Morning
started with beautiful weather with slight drizzle and gentle breeze. We had
kept the day reserved for Trek to Anse Major, but rains had put some doubts in
our mind. To add to it, the Public Holiday meant disruption in public services
offered.
Since,
the Anse Major trail starts only from 3-4 kms west of Beau Vallon, we hadn’t
booked a taxi for the same. Anyways, we motivated ourselves to go ahead with
the plan and waited for the bus outside our resort. We waited for about 15 mins
and had no hope for a bus coming in this direction, but there were a lot of
private cars travelling this way. Since, our destination wasn’t far, we thought
of trying to ask someone to give us a lift. To my surprise, it took us only a
few attempts before we could find a nice family going to the village Bel
Ombre’, which was the starting point of our trek.
The
drive to the village was scenic, we could see a church, community town hall,
small jetty areas along the coast and the road itself was running parallel to
the ocean. The couple dropped us at the Bel Ombre bus stop and we could see the
highly recommended La Scala restaurant. There was also a reserved
parking for the restaurant visitors. It appeared closed though, since it was
still only 11 in the morning.
The
trail starts a bit more uphill from here, and about a kilometer and a half
further from the bus stop. Before reaching the starting point, we saw a lot of
construction activity on this side of the island, we also came across a Batman
inspired house, though the owner and strict signage for not clicking any
photographs. There are two-three trails that start from here and we asked
directions from a local for the Anse Major.
The
trail starts off in a jungle with a well laid pathway, one can find cardmom
trees in abundance here. Only after a kilometer it curves out across a hill
onto the Ocean side. Thus you get a lot of great views in this trek. The total
ascent –descent across the whole trek is not much, though it’s little long with
5 kms to the beach and return. There are
some viewpoints in the trek, some wooden bridges and a lot of rocky paths.
Thus, because of the rains we had to be little cautious along the way.
Anse Major Beach in the Background
The
beach itself was small, but very peaceful. Two couples joined us after an hour,
after we arrived on the beach. They were brought here in a motor boat, starting
from beau vallon beach area. There was a changing area made in woods besides
the beach. I really liked the corals here, which had smaller fishes but very
colorful variety.
After
grabbing some snacks, we slept sometime on the beach, as weather was so
relaxing and beautiful. No sun today, I only wished I had a beach volleyball or
some activity to do. The two hours at beach were really great. We started back
on our trail, as we didn’t want to get too late and wanted to return in time
before sunset.
On our way to Anse Major Beach
Rains
had stopped by the time we had arrived to the beach, but had left the entire
path wet. So, we retraced our paths equally carefully. We reached back at
around 6:30 and wanted to grab a bite. We inquired from the La Scala restaurant
and they said they would start serving from 7:30 PM onwards, they were
preparing for the dinner. So, we made our reservations for a beach facing
table, and thought of grabbing a beer. There was a small eatery, about 500
meters down the road along with 2-3 small grocery stores.
Our gourmet @ La-Scala
After
utilizing some time, we arrived again at La Scala for dinner. The fresh catch
of the day was placed in a ice rack, and we selected a Red Snapper for the
grill. Ordered a glass of wine and waited for our order to come. The owners
were very warm and welcoming and looked after every detail by themselves. To
read more about its review- Visit here.
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