Stunning Botanical gardens in the rain

Woke up to discover the boat covered in grey ash, from the volcano. It is apparently erupting every two to three hours.

It is a lovely tranquil spot here, just loads of seabirds breaking the silence with their shrieking, but somehow it is very peaceful. It is a very cloudy drizzly day so we decided to walk to the Botanical gardens just outside town. The locals can’t believe us walking, especially in the rain. It is a private estate that runs the gardens and has been in the same family since the 1700’s. It was a an absolute feast of tropical dense green verdant foliage and flowers whichever way you looked.

I love the dramatic Heliconias, so many varieties, all have local names, – Lobster Claw, Crab Claw and even Sexy Pink! The blue flower is Jade Vine, almost looks artificial. Loads of pink and red Wax Rose or Pink Torch Ginger (seems to have a lot of different names – latin name is Etlingera).

There are a few Caribbean islands that seem to claim the birthplace of Napoleon’s first wife Josephine.

The ancient baths are looking a bit tired

Diamond Falls, with the grey muddy water coming from the same volcano

Sour Sop is our favourite new fruit, quite unlike anything else, so ugly, it is ripe when it starts going black. It grows straight from the trunk, there is a tiny new fruit just starting on the right hand side

A huge canopy from an enormous tree fern.

I just love the dense tropical foliage.

We had to have a guide, a lovely knowledgable woman, we were the only guests and are suffering from the lack of cruise ship. There was a lady making straw baskets, we bought one, it was sadly her first purchase in over two weeks.

We asked Hitchcock, the owner of the ‘Kill and Pray’ boat, to look after the boat while we were out. We had been inundated with boys and men on Kayaks, boats and anything that floats basically, pestering us for money, jobs, food etc etc. Hitchcock hadn’t pestered us at all and with a boat name like that we thought nobody would mess around with him. We were gone quite a long time so we were very pleased to see him on guard when we returned. Rowan gave him a sandwich and a beer, plus some money. He was so chuffed, a really dignified old gent, that some of the youngsters could learn a thing or two from.

We hung about waiting for the light to improve to go snorkelling. The Pelicans kept me entertained as they dive bombed around us.

We set off north in the afternoon leaving the cloudy Pitons behind.

We past the fancy Chastanet and Jade Mountain resorts. Jade Mountain resort is famous for having no windows or glass, a bit like Moonhole, all open to the elements and built in brown stone. Apparently a great restaurant, but now we are classified local and not international, we can’t go. The yellow quarantine flags were flying.

Atmospheric misty, rainy views up the valleys that we sailed past

Finally anchored next to some cliffs just north of a little fishing village called Canaries. Sadly we couldn’t go ashore as there is no dinghy dock and the waves were breaking along the small section of beach. So we had this magical little spot to ourselves for a lovely sunset.