On Wednesday, July 8th, we drove to the town of Bouillante. It is on the western side of Basse Terre island. From the town of St. Francois, where we were staying, Bouillante was about as far away as you could drive. It took a full 2 hours and we had to drive over highway D23, which cut through the northern end of Parc National de la Guadeloupe.
Highway D23 is a twisty two lane mountainous road that wanders across the island. Our car was a 6 speed manual. At one point I turned to MJ and made the comment that I was being forced to really drive the car. I had to constantly up-shift or down-shift with each curve and hill.
The trip was worth it. The beach in Bouillante was pristine. The sand had a lot of ground up obsidian mixed in, so it was a very dark brown. Of course with the new camera, I had to play. I sat the camera on the beach blanket and took a picture of Pigeon island. you can see the light and dark sand grains.