European Caribbean
Quest
Jack and Hannah Ormerod and Lucia, Delphine & Fin
Tue 23 May 2017 23:54
Position: 16:12.5N 61:31.9W The whole time we spent in the French Antilles was made of rain. Rain for days, like the sky was in some kind of addictive cycle. From light grey to dark grey back to light grey again. In between, everything tried to dry; towels and shoes left in the cockpit steamed as if coming to life. But the rain wasn’t gone for long. Coffee break and it was back. With our hatches closed, the humidity on Quest reached new levels. When it got too much we went outside for relief. That was it. The rain became our relief. Throughout the rain, we discovered that Guadeloupe had good roads. Lots of cars. Decent traffic jams. At times, we were sure we were on the outskirts of a French industrial city with banana plantations and tropical graffiti under bridges. And built up by the kind of apartment buildings my Polish grandfather compared to anthills in 1980s Warsaw. Except next to these anthills were commerce. Billboards advertising shops stood right next to the billboards. It boggled our minds from one of the thousands of cars piled up on these good roads. Could Barbuda really be two islands away? There an enormous lagoon and dolphins gambolling under Quest. Here beautiful bikinis, handbags and large stores selling everything you need in the Caribbean. People strolling through shopping malls, urban browse on their faces. We rented a car in Guadeloupe for two days with all good intentions to see the island. Waterfalls, steep-sided lush valleys with green vines coiled into every crack of the land. We planned a busy day. Where did we go? The mall. “McDonalds! Really?’ Lu rolled her eyes. We looked at her from over our devices. ‘It’s got good wifi.’ Unlike almost everything else, good wifi was hard to find. In the late afternoon we came back to Quest and found Fin mingling on the wide marina pontoon. Our incredulity met Fin’s sheepishness… apparently Fin had barked so much that a Belgian yachtie and his girlfriend had climbed aboard Quest, carried Fin off and let her mingle on the wide marina pontoon. Fin had discovered the benefit of the bark. There was only one thing for it. The next day we ducked as we drove past the car rental shop with Fin smiling in the back. Except that when we turned the car engine off for more than a minute, we discovered a new problem. We couldn't leave Fin in the car if we wanted her to live. ‘No more mall today?’ ‘No, Lu,’ we said, scanning past the billboards on the highway. Ah-ha, there it was. The golden arches. With an outside garden for Fin. Exasperation struck us from the back seat. ‘Another McD’s?!’ Next to Lu, opportunity was being weighed up. ‘Can I get another happy meal?’ ‘Of course,’ we nodded. ‘And the wifi is as good?’ ‘That’s why we’re going,’ we sang. ‘Is my iPad in the bag?’ Oh yeah. Sorry, Guadeloupe. The wilds of the big island another time. It’s the double-edged sword of Europe. Love from Quest and her crew xx     |