Guadeloupe....part deux

Our decision to turn around early immediately paid off with a beautiful and comfortable beam reach back to the Iles des Saintes. It's amazing how pleasurable sailing is when you're going with the flow. We enjoyed a couple quiet days puttering around the Saintes, a great snorkel at Pigeon Island in Jacques Cousteau's marine park, and a proper little visit to Deshaises. It was really nice to not be in a pressured rush and simply do whatever we wanted to do rather than what we thought we should do. Morale was slowly improving!

An iguana posing handsomely in a bush. Usually they scurry away but this one seemed to enjoy the attention and posing for the camera.

A band that walked up and down the street. Signifying what? Don't know.

Back to the climbing structure on a sleepy Sunday.

Getting ready for our snorkel at Pigeon Island. The weather was nice and settled which was good for the usual rolly anchorage and also visibility in the water. We were hoping the shorty wetsuit would keep Cubby in the water longer. Usually she gets cold quickly but this time we couldn't get her out. 

Nice to see living coral.

Pretty filefish.

Blue chromis is a favorite of the kids.

This is a cleaning station. The Surgeonfish came in and the Damselfish cleaned the parasites off of them. 

Another favorite: trunkfish

An Andyfish.

Magnificent Feather Duster

HUGE puffer warily poking its head out of its hiding place.

Lots of dive and snorkel boats ferry people out to the island.

Cowfish.

Peacock flounder camouflaging itself.

Brain coral.

Sponges.

On our way north to Deshaises we saw a pod of dolphins playing like mad. Look at these aerobatics!

Then they came to play with us. It's always a treat when dolphins come to play and we get just as excited about it now as we did the first time it happened. 

Making more furry friends in Deshaises.

A nice lunch out. Thankfully our waitress spoke a little English. We really had every intention of trying to speak French but totally failed.

A selfie with our lunch companion who really enjoyed sharing Andy's grilled tuna. 

And then getting passed around for snuggles with everyone.

That's a pretty decadent dessert for kids! 

After lunch we walked up to the Botanical Garden.

What is it about these things that is so gross?

Pretty flower. The Botanical Garden had a long winding path that takes you through the grounds. All the plants were laid out by region and well-labeled. It was much cooler among the plants than on the hot, steep road we took to get there. 

A nice name for one of the rescued macaws.  I wonder if he's discovered his "special purpose".

The macaws had a large shady area, funky caribbean colorful houses to roost in and lots of ropes and branches to climb.

We were all looking forward to seeing the flamingos that are featured in all of their advertisements. So it was pretty disappointing that there were no flamingos!

Orchids are so pretty. Especially au naturel.

Overlooking the bay from the picnic area.

There was a pen of very silly goats in the picnic area. 

One goat kept picking head butting fights with everyone.

The kids had fun feeding the lorakeets. Cubby wasn't so sure she wanted to do it. 

But once she joined in it she had fun.

But was still a little creeped out.

Drew loved doing this at the aquarium in Norwalk years ago.

Overlooking Deshaises. That's a cemetary in the background. They always have the best views.