July 19, 2019
Guadeloupe: Lackluster Snorkeling in the
Jacques Cousteau Underwater Reserve
March 30, 2019
GUADELOUPE ISLAND, France – I took a boat ride off the west coast to the Jacques Cousteau Underwater Reserve, supposedly one of the island’s top sights, but I found the snorkeling unexciting. It’s my first visit to this Caribbean state of France.
Got up at 7:57 a.m. aboard Costa Pacifica docked at Pointe-a-Pitre. I was tired despite all the sleep I got. Got ready for my shore excursion, “The Surreal Nature of the Jacques Cousteau Underwater Reserve,” which met at the horribly early hour of 8:15.
My bus departed the port about 8:30. Wow, there aren’t many tropical islands with freeways! Guadeloupe, part of the French Caribbean, has a population of 406,000.
Off the freeway, we traveled on Route D23 cross island. Our first stop was at the Ecrevisses Waterfall in the National Park of Guadeloupe, about 1,900 feet up in the hills.
This is the fifth port of call on my 17-night Costa Pacifica cruise from La Romana, Dominican Republic, across the Atlantic Ocean to Barcelona, Spain.
We then proceeded to Malendure Beach on the west coast of Basse Terre, the larger part of Guadeloupe, whose main part is shaped like a butterfly. We had about 20 minutes to walk around the beach, which is nothing spectacular.
Next my tour group boarded a glass-bottom boat for the short trip out to the Jacques Cousteau Underwater Reserve. We circled Pigeon Island.
There’s a group down below looking at the water through the glass bottom; my group went second.
Then we were given a brief 20 minutes to snorkel. Unfortunately the gear they gave me was really crappy. The snorkel didn’t attach to the mask, and the mask leaked water. Makes it hard to snorkel if you don’t have the right equipment. I didn’t have space in my luggage to pack my own snorkel gear for this trip unfortunately.
Out of the water at 11:42 a.m. Saw one big group of purple fish. Aside from that, it was mediocre, I’m sad to say.
I enjoyed a couple rum punches during the short trip back to shore. As we headed out of the marine reserve, I was a little disappointed. Jacques Cousteau Underwater Reserve is supposed to be one the of the biggest attractions of Guadeloupe, but I found it to be just average, so-so. But still a nice day, so can’t complain too loudly.
Returned to the port at 12:53 p.m. after a 51-minute bus ride back.
Showered, then sat down to lunch in the New York New York dining room – my first nonbuffet meal aboard Costa Pacifica. I ate a four-course meal starting with a salad. The second course was a disc-shaped thin pasta called corzetti that I’d never heard of, followed by a salmon pasta and dessert. My lunch was pretty good.
Unfortunately Costa Pacifica, unlike the two smaller Costa vessels Mom and I voyaged on in the Indian Ocean in 2016 and 2017, features traditional dinner where everyone is assigned a table in a dining room for a seating at the same time every evening.
I absolutely despise this old-fashion dinner arrangement. I don’t want to eat with a group of strangers at a fixed time every day, so I’ve been taking all my meals at the buffet, which I’ve found to be lackluster. Certainly nothing like the open-seating, gourmet dining Mom and I enjoyed last month aboard Oceania Marina.
After lunch I headed up to Deck 12 to read and post photos. Also took some nice shots of Pointe-a-Pitre, the largest city (but not capital) of Guadeloupe.
Returned to my cabin about 7 p.m. to find a letter that my hiking excursion tomorrow in St. Lucia is canceled. Ughhhhhh! Instead I booked a snorkel tour around the Pitons, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, but would have much preferred the more strenuous and up-close hike. This is the second time my excursion got canceled (the other one was yesterday in Martinique.)
Didn’t get much exercise today so I went up to Deck 12 to walk 2.08 miles around the jogging track. Then took my dinner at the buffet.
Bed prep, packed my backpack for tomorrow’s excursion – also an awfully early one meeting at 8:15 a.m. Read the cruise newsletter, watched TiVo, and bed at 11:42 p.m.
One more stop in St. Lucia tomorrow, then we’ll be at sea six full days as Costa Pacifica crosses the Atlantic Ocean to the Canary Islands of Spain, and onward to Barcelona.
