Guadeloupe and the Saintes

 

After leaving Montserrat we enjoyed a nice 4 hour sail to Guadeloupe.  We had opted to travel along the west coast of Montserrat and later learned that another boat choose the East side due to the marine exclusion zone; their passage took 11 hours.  We were fortunate to have known travel through the zone was approved at that time just as long as you did not stop.  Knowledge which clearly saved us some time that day.

 

There are always plenty of fishing nets around the islands and we try very hard to avoid them.  We snagged one that morning for the first time.  Jeff was at the helm and realized right away that he had gone over a net and quickly put the engines in neutral to stop the props from spinning.  He then grabbed his snorkel mask and hopped overboard.  Luckily there was just a line over one shaft which he cleared quickly and was back on board and underway with little drama.  Good thing as we were just reaching the exclusion zone!  We recently heard a fellow boater talk of having to dive in and unfoul  their prop during a night passage – didn’t sound like fun…

 

Checking in

Checking in

Guadeloupe has a history of slavery and agriculture.  Various countries attempted to control it over time but the French prevailed.  According to “Lonely Planet“, it has been an overseas department of France since 1946.  It is a large island and includes both the Saintes and Marie Galante under the same department.  The positive French influence and investment is clear in all the French islands we’ve visited.   Clearing in and out of the French islands is quite easy once you’re accustomed to the system and using a “non-querty” keyboard and what “United States” in French.   Jeff has gotten pretty good at it quickly had us cleared in at Deshaies (pronounced Day-ay) upon our arrival in Guadeloupe.

 

 

We had big plans for exploring the island but ended up spending our time in the one spot on the main island then moved on to the Saintes for another few days.

 

Deshaies has some great restaurants, shops and markets.  There is also a very impressive botanical garden about a mile outside of town; of course it is straight uphill but worth the walk.

 

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We were anchored near a Dutch family who we had seen on previous islands.  This time we got to know them a bit.  They had been swimming with two dolphins in the harbor and were excited to talk about the experience.  I kept an eye out while we remained in the harbor and would have gotten in the water had I seen the Dolphins.  Unfortunately I was never that lucky.

Early May is difficult time for us and we took one day to just sit on a beautiful beach nearby. We always miss our children but much more so on occasion…

 

Our hull had not been cleaned for several weeks so we worked on it in Deshaies.  Our timing may have been a bit off since shortly after starting loads of sea grass started washing into the harbor.  We had to persist through the grass since the boat was in such need of a good scrub.


We heard from a few sources that the French islands are unwelcoming to non French speakers but it seemed to us that our awkward and inept effort to speak some French endeared us to those we attempted to communicate with.  We feel that we improved slightly in pronunciation of our very limited vocabulary our and never felt unwelcome.  “Lonley Planet” suggests following French rules of politeness and to always greet people with “bon jour” right away, that starting a conversation or asking a question before doing so is rude.  Seemed to be good advice and was something we had observed in Spanish speaking islands as well.

 

We left Deshaies after almost a week and saw crazy variations in the wind strength and direction as we headed south along the west side of Guadeloupe. Winds ranged from under 10 knots to over 30 within a 15 minute span. Fortunately we saw disturbance on the water ahead and were able to decrease the amount of sail before reaching the stronger winds.  All in all there was plenty of of sail adjusting and changing throughout the journey.

Whale sighting off Guadeloupe

Whale sighting off Guadeloupe

We had a whale sighting just before reaching  the Jacque Cousteau Marine Park near Pigeon Island.  The whale was far off but still very exciting to us. We’re not sure what type it was but you could clearly see black and white on it.

The park area was busy, had loud music and offered little protection from the swell so we continued south.  We arrived at the Saintes late in the afternoon.

Guadeloupe is a large, diverse island.  Wished we could have seen more than we had but very much enjoyed our time there.

 

The Saintes are a group of small islands just off the south coast of Guadeloupe.  They are historically fishing communities with strong focus on tourism these days.

There is a large mooring field off Terre D’ Haut and two areas nearby where you can drop anchor.  We spent our first night at anchor since all the balls were occupied when we arrived.  Moved to a mooring the next morning.  Picking up these moorings was different than we had yet experienced and we had to work at it a bit to come up with a system that worked for us.  The marina boat comes out daily to collect mooring fees and take orders for morning deliveries of fresh croissants, baguettes and pain de chocolat, so civilized!  In an effort to work off some calories we did a fair amount of hiking.

 

One morning we hiked Le Chameau.  It’s an old lookout tower (circa early 1800’s), built atop a steep hill 1000 feet in elevation.  Once you made it to the tower you could climb up an old rickety ladder for yet a higher view of the area.  It was worth the hike!

 

 

Another day we rented scooters along with Teoh and Sharon of Kristal, another Antares moored nearby.  We visited Fort Napoleon along with a stop at each of the island’s beaches.  We had a nice lunch along the way and later enjoyed a very nice dinner in town with Teoh and Sharon.  We enjoyed spending time with them and hearing of their travels since taking delivery of their boat in Argentina in 2014.

 

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Off to the Sail Maker

Off to the Sail Maker

Yet another day we took our main sail down once again.  We carefully folded it, loaded it in the dinghy, hauled it up on the dinghy dock once ashore and had Phil repair one last tear on the sail which Jeff could not reach with our sewing machine.  Phil was listed in our cruising guide as a “first rate sailmaker” and we are happy to report he did a great job  for us!  We’re getting pretty darn good at removing the sail and bending it back on.

 

 

During our stay in the Saintes we also met Hakan and Anna on Unicorn.  They are from Sweeden and Hakans name actually has a character over the first “a” which causes it to sound like “o”, so it’s pronounced Hokan.  (Throughout this post I have considered trying to find a way to use special characters but haven’t done so, sorry.). We invited them over one evening and learned a bit about their travels since leaving Sweeden about 8 years ago.  We met up again in Dominica and joined them for some hiking.

 

Just across a channel we moved over to a mooring off Ilet a Cabrit and spent two nights.  There is nothing on the small island except the ruins of Fort Josephine which we explored thoroughly. We also snorkeled along shore and were amazed with the big schools of fish and loads of variety.  We believe we spotted the allegedly rare cornet fish mentioned in our cruising guide.  This small island was a great stop before moving on to Dominica.

 

 

~ Jeff and Mary ~

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14 Responses to Guadeloupe and the Saintes

  1. Kelly says:

    Great blog…so reminds us

    of past sailing adventures.

  2. mom says:

    Realy enjoyed your blog it is like traveling with you .Love Mom

  3. Betty says:

    It’s so great to follow your magical travels. You!re the greatest. Lots of love always.

  4. linda gillespie says:

    Your travels continue to sound wonderful. So good to see your happy faces. Love and hugs

  5. Robin and Cheryl says:

    Sounds like you have been having a great time. Hopeing to see you in Clarke’s Court Bay, Grenada.

  6. Julie & Jeff Semroc says:

    Hi Jeff & Mary! Thank you for sharing your interesting adventures and terrific photos. It’s wonderful “seeing” you both enjoying the good life! As always, take care and smooth sailing wishes.

  7. Maureen says:

    Looking good! Love you guys

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