(Blog 63) Iles des Saintes - Deshaies (NW Guadeloupe)
Catou
Paul and Sylvie Tucker
Thu 14 Apr 2011 01:14
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16:18.36N 61:47.88W
Wednesday 13th
April We rowed ashore for breakfast at 8.00
am, thinking that Terre d'en Haut, capital of Iles des Saintes would be
alive with locals. It was only just waking up. After a night of
drizzle and some heavy rain, we were surprised that it stopped raining when
we went ashore. We found a very suitable boulangerie which also
served breakfast, so we sat and watched the locals for 1/2 hour, and watched the
town wake up and come to life.
We returned on board with a fresh baguette and some
fruit, and weighed anchor at 0945 hrs and motored out through the islands
before hoisting the mainsail. There wasn't much wind to start with, but as
we approached the SW corner of Guadeloupe, the wind picked up and we had a
lovely sail on a broad reach around the corner as we started to work our way up
the west coast of Guadeloupe. As we progressed up the coast, we were in
the lee of the island, so the wind became more 'fluky' and varied, so the race
with a French and Swedish yacht was more fun. We could see Montserrat
very clearly at well over 30 miles - our destination for tomorrow.
We could clearly see the huge volcano in the Soufriere mountains at
the southern end of Montserrat. Difficult to tell if it was ash or cloud
at the top. The volcano is still very much alive. More of that
tomorrow.
The sea was very calm as we sailed northwards up the
Guadeloupe west coast (being in the lee of the island), so we had the
chance to do some cleaning and scrubbing on 'Catou'. Eventually we arrived
at the tiny bay and small 'town' of Deshaies. It is a deep inlet
surrounded by hills and is an attractive fishing village near the NW corner
of the island. Apparently there are 'spectacular botanical garden's'
- so, if it stops raining tomorrow, we will investigate in the
morning. The pilot book warns us of some violent winds dropping off the
mountains and into this bay, so am not sure if I will sleep well
tonight!
After dropping the hook at 1620, we rowed
ashore to explore the town. First stop was a gas station to fill
two of our diesel cans with 40 litres fuel (just as a
precaution). After humping the fuel cans back to the dinghy, which we
had run up onto a nearby beach (the pilot book told us where the gas
station was!) we then we took a stroll around the village. Very
quaint, but Wednesday is a sort of 1/2-day, so many places were
closed. We found the place to check-out of Guadeloupe (immigration) since
we are leaving for Montserrat in the morning. The rain had stopped before
we came ashore, but it started again by the time we rowed back to 'Catou', so we
were soaking by the time we got on board. It had been our intention to go
ashore for a meal, but the weather was very iffy, so we decided to eat on
board.
We have had two full days of totally overcast
weather together with on/off drizzle - it has been wonderful! The
weather has been cool and damp - just suits we northern Europeans sailors in
this part of the world! Forecast is not brill. More cloudy weather
and very light winds - so it could be engine power sadly tomorrow.
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