Pointe À Pitre Guadeloupe (Part 2)

Museum about slavery (L) next to the empty anchorage by the town

The news from the airline was that Charlotte’s bag would be in Guadeloupe the following day arriving mid-afternoon. That scuppered our plans to head off in BV first thing in the morning and so, instead, Charlotte and I hatched a plan to visit Pointe ÀPitre town in the morning.

The bus ride was very easy to get us into town but because of the one-way system we needed to keep our eyes open for the return trip bus stop. Walking from where the bus dropped us off we passed the empty anchorage that Nicky and I had chosen not to use; probably just as well because it looked like work was being done on the harbour wall and BV might have been in the way.

Charlotte and I got our first close-up look at a pelican which was sitting on the back of a fishing boat right beside the market. Smart bird; I suspect there were plenty of scraps to eat from the fish stalls!

Quai de la Darse market hall

The fish stalls were right beside the Quai de la Darse market hall. We dallied a little enjoying the vibrant colours and looking all of the fabulous fresh fruit and vegetables on offer. It was Charlotte’s first visit to the Caribbean and so it was interesting for her to see all of the different produce sold here, many of which just aren’t available in the UK. We spotted some okra which Nicky and I had failed to find during our mega-food shop the previous day, so we bought some before moving on to the main part of town.

Street stalls and music (L) The marché central couvert (R)

The side streets were lively and full of music. There was a cruise ship moored by the town and so, as well as lots of stalls selling souvenirs, we watched a fabulous drumming band play in the street. A little further on we came across another square with the central covered market. Brightly coloured towels, clothes and potent looking rum infusions were on sale, as well as various fiery hot sauces to go with the local food.

The Spiny Lobster bar with more live music

Just beside the covered market we spotted the Spiny Lobster bar. It too had a live band playing and so everywhere we had gone so far in Pointe ÀPitre was a foot-tapping experience. Too early for a stop, we continued our explorations and a couple of blocks further on came face to face with the cruise ship. They are not my idea of a fun holiday but we were grateful that we were also able to benefit from the town’s efforts to make the cruise ship passengers feel welcome.

L’Eglise St Pierre et St Paul

Taking a wide arcing clockwise route we found ourselves in Place Gourbeyre dominated by the neo-classical L’Eglise de St Pierre et St Paul. Slightly reminiscent of the covered market, inside the church was full of riveted steel girders and uprights rather than the stone pillars you would have expected from the exterior. This metal frame construction was made popular by Gustave Eiffel, of Eiffel Tower fame, as a method to try to make buildings hurricane and earthquake resistant. Certainly this church seems to have survived as long as the Eiffel Tower and so I guess the building philosophy works.

Place de La Victoire surrounded by colonial buildings

On our circuitous route back to the Spiny Lobster bar we found ourselves in the Place de la Victoire, at the opposite end to the Quai de la Darse where we had started. Surrounded by old colonial buildings it certainly had a pleasant atmosphere now but during France’s transition to a republic, the square had apparently been the location for the island’s guillotine, used to dispatch any local aristocrats opposed to the new, revolutionary French government.

Pointe ÀPitre was great to wander around and it was lovely to see so many examples of French Caribbean architecture, but Charlotte and I also really liked the style of the plainer wooden homes tucked away in the back streets which had been made more fun by the application of some colourful paint and carefully tended flowers.

We completed our circuit of the town and, as expected, found the Spiny Lobster to be a good spot from which to watch the world go by whilst enjoying a cool beer. The only slight disappointment was that we timed our beer stop just as the live band also stopped for a break! We sipped our beers slowly in the hope that they would start playing again but had no such luck. With one eye on the clock with a view to picking up Charlotte’s bag, we wandered back to the corner of Place de la Victoire. This was an important place for us because not only did it have our bus stop for getting back to the marina, it also had an ice cream parlour…… and jolly good ice creams they served up too!

Back at BV we had a bit of a song and dance getting Charlotte’s bag back. We knew the time that the flight with the bag had landed but, a couple of hours later, we had heard nothing from the airline and our phone calls went unanswered [Ed: presumably because all the airline staff were busy reuniting passengers with bags]. So Charlotte and I hopped into a taxi and went up to the airport to recover the missing bag. Exactly as you would expect in a comedy, we had no sooner arrived at the airport than Charlotte’s phone sprang into life with the message that her bag had just been delivered to the marina office! Well, at least we’d boosted the local economy by funding two very pleasant but over-priced taxi rides.

Ilet du Gosier

With Charlotte reunited with her luggage and an overall feeling that we had been in port far too long, we decided that a late afternoon move to a small Caribbean island was the appropriate move, especially given that Charlotte was on holiday. A couple of evenings previously we had had drinks with Kaia and Kjell on 2K(a few moorings up from us in the marina) and had discovered that they were also in the marina to pick up family guests whose flights had also been delayed by the Air France strikes – there had been lots in common to discuss. As a part of those discussions they had told us about Ilet de Gosier. Just a few miles to the east, close outside the entrance to Pointe ÀPitre’s river, it was exactly what we needed.

Sunset over Basse-Terre anchored off Ilet de Gosier

So, after a very short motor, we escaped from the marina environment and got ourselves to a proper Caribbean anchorage complete with the palm tree coveredIlet de Gosier in one direction and an amazingly fiery sunset to the west over Basse-Terre. Charlotte even wore her crazy holiday Caribbean shirt for sundowners which matched the sunset perfectly. The 24 hour delay in retrieving her bag was a frustration but, with everything resolved, we’d had the benefit of a fab excursion aroundPointe ÀPitre and a lovely evening anchored off Ilet de Gosier, neither of which we had planned to do.

Pointe ÀPitre, Guadeloupe