The coast south of Deshaie on Guadaloupe
So day 2, 29th January 2025, we decided to take a drive around to see what was in the vicinity. We drove south along the coast road but didn't find the obligatory morning coffee anywhere so we made for the road which crosses the mountains from the east side of Basse Terre and headed up. I had done a spot of research and found a waterfall which looked interesting so we headed for that. On the way up we passed a place where there was the start of a path to the top of one of the peaks - something called the Mamelle de Pigeon - but looking up we could see that the top was completely enveloped in cloud so decided to give it a miss and drove on.
The next thing we passed was a nice looking restaurant/ cafe/ bar at the top of a pass. This was set to the side of the road and looked very tempting...."lunch," I thought - but not yet.
On reaching the site of the waterfall, the Cascade aux ecrevisses, it was immediately apparent that this was another of those mandatory stops on the various tours, as well as a very popular independent tourist spot. The small car park was rammed full and there were buses and cars parked at the side of the road for some distance. We managed to squeeze into a parking place and set off with the crowd along the path to the waterfall. It was apparent that it was a place where people liked to swim as there were numbers either in swimming gear or carrying it with them. Yes the waterfall is quite attractive but it is necessary to fight your way through a considerable crowd to get anything like a view and the idea of swmiing in the pool at the foot of the fall was about as appealing as ... Well let's just say it was standing room only, with lots of pushing and shoving as people fought to get that TikTok or Instagram selfie. I got a couple of photos of the falls and even managed to eliminate all the people.
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Heading back to the car park we spotted another track at the other side of the road, signposted simply "Picnic Place" so we decided to take a look. Very few people went that way but we did see one couple swimming in a small pool in the river and exploring a little further we came to a spot with a small pebbly beach, a wide, deep pool and a rocky area clear of trees.
The pool here looked very inviting so, despite a lack of swimming gear, it had to be done - and after all pants and no different from swimming trunks really.
Suitably refreshed, and despite damp shorts, we decided it was time to explore the possibilities of lunch back at the restaurant we had seen. We pulled into the spacious car park and could now see that it was indeed a restaurant and was open, Gites Des Mamelles it was called. The owner explained that if we wanted food it would be a short wait as her chef had not yet arrived, but the sun was shining, it was warm and the view was superb so, armed with a couple of beers, we were happy to wait.
The view from Gites Des Mamelles
And so, after a very pleasant lunch we headed back to the apartment to sit on the balcony with more beer, in preparation for a further visit to Fitay by Myron (chicken this time). We did have one more visitor that day, ambled past in the trees. A large Green Iguana (about 8 feet long from nose to tip of tail).
Green Iguana, Guadaloupe