Caribbean flowers....

It is cold, wet and grey outside, typical European weather in winter....and its been like this for the last few days, so I have decided to share some more colours and warmth from the Caribbean with you. In the French Antilles one may discover plenty of exotic flowers unknown in the old continent. On the first picture you can see the so called "oiseau de paradis" (eng. "paradise bird"). Another funny name has the flower pictured just below, this one is called "rose de porcelaine" (eng. "pocelane rose").

The best place to experience this in Martinique is Jardin de Balata, close to the capital Fort-de-France. The 3 last pictures in this blog entry are from there. Next to different flowers and exotic tree kinds one can admire there colibri and other birds too. The last picture features the flower "heliconia", which always hangs down.

...almost ready for the Caribbean sun in the French Antilles: Guadeloupe + Les Saintes:-)

On Friday (11.12.2009) its time for the departure to Guadeloupe: a 3,5-hour train to Paris and then a 8,5-hour-flight will take us to Pointe-a-Pitre, the capital of the "Butterfly island".

Guadeloupe has this funny nickname because of its shape of a .... butterfly. The programme includes 1 week diving at the little archipelago Les Saintes, then 9 days of sightseeing in Bouillante (next to the National Parc of Guadeloupe) and one week relaxing on/around the beaches of Saint-Francois and Sainte Anne.

Martinique, Guadeloupe and the half of the island of Saint Martin are 3 islands which are overseas French departments, in French the so called DOM: département d'outre-mer.

Below I would like to share with you some shots from my stay in Martnique in 2005. The sea colour is a dream, the underwater world is sooo amazing and all this is rounded up by the friendly local creole population and plenty of delicious local rhums (made by the natural fermentation of the sugar cane juice).