CAUTION: FLOWER PICTURE OVERLOAD, LOL!
We had an easy night last night as the trip from Isles de Saintes to Guadeloupe is a short one. We got up around 6:30 am and headed up top to watch the sun rise and see the ship pull in to anchor.
We caught a tender into town and headed first to find an ATM as we had no Euro, which is the currency used in Guadeloupe. We then walked to the Jardin Botanical Gardens which was about ¾ mile going uphill at a 10% grade. We broke a sweat but was nice after not doing much yesterday. It sits on 7 hectares (a little over 17 acres) and has been open to the public since 2001. The site was already home to a plant lover who bought rare plants from around the world. Many were lost in 1989 to Hurricane Hugo. Today visitors can see over 800 species of plants and some animals, mainly chickens, flamingos, and birds. I took way too many pictures of the flowers, but that’s my thing. We spent over an hour walking around and then headed back down to the port. There was a little shop that caught my eye when we were looking for the ATM, so went in there and got a cute reversible skirt and a beach coverup. There was only a very small beach, but it’s known for deep sea diving and snorkeling.
We caught the tender back to the ship around 1:30, grabbed a quick bite to eat and then spent the afternoon with our friends. John and Scott went to a navigation chart reading lesson while the rest of us hung out at the bar. We all cleaned up and had a great dinner discussing what we all did during the day.
Tonight, we had the Star Flyer passengers & crew talent show. Most of the talent was from the crew, but there were a couple of passengers (those that had traveled with them the week before) that sang. The crew does a great job and it’s nice to see them show off with their singing, dancing, etc. The best surprise was Brian, the nurse on the ship, who dressed up and lip synced to Madonna’s “Material Girl”. He rocked the costume and there were many who did not realize it was him! The heels he wore were amazing and how he walked in those things is unreal. Also, Jerby, the guy in charge of all the music, did a great rendition of “Gangnam Style” with some of his fellow crew mates. Very entertaining!
After the show, we all headed up top to look at the stars for a while.
Excerpt about Guadeloupe from the flyer:
Guadeloupe is a Caribbean island with tropical rain forests and a volcano. Guadeloupe is also a department of France, 4306 miles away from Paris but sharing the language, culture, and cuisine of the continent. It is an archipelago in the Caribbean Sea comprising several distinct islands. Guadeloupe proper is made up of two islands, Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre, separated by a sea water channel, the Rivière Salée. The other islands are Marie Galante, La Désirade and Les Saintes which lie offshore and St. Maarten and St. Barthelemy some 125 miles north. The butterfly shaped island of Guadeloupe has a land area of 530 square miles. The western wing, Basse-Terre is 312 miles square, and the eastern wing, Grande-Terre is 218 miles square. Approximately 386,600 people live on Guadeloupe, with about 50% of the population under 20 years of age. That figure comprises all residents of Guadeloupe’s offshore islands as well as French St. Maarten and St. Barth’s. Guadeloupe has an economy based on agriculture and not tourism. As a result, you won’t see villages corrupted by tourism, hawking souvenirs, and doing choreographed traditional dances times for your tour. Everything that you experience in Guadeloupe will be authentic.
