Deshaies

Hi everyone,

We spent six days in Deshaies on the NW coast of Basse Terre, Guadeloupe.  Deshaies is a port of entry and a lovely little town.  It's on bus routes which allow exploration of much of the island, although information about the bus routes can be difficult to find.

Signage with creole helps pronounciation!

Our first four days in Deshaies were windy and showery.  We were anchored towards the outer edge of the anchorage in 12m over a sand and rock bottom.  During the evening of our third night our anchor drag alarm went off and we found ourselves dragging out of the anchorage towards a nice new Oyster.  We motored forward, weighed the anchor (it's heavy) and reset it.  Happily we didn't drag again.

View on a breezy day

We spent our last two nights on a mooring much closer to the village.  That felt much safer and we expected to be charged but no-one turned up to collect the fee.  Oh well, we spent a fair bit in the town so hope it won't be held against us!  Of course as soon as we moved inshore the weather improved.

Dinghy Dock

We spent three days exploring beyond Deshaies itself.  Our first visit was to the Botanic Gardens, a 1.5km walk up the hill south of the town.  The buses actually go there, and one can call the Garden to have them collect you from town.  However you get there it's well worthwhile.  Here are few pictures...

View from the road up to the Jardin Botanique

The main pool in the Jardin Botanique

Waterfall and pool with restaurant above

Real live pink flamingoes

Many orchids

Our second outing was to Sainte Rose, a larger town on the north coast of Basse Terre.  We walked from the centre of town to the Musee de Rhum.  About a 30 minute walk and we discovered we could have changed to a DS2 bus and got off a lot closer.  Twas a nice walk out of town.

D2 minibus to Sainte Rose

Art commemorating a road death

The museum is of course part of a distillery.  The museum describes rum making well, with English language and videos as well as French.  The museum also includes model ships - many of them are English with some amusing descriptions.  There are also impressive displays of Guadeloupe's butterfly and insect species, and an array of models of larger animals from cats to dinosaurs.

The distillery offers rum tasting and naturally we emerged with a bottle of nice rum and another of a rum liqueur.

Musee de Rhum

A rum pirate

One job but many tools around the world

Distillery cane field

Love the street art

And the beer

Bringing in the harvest

Our third outing was to Pointe a Pitre, one of the main towns in Guadeloupe.  We took an express bus, which didn't seem very express but was a large coach.  It was interesting seeing more of the hinterland.

The outskirts of Pointe a Pitre are occupied by large shopping malls, car dealerships and the like.  Pointe a Pitre itself sadly seems quite run down.  The street art brings it to life.

Deshaies - Pointe de Pitre express coach

View from the bus - cane fields and green hills

Cathedral

Market

A hundred rum punch mixers

Street Art

Don't open the door!

Back in Deshaies and on the mooring we had several swimming sessions.  By then the weather had improved and winds were light.  There must be at least 20 turtles in the bay.  The shallower areas amongst the moorings have sea grass which attracts the turtles.  The last time we've swum with so many was in Indonesia in 2013.

Massive mooring

Well camoflaged turtle

Turtle 'on the wing'

We had a great time in Deshaies but it's time to resume moving south.

Our go-to cafe on Deshaies waterfront

Trust all's well where you are.