15:52.05N  61:35.10W

 

Saturday 16 to Tuesday 19 May 2015

 

Montserrat to Guadeloupe

 

Distance Run  49 nm

 

We left Montserrat at 6.45am on Saturday and chased about 6 other boats bound for Deshaies on the north west coast of Guadeloupe.  After rounding the northern tip of Montserrat the passage is in a roughly ESE direction for nearly 50 nm.  For the first few hours the sea was uncooperative but later settled down nicely.  The wind direction eventually did as forecast and moved aft to come from the beam and the second half of the trip was fast and enjoyable.  We caught and passed 4 boats although we were not racing, obviously.

 

As we sailed down the east coast of Montserrat the volcano and its impact were quite visible.

 

 

The brooding volcano with its peak in the clouds:-

 

 

 

 

The light coloured land running from left to right down to the sea is solidified lava and rock from the volcano:-

 

 

 

 

A poor photograph but this is a closer look at more lava flow:-

 

 

 

 

Arriving in Deshaies around 2pm it took some time before we found a sandy part of the seabed with no rock in it to anchor properly.  Heymede arrived soon after and we were both pleased to have reached Guadeloupe as it meant that most of our ‘easting’ was now completed.

 

 

Sunday 17 May 2015

 

Guadeloupe to Les Saintes

 

Distance Run  34 nm

 

Today was to be a rest day but with another favourable forecast we opted not to clear in to Guadeloupe but to continue down to Les Saintes.  As usual we motored in the wind shadow down the west coast of Guadeloupe. 

 

On the way we noticed we had reached 18,000 nm, all but 750 nm of which has been undertaken since we left the UK in September 2004 to start our liveaboard life.  The chart plotter showing at the bottom, just left of centre, the 17 miles so far on this trip today and the cumulative 18,000.  At top right our speed over the ground of 6.4 knots, measured by GPS, matches the speed through the water shown by the log (bottom right) which means, unusually, the effect of the current is neutral at the moment. 

 

Guadeloupe is quite steep at this point sinking to 1 kilometre below sea level only a mile or so offshore (see left of screen).  You might be able to see the boat logo representing our position between the 50 and 100 metre contours.  The echo sounder supports this (bottom right of centre) indicating a depth of 70.7 metres:-

 

 

 

The charter companies use the colours on these charts to brief holiday makers along the lines of ‘you sail on the white bits, anchor in the blue bits and drink on the yellow bits’. 

 

 

A little later we passed the island capital, Basse Terre.  The mausoleum or cemetery:-

 

 

 

 

 

The town of Basse Terre:-

 

 

 

Once we reached the south of Guadeloupe we were met with the usual 25 knot blast of wind running along the south coast.  We had reefed he sails in readiness and romped across the 8 mile gap between the Guadeloupe and the smaller Les Saintes group and had picked up a mooring buoy by 3pm.

 

Monday 18 & Tuesday 19 May 2015

 

We really like Les Saintes and the main ‘town’ Terre d’en Haut and stayed for 3 nights.  On Monday I attacked the plumbing in the engine room, disconnected two of the three pipes under the engine, discovered which was leaking and replaced and re-routed two of them.  I carry some spare piping and a stock of Homebase etc joints which came in very useful.  In the process I was disturbing 7 or 8 joints which have been fine for 12 years so one or two of those then needed fixing as well.  The following day we found another disturbed connection and resolved that.

 

 

 

The admiral snuck this photograph of her plumber sweating in the engine room utilising a number of words with such venom she wasn’t convinced they were entirely technical:-

 

 

 

 

The joys of cruising, but Les Saintes were, as usual, lovely.