After spending several days aboard a boat and not going ashore very much, it was a good opportunity to spend some quality time ashore, so after clearing into France at Le Pelican ashore we rented a car and proceeded to drive around the island. Although it was a small engine Skoda it made it up the hill in 2nd or 3rd gear (depending upon whether or not we had the air conditioning turned on) and 5 people aboard, and soon we were in the national park at altitude in the mountains. The forest walk in the shade and high altitude air was wonderful, as was the trip to the waterfalls. After that bit of greenery I drove to the industrial shopping area at Point-a-Pitre and the contrast to the quaint fishing village of Deshaies was remarkable. The shopping area is the 2nd largest in all of France and I replenished my Nespresso supplies and we stopped at various places before joining the heavy rush-hour traffic for the lengthy trip back to Deshaies. On the way back the discussion turned, amongst other topics, to the “Green Flash” often talked about in sailing circles and since this occurred as the sun was touching the horizon and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky in that direction, we stopped off at the side of the road just in time to catch the sun sink into the ocean and give us, for a brief millisecond, a parting green flash!
Back aboard with our purchases from the supermarket I stopped off on Katz for a post-sundowner drink and got a tasty portion of pasta before returning to Zanshin and a good night’s rest.
 |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |
 |  |  |  |
 |  |
 |