We arrived in Deshaies, Guadeloupe. It was a tight angle from the BVIs with the prevailing easterly wind. What started off as an uncomfortable 10 hrs of smashing into waves, turned into a pleasant windward sail, calm seas and a good breeze. Sailing past the volcanic island of Montserrat was challenging with no wind, wind, wind on the nose, no wind…grrr. We motored the last 10 miles as we could not point high enough (into the wind) arriving at the harbour of Dashaies just as the offshore breeze kicked in. If you thought you had plenty of space between you and the boat next to you, this is a great way to test that theory as all the boats turn 180 degrees and face opposite directions. Fortunately we were fine…just :-)

We completed the usual clearance formalities, the French islands have an unique and sensible system for yachts clearing customs and immigration. It’s a self-service computer terminal that typically located at a café, beach wear store, a marina or tourist office. So 5 minutes navigating a French keyboard and a few euros later we were legal! When back in France, the next mission is the supermarket but everything is closed for the usual afternoon nap 12 to 4. Not to worry, we just enjoyed a glass of French wine at a water front cafe, thanks Ian and Anne.

We didn’t stay in Deshaies long, not just because I couldn’t get the pronunciation right….we had considered a few of the walks and a picnic in the botanical gardens. It was just the 15€ each felt a bit expensive. We just had a mission at hand.

On our previous visit to Guadeloupe we didn’t stop at the famous Pigeon Island. We wanted to cross this of the To Do List. The island is located in the Jacques Cousteau Underwater Reserve (National Park). The main Goyaves anchorage is on the north side of the cove, near the beach. We found La Mischief on the AIS and they had anchored on the south side and close to the small locals boat harbour. This just so happened to be a short walk to the Carrefour and Leeder Price supermarkets. The anchor was down and we set off to indulge in a selection of brie, camembert, baguettes, prosciutto, pate, reasonably priced wine and all things French. Two dingy loads later we had Aura well stocked. For future reference fresh meats (steak, chicken, pork) and our staples such as corn chips, wraps, rum, tequila, gin and vodka are all better value in PR, SVI’s and even the USVIs. After we off loaded all our delectable food, we took the short dingy ride to the island and a late afternoon snorkel. It was nice but we only got to see a small area of the reserve. We headed back and enjoyed the mandatory sundowners with La Mischief of French laden platters.

Now back to the mission…the main reason for being in Guadeloupe is to catch up with Isabelle and Gilbert on Vent D'Allures. They are selling Vent D'Allures and are about to embark on a new touring life, now with a campervan. Guadeloupe is shaped like a butterfly and they were on the opposite side of the island, almost the most eastern corner at St François. Oh well, we’d been sailing upwind for how many months now, what is another day? The leeward sail on the coast was just fine, we sailed south east towards Les Saintes the wind moved more south forcing us to tack. As we approached Guadeloupe the wind moved more north, forcing us to tack once again. We repeated this process several times before we eventually gave in and turned on the motor…….several hours later and just before sunset we arrived. We navigated the narrow channel and came behind the protection of the reef. We were greeted by Isabelle and Gilbert in their dingy. They guided us to the very small anchorage area that was suitable for deep keel yachts. The lagoons water depth is better suited to catamarans. Fortunately the spot was big enough for one deep keel boat so Aura fit perfectly.

Arrive @ St François

It was a great reunion, we hadn’t seen each other for over a year so we celebrated with champagne and wonderful conversation. A day or so later, La Mischief also arrived to farewell Vent D'Allures, Gilbert would soon transit the Atlantic and return to Europe. Another fun night was had by all.

During our stay the lagoon the nearby marina was inundated with seed weed (algae). The water at the marinas dingy dock became repugnant. One morning we awoke to Aura being totally surrounded. Fortunately it did clear and we could once again swim and enjoy the water and watch the kite surfers zoom around us. The village had a nice feel with small shops lining the street that runs along the beach front. The marina is surrounded by dining options and a few hotel resorts. We found Wi-Fi to watch a delayed telecast of the Freo v Eagles game and went to the fruit and veg market that was held every Saturday morning. Unfortunately not much was done in the way of haggling due to Kim’s French not being the greatest.

We were entertained to a delightful evening of local cuisine on Belbo, a sleek Privilege catamaran. We look forward to catching up with Xaiver, Natalie, Tom and Lucy again.

