9th - 13th February

Our sail from Martinique to Les Saintes off Guadeloupe totalled 71nm and took us just over 12 hours. With our early start we did just manage to get our anchor dropped before dark but it was already dusk as we approached the large anchorage of "Anse Galet" off the island of "Terre de Haut" in Les Saintes.

It was a lively upwind sail that took us from the top of Martinique along the western coast of the beautiful island of Dominica and across to the archipelago off Guadeloupe.

We had about 20kts of wind for much of the passage and saw a lot of rain off the top of Martinique and again as we reached the top end of Dominica which served us up some absolutely stunning double rainbows. It was with a bit of a heavy heart that we sailed past Dominica without stopping. We would love to visit the island and the interior is meant to be breathtaking; certainly what we could see from the coast looked incredible. Luscious green rainforest and mountainous peaks. As Dominica does not belong to the French islands though we need to make arrangements with an agent for checking-in prior to arrival and as the covid regulations are different to those of the French islands it made more sense to bypass Dominica for the time being and plan to visit at a later stage. I really hope we do. It looks stunning.

Les Saintes did not disappoint however, we had 4 nights anchored in the picturesque, if rather bouncy, anchorage there! We saw some pretty windy conditions which accounted for much of the rocking and rolling that we experienced but an open channel to the north let in quite a swell and regular ferry traffic also contributed. There was a large field of mooring buoys taking up the prime area in front of the town; which were not expensive to be fair but we don't tend to use mooring buoys if we can possibly anchor so we were probably more than half a mile across from the town where we had our anchor down. This provided Jamie with some serious excercise when it came to rowing our little dinghy ashore! The first trip we took ashore we just rowed to a small beach a couple of hundred metres away where we pulled our dinghy up on the sand and walked into the town to complete our checking-in formalities for Guadeloupe. A couple of days later we went ashore again but there was more surf on the nearby beach due to the strong winds so we set off across the anchorage towards the town with Jamie rowing like a Cambridge Blue! The wind and current were so strong that I'm pretty certain we were paddling on the spot for much of it but we eventually made it ashore and tied to one of the little piers that services the town of Terre de Haut.

It was such a pretty place and we really enjoyed exploring the quaint little town with brightly painted buildings and little restaurants backing straight onto the waterfront. We walked across the island to the windswept beach on the far side where we attempted to snorkel beyond the surf before eating our picnic lunch on one of the bench-tables provided under the shade of the palm trees and watched as the pelicans dove head-first into the bay and expertly fished their lunch from the clear blue waters.

It was on one of our walks back from town that Jamie spotted a 2ft long Iguana disappearing off into a tree. I didn't manage to catch a glimpse of it but I heard the sound of it moving through the undergrowth and based on what I heard I have no reason to question it's size!! We also saw several local cats each of which looked like pedigree breeds and pampered pets - not a scruffy stray in sight!

It really was a very beautiful place but it definitely had a "boutique" resort feel to it - much as we enjoyed walking around most of the establishments were a little beyond the reach of our modest cruising budget so we didn't sit in any of the beachfront bars or restaurants. We were quite taken with a spot near the beach where some of the local men were playing dominoes and had their music playing. We bought some bottles of beer from the supermarket opposite and went and found a spot on the sand in the shade of a beached fishing boat and enjoyed a couple of hours in our own beachfront bar with local music and cool beers. Perfect.

During our stay off Terre de Haut we had a day on-board organising Hamble Warrior a bit and having a good clean and tidy up. Jamie hadn't really organised his workshop properly since our Atlantic crossing and there was a bit of a pile of "things to be fixed" accumulating so he spent some time sorting those out and I had a good clean. It was very satisfying to have Hamble Warrior tidy and "ship shape" again although this type of "housework" isn't without a little risk when you are crawling around on your hands and knees in a pitching anchorage; I was a little unlucky to end up with the toilet seat slamming shut on my head as I tried to clean around it! It's not all glamour this boatlife!

After an enjoyable few days we set off for a very short sail around the corner to the neighbouring island of Terre de bas and the pretty little anchorage of "Anse Fielding". As soon as we sailed into this protected little spot we could feel the wind disappear and the boats all lay at odd angles to each other; some seemingly lying to a current running through the anchorage. I went up on the bow to release the anchor ready to drop it while Jamie circled between the boats looking for a spot suitable to drop. Before we had even begun to drop the anchor one of the boatowners suddenly appeared in his cockpit gesturing wildly with his arms and yelling that "with all this space why anchor near me"?!!! This was odd for 2 reasons; firstly because we hadn't actually started to anchor yet and secondly in the reasonably limited space if we HAD dropped our anchor near his boat then by the time we had let out 30 metres of chain we would be on the other side of the bay anyway! But I didn't really have time to say anything other than to yell "I haven't started yet" before he threw his hands up in disgust and disappeared back down below decks. We never saw him on deck again after that and the next day he left early. Friendly lot these sailor folk!!! I'm sure we will see him again somewhere; I'll make sure I get close enough to say "Hello" every time I do!

Eventually we managed to get our anchor well set in a perfect spot and we took the dinghy ashore to land on the small beach and take a walk across the island. We walked through a small residential area of beautiful brightly coloured houses with a little park; everyone we saw waved "bonjour". We had just reached the bay on the windward side of the island where there are a couple of local restaraunts when a proper squall of wind and torrential rain enveloped the island and we raced back to the anchorage in driving rain to check on Hamble Warrior. Needless to say by the time we got back the worst of the rain had passed and Warrior lay peacefully bobbing on her anchor. We walked up to the top of the hill over-looking Anse Fielding and sat watching the sun go down in a little wooden shelter with a picnic table surrounded by small goats grazing on the hillside. It was a lovely peaceful spot to watch Warrior and her neighbours despite being a bit soggy after our dowsing!