Jacmel Part 2, Bassin Bleu

In all honesty, the main reason we decided to venture south to Jacmel was to visit Bassin Bleu. If we had not seen the beach or even entered the town of Jacmel but had seen Bassin Bleu, the trip would have been a success. Go ahead, take a minute or two and do a google image search of Bassin Bleu. Yes, it really is that beautiful in person.

To get to Bassin Bleu is a bit of a challenge; they make you earn the beautiful scene you get when you arrive. Bassin Bleu lies somewhere up a large mountain just outside of Jacmel. The trip up takes about 45 minutes. It isn’t that far, but you have to carefully meander through the switchbacks up a mountain on rough, rocky road around tight turns. But first, to even get to the base of the mountain you have to cross a river. Originally we thought the only way across the river was to literally drive your car across. It isn’t too deep, but we were rolling in style in the Jin Bei van which has a clearance of about 3.5 inches. We pulled up to where we were going to ford the river and began to doubt the power of the Jin Bei. We saw some cars make it across, but when you are driving a vehicle that A) is not yours B) was broken down a mere 36 hours before and C) has to drive you 3 hours home the following day, you are a bit more cautious than normal. After discussing options with the random people outside the car, we found out there was a bridge over the river. Problem solved! They pointed us in the direction of the bridge and we took off. I will pause here and mention how Haitian directions work. As we were driving in Jacmel and then later looking for the bridge, we would stop, ask someone where we needed to go, and their response was always to point in the general direction. No mileage, no time, no landmarks. Just point.

So off we went in search of the bridge. I’ll spare you the boring details, but about half an hour later we found it and with a joyous cry we crossed over! We didn’t have to risk our food or our oxen and ford the treacherous river (Oregon Trail reference…I made lots of those to the annoyance of the rest of the crew).

After crossing we began the slow crawl up the mountains taking in the ever increasing beauty. At one point we had to stop and take this incredible photo.

We eventually (with the help of a guide on a moto leading us) found the place where we park and begin the short hike. We paid, got a guide and were off. After about a 15 minute walk we reached the first spot of three. We were amazed and our guide laughed and said “Oooh, it gets so much better.” He was right.

We hiked a little more and climbed some slippery steps. At this point, I saw a rope tied to a tree and knew what we had to do. We had to shimmy down this rope in order to get to the good stuff. This may seem lame, but this is the most scared I got this entire trip. You had to climb down this rope (which, in all honesty was not that high) but you couldn’t see where you were going! Needless to say, we all survived.

Once we were safely off the rope, we stowed our bags on a rock and hopped in the water. It was cool and deep. We swam out to a large rock in the middle of the pool. Here is a picture of where we jumped off into the water.

After jumping in, swimming, playing and exploring, we decided it was time to head back. We stopped for lunch at the first set of falls and then headed back to the car. We meandered our way back down the mountain and into town. We ate dinner at a nice hotel with a great view.

If you ever come to Haiti, let me know. We will go to Jacmel and play in Bassin Bleu. It is a must-see.