Moving south and into position to go into the marina in Point a Pitre for Christmas we stopped for a couple of days in Bouillante on the west coast of Guadeloupe.
The key to the attraction of this bay in the name which translates to English as boiling; the only geothermal energy plant in the Caribbean. Once the hot water has passed through the turbine it is discharged into the sea making a perfect geothermal spa for bathers. The warmer you want your seawater bath the closer you should get to the discharge, though not too close because it is boiling water.
We went for a dip on Sunday afternoon and there were lots of people taking the waters. They had gingerly stepped over the stones that form the beach here. We swam / waded from the dinghy dock to avoid the stones. It was fantastic to be floating in the hot water and people around us heard our English and wanted to chat. One local lady and her husband who spoke as little English as I speak French invited us to visit them at their house. Two French ladies, one who had lived in Scotland, chatted for half an hour. It was a lovely way to spend the afternoon – taking the waters and making new friends.
The only downside of the anchorage is the holding. We would hear the chain snatching so I took a swim and found we lying a few meters behind a coral head and as we swung the chain snagged. Where we were at 10m depth there is only old reef, I swam around and didn’t find any patches of sand to move to so because the wind is very light and we leave tomorrow we shortened our scope to avoid catching on the prominent coral head.
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