{"id":5123,"date":"2015-05-25T15:25:53","date_gmt":"2015-05-25T19:25:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/?p=5123"},"modified":"2015-05-27T20:49:32","modified_gmt":"2015-05-28T00:49:32","slug":"guadeloupe-and-the-saintes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/?p=5123","title":{"rendered":"Guadeloupe and the Saintes"},"content":{"rendered":"

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After leaving Montserrat we enjoyed a nice 4 hour sail to Guadeloupe. \u00a0We 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. \u00a0We were fortunate to have known travel through the zone was approved at that time just as long as you did not stop. \u00a0Knowledge which clearly saved us some time that day.<\/p>\n

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There are always plenty of fishing nets around the islands and we try very hard to avoid them. \u00a0We snagged one that morning for the first time. \u00a0Jeff 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. \u00a0He then grabbed his snorkel mask and hopped overboard. \u00a0Luckily there was just a line over one shaft which he cleared quickly and was back on board and underway with little drama. \u00a0Good thing as we were just reaching the exclusion zone! \u00a0We recently heard a fellow boater talk of having to dive in and unfoul \u00a0their prop during a night passage – didn’t sound like fun…<\/p>\n

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\"Checking<\/a>

Checking in<\/p><\/div>\n

Guadeloupe has a history of slavery and agriculture. \u00a0Various countries attempted to control it over time but the French prevailed. \u00a0According to “Lonely<\/i> Planet<\/i>“, it has been an overseas department of France since 1946. \u00a0It\u00a0is a large island and includes both the Saintes and Marie Galante under the same department. \u00a0The positive French influence and investment is clear in all the French islands we’ve visited. \u00a0 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. \u00a0 Jeff has gotten pretty good at it quickly had us cleared in at Deshaies (pronounced Day-ay) upon our arrival in Guadeloupe.<\/p>\n

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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.<\/p>\n

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Deshaies has some great restaurants, shops and markets. \u00a0There is also a very impressive botanical garden about a mile outside of town; of course it is straight uphill but worth the walk.<\/p>\n

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We were anchored near a Dutch family who we had seen on previous islands. \u00a0This time we got to know them a bit. \u00a0They had been swimming with two dolphins in the harbor and were excited to talk about the experience. \u00a0I kept an eye out while we remained in the harbor and would have gotten in the water had I seen the Dolphins. \u00a0Unfortunately I was never that lucky.<\/p>\n

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…<\/p>\n

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Our hull had not been cleaned for several weeks so we worked on it in Deshaies.\u00a0 Our timing may have been a bit off since shortly after starting loads of sea grass started washing into the harbor. \u00a0We had to persist through the grass since the boat was in such need of a good scrub.<\/p>\n

\"Ready <\/a>
Ready to clean the hulls <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"So <\/a>
So much sea grass <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Very <\/a>
Very sturdy moorings in Deshaies <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Mary <\/a>
Mary assisted with the cleaning too <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\nWe 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. \u00a0We feel that we improved slightly in pronunciation of our very limited <\/b>vocabulary our and never felt unwelcome. \u00a0“Lonley<\/i> Planet<\/i>” 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. \u00a0Seemed to be good advice and was something we had observed in Spanish speaking islands as well.<\/p>\n

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We left Deshaies after almost a week\u00a0and 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. \u00a0All in all there was plenty of of sail adjusting and changing throughout the journey.<\/p>\n

\"Whale<\/a>

Whale sighting off Guadeloupe<\/p><\/div>\n

We had a whale sighting just before reaching \u00a0the Jacque Cousteau Marine Park near Pigeon Island. \u00a0The 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.<\/p>\n

The park area was busy, had loud music and offered little protection from the swell so we continued south. \u00a0We arrived at the Saintes late in the afternoon.<\/p>\n

Guadeloupe is a large, diverse island. \u00a0Wished we could have seen more than we had but very much enjoyed our time there.<\/p>\n

