A side visit to Desirade, Guadeloupe April 5/6

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Desirade was a former leper colony Eastern tip of Guadeloupe known as Point des Chateaux A dangerous place to be in a boat Desirade in the backround As seen from Point des Chateaux By land and sea On the mountain tops of Desirade The not so friendly roads of Desirade Provisioning at Cora A first rate super marche The Caribbean's must like ginger Wednesday and Thursday, April 5&6, 2006 Since we had not exhausted our exploration of Guadeloupe, we decided to take this opportunity to rent a car and drive out to the eastern most tip of the island which is very rugged with some stunning rock formations. Their jagged edges rise out of the ocean like broken pieces of glass, ready to cut and tear into any misdirected sailboat that ventured into their path. We chose to view by land. We spent the night near the Chateaux and took a ferry the next morning to the tiny island of Desirade, ten miles to the east. It is always exciting to visit another island, especially one that used to be a leper colony. It is not a place you can visit with a sailboat, since there are no safe places to anchor. It is inhabited, but like so many of these islands, they saw their glory one hundred or even two hundred years ago, when sugar cane, tobacco, and cotton generated huge profits for the European slave owners. One night in a hotel was enough; it was good to back home on Full Circle. Tomorrow, we push off for Antigua and her sister island Barbuda. Previous | Next