My review of our little trip around the island of Guadeloupe. We rented a car and in one day tried to see two main attractions: the Corbet waterfalls and the Soufriere volcano.
Ship's log. Day fifteen.
Guadeloupe is shaped like a butterfly. A short isthmus connects two almost equal halves: the east is a Caribbean paradise with beaches, music and fun, the west is mountains, jungle, waterfalls and an active volcano. To get to know the country, we had a car and one incomplete day - you can't see everything, you have to choose. Of course, we chose the left half of the island.
The whole cruise was followed by rains: it was flooding in Marseille, it was watered in Tenerife, it was drizzling in Barbados, and in Martinique it was pouring so much that for the whole day we practically could not get out of the car. Arriving in Guadeloupe, we hoped for the best, but it turned out as always, or rather a hundred times worse.
On that day, only one cloud hung over this small country, and it was tightly hooked on the Soufriere volcano we needed. Casting a gaze full of sadness and sadness at the Caribbean beaches illuminated by the gentle sun on the eastern side of the island, sighing bitterly and crossing ourselves, we headed west, up into the mountains, to the center of the blue cloud. Was not!
On the way to the Soufriere volcano, I decided to visit another slope of it, famous for its powerful Corbet waterfalls. This was a fatal mistake.
The charming road leading into the heart of the jungle to the waterfalls was so inviting and attractive that we could not expect a setup. I recklessly hoped to walk the track to the falls and return back in less than an hour.
It all started well - the cobblestone road promised a quick and easy way. However, the joy did not last long, after 200 meters we entered a path that was washed out and flooded with rains, and we had to wade through it slowly and carefully - we had to jump over stones, roots, frail platforms and rare dry islands.
At the very waterfall, Corbet was waiting for another surprise, or rather, two at once. To get to the observation deck, you had to go down 10 meters down the steep slope on a rope. Having asked the price, we considered it possible and started the descent. Everything was going well, but then, halfway down, he came - a vigorous tropical downpour. The rain washed away not only the sweat from our faces, but also the hopes of a successful ascent to the volcano before dark. More precisely, they still remained, but confidence in this was greatly shaken. Having decided to sacrifice the waterfall, we began to hastily climb up the rope and set off on our way back until the forest was finally flooded.
We walked through the jungle for an hour, put ourselves in order for half an hour, spent the same amount for lunch and another hour drove to the volcano. We arrived at the starting point of the ascent at an altitude of 900 meters only at 16:10. We briskly began the assault, but the next volley of rainstorm quickly knocked us down. Further - everything is in a fog. An hour and a half of climbing through the jungle, cold, fogs, showers, wind, the dizzy smell of sulfur gas and the smooth but steady onset of dusk. By 17:30 we reached an altitude of 1340 meters, and then a downpour started again and a strong wind blew. We lingered so much, the light was melting before our eyes, so we had to start a very hasty descent along the slippery stones. After 10 minutes, only vague outlines of objects were visible, after another 20, pitch darkness reigned. By some miracle, in a little over an hour, we nevertheless descended, although the chances were not very great. Once my leg fell off a cliff, but with the bulk of my body I flopped onto the path, so I got off with only tattered palms.