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The Saintes are a group of small islands just off the south coast of Guadeloupe. \u00a0They are historically fishing communities with strong focus on tourism these days.<\/p>\n

There is a large mooring field off Terre D’ Haut and two areas nearby where you can drop anchor. \u00a0We spent our first night at anchor since all the balls were occupied when we arrived. \u00a0Moved to a mooring the next morning. \u00a0Picking 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. \u00a0The marina boat comes out daily to collect mooring fees and\u00a0take orders for morning deliveries of fresh croissants, baguettes and pain de chocolat, so civilized! \u00a0In an effort to work off some calories we did a fair amount of hiking.<\/p>\n

\"Bugles, <\/a>
Bugles, haven’t seen these for some time <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Pain <\/a>
Pain de Sucre <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Town\" <\/a>
Town <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Haror <\/a>
Haror view <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Caution <\/a>
Caution sign <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Main <\/a>
Main street <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Beautiful <\/a>
Beautiful churches <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Town <\/a>
Town center <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Ti <\/a>
Ti Punch at sunset <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Morning <\/a>
Morning delivery to the boat <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Impressive <\/a>
Impressive to see recycling in the islands <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Street <\/a>
Street sign <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Morning <\/a>
Morning coffee <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

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One morning we hiked Le Chameau. \u00a0It’s an old lookout tower (circa early 1800’s), built atop a steep hill 1000 feet in elevation. \u00a0Once you made it to the tower you could climb up an old rickety ladder for yet a higher view of the area. \u00a0It was worth the hike!<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Welcome <\/a>
Welcome to Le Chameau <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"View <\/a>
View of the harbor <\/div> <\/div>
\"Great <\/a>
Great concrete road almost to the top <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Best <\/a>
Best views of the island <\/div> <\/div>
\"View <\/a>
View of the airport from Le Chameau <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Mary <\/a>
Mary climbing the rickety ladder <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"View <\/a>
View from inside the tower <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Lookout <\/a>
Lookout tower atop Le Chameau <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"What <\/a>
What does this sign say? <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

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Another day we rented scooters along with Teoh and Sharon of Kristal, another Antares moored nearby. \u00a0We visited Fort Napoleon along with a stop at each of the island’s beaches. \u00a0We had a nice lunch along the way and later enjoyed a very nice dinner in town with Teoh and Sharon. \u00a0We enjoyed spending time with them and hearing of their travels since taking delivery of their boat in Argentina in 2014.<\/em><\/p>\n

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\"Off<\/a>

Off to the Sail Maker<\/p><\/div>\n

Yet another day we took our main sail down once again. \u00a0We 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.\u00a0 Phil was listed in our cruising guide as a “first rate sailmaker” and we are happy to report he did a great job\u00a0 for us!\u00a0 We’re getting pretty darn good at removing the sail and bending it back on.<\/p>\n

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During our stay in the Saintes we also met Hakan and Anna on Unicorn. \u00a0They 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. \u00a0(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. \u00a0We met up again in Dominica and joined them for some hiking.<\/p>\n

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Just across a channel we moved over to a mooring off Ilet a Cabrit and spent two nights. \u00a0There 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. \u00a0We believe we spotted the allegedly rare cornet fish mentioned in our cruising guide. \u00a0This small island was a great stop before moving on to Dominica.<\/p>\n

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\"Mary <\/a>
Mary at Fort Josephine ruins <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Fort <\/a>
Fort Josephine <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Goat <\/a>
Goat enjoying a baguette <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Touring <\/a>
Touring Ilet a Carbit <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Touring <\/a>
Touring Ilet a Carbit <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

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~ Jeff and Mary ~<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  After leaving Montserrat we enjoyed a nice 4 hour sail to Guadeloupe. \u00a0We 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; … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Guadeloupe and the Saintes","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2y1a7-1kD","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5123"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5123\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5207,"href":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5123\/revisions\/5207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svecho.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}