Labadie ~ Haiti Travel Pictures & information

View of the Bay Above Labadie (Labadee)

We took a higher, newly cut road to a lookout area where we could park then take a wooden stairway down to the beach where the water taxis waited. I remember it being fairly longer, a hundred or more steps from the road, where sharp boulders jutting out from the gravel put a great strain on the tires of the van, and causing a flat.

I took this photo of the bay below: Labadie is to the left shore; the water taxi crosses from a spot near the lower right. It was about 4 p.m., blisteringly hot, with clouds hiding the sun from time to time, as it did now.

Cruise ship at Labadie

Some minutes earlier, we had rounded a bend in the road and were treated to a bird's eye view of the bay where cruise ships anchor for the day. I couldn't get a shot through the trees, then. But also, I couldn't take my eyes off the fantastic scene below: Shallow azure waters surrounded small green islands ringed with golden sands. Water toys -- seadoos, banana boats, floating rafts and more -- bounced on the gentle surf, and happy-looking people frolicked in paradise. It was positively enchanting.

Approaching Labadee by Water Taxi

A water taxi brought us across the bay from where we had parked the van. In the photo you can just make out some shacks in the trees. A waterfall dropped from the mountain behind, and though its flow was scant, it made a natural shower for the community here.

It was at the end of the day, and the creek bed below the falls was filled with people washing their hair and soaping themselves down. There's a clinic here, built using donations from donors in the U.S. and Canada. I put away my camera as we waded ashore, taking it out again only when one of the locals pointed out some attraction and suggested I take a photo.

Labadie (Labadee) beach

Understand that THIS Labadee beach is not the Plage Labadie where cruise ship passengers stop for the day. From this area in the photo, you can't access the walled off peninsula where the cruise ships drop anchor and where selected Haitian vendors are permitted to set up stalls to serve the passengers, but the general public is refused entry.

Small homes line the shore here, barely above the high tide line, just to the right of this view.

Boats at Labadie Village

This picture was taken on the beach at Labadie, just in front of several waterside homes.

The homes were typical of similar ones in Puerto Plata, DR, in that they were duplex or two-family style, with interior walls stopping about a foot short of the ceiling to allow ventilation.

The fellow who drove the van and me from Puerto Plata made this trip to Labadie often enough that he had friends here, one of whom met us, and walked us around. It was this friend who invited us into his home.

Labadie Views

Climbing a narrow trail and rough-hewn steps to the condos and small huts, your back is to this wonderful view.

This is looking north, to where cruise ships anchor just out of sight behind the far headland. The condos are shuttered with wooden slats, in the tropical manner: No glass windows, no screens.

We had seen the ship leaving at around 5 p.m. but had we been here earlier in the day, likely we would have seen it from this mountainside.

Handcrafted Haiti Art and furniture

Hand built and hand carved furniture in the main living room in one of several new one-story hillside condos privately built by a 'blan' (Creole for white; foreigner) at Labadie. Though it's a steep walk up the path, there are wonderful views across the bay. The 'blan' hopes to sell these condos to North Americans for retirement homes.

Cormier Plage Resort

A comfortable resort about half an hour's drive west from Cap-Haitien, Haiti, with a really good restaurant open to the breezes and a friendly staff.

The hotel uses a generator for power at night, so the air conditioning and lights work. This hotel resort was for sale when I was there, so it may well have new owners.

The fellow who owned the hotel at the time of my visit used to sail with Jacques Cousteau, so my Lonely Planet Dominican Republic/Haiti guide book reported. Sure enough, the owner and his wife were pleased to see the the mention in the new guidebook, saying they remembered the author's visit the previous summer. (See other travelers Cormier Plage reviews here)

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More Haiti Travel Pictures

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• Haiti art Artworks and crafts in oil paintings, metal sculpture,leather and wood

• Haiti travel story Road trip from Puerto Plata DR to Cap-Haitien
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