Dinner aboard Belbo

It wasn’t long before we lifted our anchor to continue the trip south, another weather window determining our movements. We said a sad farewell to Isabelle and Gilbert and wish them all the very best and we look forward to catching up again, next time maybe back in Brittany.

Next toy will be a Kite Board

Morning of weed in St François

That afternoon we passed Les Saintes and as the sun was setting we could see the lights of the Dominican Republic in the distance. We tracked along the leeward side of the island only because we had concerns of being stuck in the blankets of sargassum seaweed. The leeward brings fluky winds that would gust 25knts then dropout and turn due the volcanic hills ashore. We motored the 20nm and we re-entered the French waters of Martinique, passing Sainte Pierre. Tourterelle popped up on our AIS navigation system. We had gone our separate ways at Deshaies so it was great to see them again. We motored down the coast and when greeted by the Baie De Fort-De-France we powered across (now under sail) to drop anchor at Grande Anse. We enjoyed sundowners with Tourterelle and the next morning we continued our sail south, tacking at Diamond Point (Pointe du Diamant) to make our way to St Anne. This 10nm sail was directly east, a 20nm tack towards St Lucia was required with another 20nm back to Martinique. We’d power on these angles easily making 7 knots. Kim was not up for a 5 hour sail to windward so we turned on the iron main sail and slowly motored a direct course.

St Anne is one of our favourite anchorages, the bottom is sand the depth is around 5 meters and it’s almost 1nm x 0.5nm in size. Once ashore there is a great bakery, several bars and restaurants, two local supermarkets and a several hiking trails. La Marin is a 2nm dingy trip to numerous chandleries, professional yachting services and the major supermarkets. Two of our three battery chargers had failed and La Marin had a service agent. We had been surviving on just one so looking forward to being at full capacity again.

Ti-Punch (Rum, sugar & lime)

St Anne

While waiting for the repair, we had regular morning beach walks and hikes. The most notable was the 7 kilometres to Anse Salines where we passed the beach Petite Anse Salines. Unknowing to us a popular gay and nudist beach, the locals we’re not phased maybe just a little over keen to show off their lack of tan lines.

Hike @ St Anne

Returning to the topic of food, one evening we had a French night with Ian treating us with his culinary skills with his Magret de canard roti, sauce vin rouge et echalotes and Kim’s gratin dauphinois, she also replicated Isabelle’s tart crème fresh and bacon recipe. I think it’s called Tarte Flambée, a tart but it’s almost a French pizza. I’ll follow up with Isa for clarification :- )

We hired a car to explore further afield plus to find a Soda Stream gas for our drinks. The Soda Stream unit is environmentally friendlier than plastic soda water bottles. For lunch we found a restaurant that was off the tourist trail. After an initial “lost in translation” type moment, we were almost chased out the door. It all worked out, we dined well and received complementary rum and chocolates to finish our meal.

Lunch @ Restaurant Carioca

Our little Citron car did incredibly well up the steep, narrow and winding roads. We visited two rum (rhum) distilleries, La Mahuny and Trois-Rivières. At the later we toured the old facility, cane crush, fermentation vats and the distillery. The guide kindly conducted the tour in both French and English and it was concluded with a few tastings to finish.

Rhum tour

La Mischief arrived, Kane and Clare departed and Dee returned from California. A curry night was called (just a change from the magnifique cuisine française). The feast included Steve’s first pressure cooked, lamb Rogan Gosh, Ian’s famous Onion Bhajis, Kim’s Dahl and Si’s Naan. It was great night and good to see Dee again.

The relentless wind finally eased and we made our way south, back to the Grenadines via day hops. First stop Rodney Bay in St Lucia followed by Bequia.

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Notes

Deshaies – 16 18.42N 61 47.89W – 7.5m

Ilets A’Goyaves – 16 09.861N 61 46.605W – 5.7m

St Francois – 16 15.02N 61 34.62W – 2.5m (actual, small area for deep draft yachts)

Grande Anse – 14 30.1N 61 05.23W – 7m

St Anne – 14 26.41N 60 53.02W – 4.3m

Soda Stream @ Martinique - DARTY (Habitat) address Z.I. Les Mangles, 97232 Lamentin