October 7

We have breakfast at half past seven and prepare everything for today's ascent of the active volcano Soufriere. It should be 8 km and 670 meters of elevation gain, doable in 4.5 hours - though not for us, since we stop every few meters for photos ;-)

We start at the parking lot at 950 meters and take the fairly level path "Le Pas de Roy" to Savane a Mulets at 1,142 meters in about 30 minutes. Initially it rains, fittingly still in the rainforest, but then luck is on our side. Apart from occasional drizzle, it stays dry and the clouds keep breaking. We take the left (western) path, the "Chemin des Dames" to the north side, in about an hour. Along the way there are wonderful views of the Eboulement Faujas (landslide) and the Grande Faille (Great Rift). Here we meet the trail that comes from the weather side and then it's another steep 10-15 minutes up towards the summit at 1,467 meters. By now the sun is shining and we have a fantastic view of the craters and can even see the coast. We spend almost 2 hours at the various craters and walk right up to the main crater, which releases sulfur gases under enormous pressure. It sounds like a jet engine - AWESOME ;)

We take our time and don't get back to the parking lot until around 4:00 PM, where we then take a dip in Bains Jaunes. There are reportedly amoebas in the pool, so it's advised not to put your head underwater.

Fairly exhausted, we cook something in our open-air kitchen and go to bed early, enjoying the tree frog concert.