The Colour of Sand

On Monday morning, after a breakfast of coffee or tea or whatever with pains aux raisins fresh from the bakery, we set off for Grande Anse.

We walked through Deshaies, a pretty little village, this time going north (the botanical gardens are to the south).

The church in Deshaies.

One of Deshaies' charming wooden Creole houses.

A pleasant walk of about two kilometres brought us to the south end of Grande Anse, Basse Terre’s longest beach at some 1.5 km. (Guadeloupe is formed of two islands separated by the narrow Rivière Salée; the western island is Basse Terre, the eastern is Grande Terre.) The sand is described in my handy-dandy Caribbean guide book as “golden”. We decided it was cinnamon and really very beautiful accompanied as it was by well-behaved breakers adding sound and motion to the scene.

Walking the cinnamon sands of Grande Anse.

We walked its length to the northern end where there is the Caribbean equivalent of a food court. WW and the guests ordered ham and cheese sandwiches which turned out to be cardboard white bread, processes cheese slices and traces of ham all compressed to about a quarter-inch thickness in a sandwich press. Yum. I held out for accras (salt cod fritters) and salad from the place next door. I won.

Lovely surf at Grande Anse.

We walked back the way we had come. We had planned to do some grocery shopping in Deshaies, forgetting that the French islands still observe siesta—shops close from 1 to 3:30 or 4 p.m. Sigh.

We went back to the boat and WW gathered our papers. He and I returned ashore where he cleared us out. We then were able to get our groceries.

Another of Margaret's Deshaies sunsets.

Lamb and spinach curry with pulao rice for dinner. A good, fish-free night of sleep. More pains aux raisins early in the morning. We raised anchor at about 8 a.m. on Tuesday, headed back to Antigua.