Iles Guadeloupe Adventure
Organizers said today’s canyoning would be short, but they didn’t tell anyone just how short...
Jacqueline Windh / 01.12.2007
Organizers said today’s canyoning would be short, but they didn’t tell anyone just how short. No one was clear on the route, not even the organizers! They sent teams off in staggered groups of five teams at a time, about ten minutes apart, directing them to follow a path. (This event was yet another “activity� that is not competitive - every team received 30 points). They were told to bring their ropes gear, for a 70 m rappel down a waterfall and to wear westuits for the short canyoning section, but they had no instructions other than what I have just written here.
The press had no more information, and our frustration level was growing – we had missed many photo ops over the last few days, and this waterfall sounded like one we must not miss. We wanted to get to the bottom of it, but no one from the organization knew how to get there. One organizer sent us up the same path that the teams had followed, saying that we would find a guide there to take us. We encountered first Race Director Christophe Guarrigue coming down along the path, and then Event Director Michel Baciocchi along the path, but neither one could direct us; they both said that they had never been here before! They sent us back down, where we waited for more than an hour, until finally someone appeared who could direct us to the spot: the base of a most spectacular waterfall. We were worried that, by then, we had missed seeing most of the teams, but when we finally got there the organizers were still setting the ropes. All 30 teams had been stopped at the top of the waterfall, so we got to see them all come down after all.
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