GROS PITON- 3000ft TO THE SUMMIT

June 17, 2013

GROS PETON 3000FT. 
DOES NOT LOOK TOO BAD FROM HERE

Monday & we are still in St. Lucia waiting on weather. I looks like Thursday is our day to leave Soufriere & head to St Vincent about 45 miles away. That will be our last long day on the water until we reach Grenada.  St Vincent & the small islands of the Grenadines are all one country & our stops will be 15 to 20 miles apart the rest of our journey to Prickly Bay on the south west side of Grenada.

PART WAY UP, STILL SMILING

Today we did as David suggested & climbed the largest of the Pitons, the Gros Piton.
It rises nearly 3000ft from the Caribbean Sea into the clouds. 

This is by far the tallest mountain we have ever attempted & it shows. We left It's Perfect at 7:30 am for a 30 min boat ride to the other side of the island. By 8am we were on our way up from the coastline, the trees & underbrush were thick, the path strewn with boulders. It was soon quite apparent this hike was serious.

BANJO AT ANCHOR 

Doug & Mica who live aboard their CSY 44, Banjo are going up with us.  They have been cruising less than a year & are headed toward Grenada for hurricane season. Looks like we will be seeing them from time to time for the next several months.  They have been very diligent at getting their exercise off the boat at every opportunity. Since we left the states in February we have not given much thought to exercise. Our bikes have not been used since we left and we are clearly in need of a little more activity ashore. 

The climb up took us 2 ½ hours & was physically the hardest thing we have done in a long time. The trail up is well cared for but the incline was very steep & the boulders we climbed over were very large. Our guide was a seventeen year old who was born in St. Lucia & the climb for him was like a walk in the park barefoot. He would stop and wait whenever we ran out of breath, which was often. Doug & Mica were not nearly as winded as us, but it was a hard climb just the same.

VIEW FROM THE TOP

When we reached the top, the climb was worth every ache & pain. The view was gorgeous. We looked out on the entire eastern coast of the island. Small towns dotted the coast line, everywhere we looked there were beautiful white beaches with bright blue water rolling in.  From the top it was breathtaking & we were exhausted.  It is hard to believe we are actually here. We sat & enjoyed the view of the dark green mountain falling away below us toward the coast & the dark blue of the Atlantic.

As we started our decent it started to rain....... The rocks & roots in the path became as slick as glass as we picked our way carefully, down the mountain. It took longer to get down than it took to get up, was much harder & we used completely different muscles.  Reaching the bottom was a huge feat & what a wonderful experience.  Tonight we will sleep like a rock & tomorrow all those muscles we forgot we had will make themselves known from the moment we step out of bed.