I decided to hike to an isolated location known as Devil's Cupper on Sunday morning. Devil's Cupper is a natural sea pool at the bottom of a large rock cliff. My hope was that by leaving early, I would get the location all to myself.
One of the better decisions that I made prior to this move was to ship down my hiking boots. Upon researching the island thoroughly, I felt that they would be useful for the rocky terrain. The hike is about an hour by foot from my house and fairly arduous. The hike includes steep inclines, declines, proximity to cliffs, rocky portions and limited trail guidance. In some places, one slip means that it's over. Sometimes, it is also easy to lose the trail, which is not much of a trail.
After about an hour of pretty arduous hiking, I reached the sea pool at the bottom of a steep, rock cliff. There is no designated way down, so it requires a bit of rock climbing to both descend and ascend. Thankfully, I was there early enough to have it to myself. The spot is known to tourists, but the amount of hiking involved to reach it serves as a deterrent. The sea pool is crystal clear, shallow and protected by the rock barrier in front of it overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. With the exception of local sea urchins, it is idyllic to swim.
After an hour or so, people began to arrive. I spent a another hour and then began to head out as a great deal of people were arriving. On my way up, I passed a large French family looking for an easier way down the cliff. They were grateful for my suggestion in descending the rock face. Then the kicker came. The husband blurted out (in French), "Don't worry; the help isn't for me. It's for the fat woman behind me!" He was referring to his WIFE as the fat woman in front of 10 people including me, a stranger. I started cracking up, while the women in the group were shocked. This was all occurring as we were standing on the face of a cliff. I immediately tried to make light of it saying (in French), "Oh, very naughty, he's very naughty, but I 'hear' nothing and am going to hide myself over here." The women started laughing, except the wife of course. So now, as the husband passed me, he turned around and said, "Off to a great start today, aren't we?" I started laughing even more telling him "good luck, good luck" as I finished climbing the cliff.
As I continued my trek back, still cracking up, I ended up passing an American couple stuck on the path. Apparently, they were doing the hike in flip flops, and her sole was falling off. They were in their 50s, the male, a bodybuilder, and his wife or girlfriend in decent shape. They wanted to know if it was worth going over the ridge, not knowing that the sea pool was there. I told them that they were stuck between a rock and a hard place, literally, because the sea pool is where they could cool off, but it included very-difficult terrain. On the other hand, if they turned around, they would face another hour walk with no respite. The midday sun was directly overhead. We chatted a bit more, both being from the States, and I went on my way. About 20 minutes later, I turned around and saw them, still sitting in the same spot where I had left them. I wondered what they eventually ended up doing, or if they even made it back.
The rest of the hike back was long and grueling. To make matters worse, I made a couple wrong turns, which turned an hour hike into an almost two-hour hike up and down steep hills. The sun was directly overhead, and there was little breeze coming off the sea. Let's just say that I won't need cardio for another week.
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