A Tale of Two Chemists: Jardin Botanique de Deshaies ... March 24th 2018

Jardin Botanique de Deshaies ... March 24^th 2018

When we met up with the rally boats in Iles des Saintes, our friends had very positive things to say about the botanical garden here in Deshaies. The one exception was Nigel on Taiko. He had elected to stay on the boat rather than visit “another botanical garden”. This tale was accompanied by a bit of a rant about the evils of gardening in general. I can’t possible do it justice. It did remind me of Mike’s friend from Edinburgh who claimed “gardening is for old age pensioners”! Now that we are of the correct age, what’s wrong with a visit to the botanical gardens.

In a rare display of discretion, we called to get the shuttle to pick us up and transport us to the garden. Once we saw the route, we were overjoyed with our decision. The road was steep, winding and very fast—at least the way the shuttle bus driver attacked it. We paid and entered to see a pond filled with Koi. The fish were more or less swimming over one another in an attempt to be fed. As far as I could see, no one had any food so these efforts were for naught. Turning the first corner we entered a free flight aviary with “blue headed lorikeets”. These very colorful birds were flying around, many were perched on shrubs close to the path, allowing you could get a good look. If you had the correct coin (which we did not) you could purchase a cup of nectar to feed the birds. We saw a number of people with multiple birds on their hands and arms.

After the aviary, we walked through the gardens where many orchids, blooming shrubs and trees were to be seen. Interesting displays talked about the introduction of plants to Guadeloupe, the earliest being sugar cane in the late 1400s. While many of these were food crops, not all were by any means. In addition to the lorikeets, we saw flamingos and macaws. I was very excited to spot a brown trembler in a tree and to point it out to Mike (this type of bird I had seen on St. Lucia but Mike had not.) When we got to the macaws enclosures, there was a trembler eating out of the food bowls! We saw another Vanilla orchid vine looking very vigorous (but no seed pods).

After a fortifying sandwich at the cafe, we walked back down the hill (about a mile) to the town of Deshaies. Once again we were struck by how unpleasant it might be to walk up that road. We scoped out the shop with the customs clearance and returned to the boat. I had a rest but Mike returned to town for some ice and shopping. A refreshing swim followed by dinner ashore rounded off an excellent day.

Gloria

I took so many photos at the botanical gardens that I drained the battery of my camera. Here are a few of my favorites ....