This morning, we got up early to put on snorkeling gear and see the turtles, which frequent an area of our cove a couple hundred meters from the pier. We swam around for 45 minutes, saw some fish, corals, sponges, and sea grass, but no turtles. No pictures this time.
On our way to a magnificent beach restaurant for lunch, we first stopped at a viewpoint overlooking Rocher du Diamant (Diamond Rock), which provides the name for the large beach at Grande Anse du Diamant. In the early 19th century, the British laid claim to the island, christened HMS Diamond!
Diamond Rock is a volcanic neck with breccia blocks visible in this photo.
The beach in this cove is rather large with regular waves characteristic of the Atlantic Ocean.
In this cove, in 1830, a slave ship carrying west Africans capsized. Most of the people perished and this memorial has been erected in commemoration.
The statues are made of concrete. This site is where most of the bodies were buried. The ship’s officers were buried in a proper cemetary!
The beach view from the Chill restaurant, our choice for lunch (we both had conch), and the view from our table. Amazing lunch at an amazing place. We could see people playing in the waves and a kite surfer while we ate lunch.
We then drove to Forêt Départmentalo Domaniale de Montravail park for a hike to see some petroglyphs carved by ancient Amerindians similar to the ones that we saw in Guadeloupe. However, we were not at the correct place or we did not understand the signs. But we had a nice, cool but sweaty hike in the red mahogany rain forest. We eventually determined that Sentiers in French just means trail and not a destination!
The trail was mostly easy and we did enjoy the solitude.
Eventually we reached these carved trees but we do not know their significance as there were no signs in English. It was then back in the car to drive to the Boulangerie and grocery stores for provisions before heading back to our bungalow on the black sand beach. We are serenaded by insects and frogs every night as well as the music of the waves breaking gently on the beach.
Brian needs to finish his Carib beer and go to bed!
Bunch of Geeks go Traveling 