop made us feel so welcome. She told me all about growing up sailing with her Dad around St. Kitts, Nevis and Statia. I ended up buying a few small things, including some hand painted items made from calabash, which she explained is a large hollow fruit grown on trees and made into bowls and other small objects. She also assured me that everything in the shop was made by local artists.
Outside of the city we anchored in White House Bay along the southern stretch of St. Kitts. Green peaks rise up along the length of the island, covered in bush and grasses of green, yellow and brown. Many of the beaches are a dark grey-brown, fairly rocky, with cliffs dipping down into the sea. Nevis towers in the distance, clouds capping its main peak. So far we've done a lot of swimming, snorkeled a small wreck by the rocky shore, and gone hiking along the road around two large salt ponds and a trail up a peak right by the anchorage. After snorkeling on the first day here, I was eager to explore on shore. As I walked a beach with large pale oval stones I glanced down the curve of the beach and caught sight of a small herd of white goats trotting towards me. On and on they came, led by a white bearded old man of a Billy goat. The first thought in my head was, "I wonder if they're coming to drive me off the beach?" As they rapidly closed the ground between us I retreated into the shallows to let them pass. Quickly as they appeared they were gone, clambering off into the bushes, leaving only scents of goat cheese and curdled milk in their wake.
On our first hike ashore, Jamie, Dad and I caught sight of our first African green vervet monkey darting off the beach and into the low bushes. Small, shy creatures, they popped out of the bushes along the main road and quickly disappeared from view, like deer dodging cars back home. Jamie and I had fun wandering the main road to view the salt ponds and developing real estate on the many hills. We explored a bay to the north side and Jamie mused about kiting in the large murkey salt pond. Today we took the dinghy into the salt pond where Dad and Jamie intended to try kiting, but it was such a swamp! The water was yellowy-green, rocks and pipes protruded through the murk and when Jamie put his foot on the bottom it stuck about a foot into sticky brown muck.
White House Bay has been an interesting anchorage in many ways. The water is clear and clean, it is fairly secluded with only a few other cruisers anchored around, and there is a useful dock nearby, courtesy of Christope Harbour Development. They are actually converting the nearby salt ponds into a marina, although it is early along in the process. There have been a few negative factors to this anchorage as well. Every day the wind swirls down the nearby hills, tossing the boat around as it funnels into the bay. As Mom likes to say, "The wind goes from zero to sixty knots in five seconds." A bit of an exaggeration, but we did have a problem after the first night when our anchor chain decided to wrap itself around a large piece of metal wreck on the bottom. Every time the wind tossed us in the night the chain would yank and make a banging sound on the bow. It took a lot of maneuvering and Jamie snorkeling in the water telling us what to do to release it. It ended with the anchor free and the piece of metal broken in two separate pieces. After that we made sure to snorkel the area all along the chain to make sure it was clear.
So far St. Kitts has been a beautiful welcoming country. I can't wait to rent a car next week and drive the undulating hills. Jamie and Dad hope to kite off the north side of Frigate Bay tomorrow. So far our plan is to wait for the part Dad ordered for the auto pilot to arrive and then move on to explore Nevis. I think renting mountain bikes on Nevis will be a great way to explore, and the guidebook assures me that you can get around the whole island in one morning at a leisurely pace.
We managed to get a sim card for the iPad so we do have Internet all the time now, but I cannot get pictures onto it, so they will follow soon. Also, Jamie has put together an awesome video of photos and video footage from our time in the BVIs and St. Kitts. So that'll be up when we head back to Basseterre to rent a car next week.
All the best,
Nicole.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
"The Baths" at Virgin Gorda
On our way to the beach we (the kids) were distracted by the beautiful sea life clinging to the bottom near the boulder-strewn shore and couldn't resist diving down to take photos. Washing up on the beach we left our fins with Granny H. and made our way into the crevices of the baths and felt like explorers discovering cool clear pools and hidden cracks between massive boulders. Eventually the trail led to a tiny beach called Devil's Bay with water as blue and clear as a pool. Here Jamie found a small crack between rocks where the swell washes in creating a washing-machine-like wave pool where you can enjoy yourself floating back and forth on the sandy bottom whilst gathering a surprising amount of sand in your bathing suit bottoms. Exploring the baths made us wonder what it must have felt like to be the first to discover such a unique place. I can say with surety that visiting the baths with my siblings is one part of this holiday that I will always remember in the future.
Enjoy the photos :)
Nicole.
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