Position           15:52.45N 61:35.87W

Date                1800 – 15 March 2011

We felt quite sad leaving Dominica as we had had such a good time there, however onwards and upwards with a great reach in 15-20kts of north easterly wind across the Dominica Channel to the Iles des Saintes.

Our course also crossed the site of the Battle of the Saintes.  This battle between the French and the British under Admiral Lord Rodney took place between 9 and 12 April 1782 during the American War of Independence.  The battle pioneered the tactic of “breaking the line” for the British Navy, helped by a wind shift to the north east, a tactic used by Nelson at Trafalgar 23 years later.

Les Saintes are a group of islands 18 nm to the north west of Dominica and 8 miles to the south of Guadeloupe.  Anchoring off the main town of Bourg de Saintes was fun as the anchorage was crowded, where we could anchor deep and the wind decided to blow 25-30 kts.  Elizabeth stayed on board as anchor watch whilst I went ashore to clear in.

Entering the main street from the dinghy jetty was rather surreal.  In 20 miles we had come from charmingly basic Portsmouth to picture postcard holiday France.

Clearing in achieved we decided to head across the bay to anchor under the shelter of the Ilet Cabrit, much more sheltered from wind and rolling and very unspoilt there being no permanent buildings on the island.

From our anchorage we can look across to Bourg de Saintes.