Isle de Saints- Feb 08

Lowena
Michael & Amanda Dyer
Fri 14 Mar 2008 22:10
Next stop- The Saints, a group of islands, (French), south east of
Guadeloupe.
Along the leeward side of the islands, the wind is often unpredictable
as it siphons and catabats through the valleys and down the mountains.
We motored with little wind until nearing the south of Guadeloupe. A
nasty squall hit us and we were unprepared. We had one reef in the main
and quickly reduced sail to three reefs and a tiny jib. The wind
assulted us at a rate of 30-40 knots. Once the worst passed, we motor
sailed the last ten miles to windward to reach Isle des Saints. Once in
the lee of the islands we looked for a good place to anchor at
Terre-De-Haut.
We were hailed and whistled to attention by Larry on 'Tiger Frightener'.
Once alerted, we noticed a dinghy and outboard disappearing down wind.
We rescued it and took it back and were rewarded with a bottle of french
wine! We later met Larry and Fiona again in Dominica.
Les Saints are very picturesque and very French. It was carnival time
and the costumes were delightful, the music a bit repetitive.
We walked up to the Fort and saw huge Iguanas basking in the sun. The
view from the top, spectacular.
Whilst at anchor we experienced a lot of wind and rolling seemed a
problem for most, although on our heavy boat it was not too bad.
With a forecast of 20-25k winds we decided to head for Dominica around
the windward side of Les Saints. It was quite rough and getting to
windward was a struggle but it meant we would have a freer sail to
Dominica.
The sea was rough all the way and the wind reached 37k as we approached
Dominica. Once in Prince Rupert Bay, Portsmouth the wind seemed
negligable. Prince Rupert Bay is a beautiful big natural harbour with
no modern development. It is just as Christopher Columbus would
remember it. It has huge potential for a marina and facilities.
We picked up a mooring buoy for 10 US dollars per night. A pleasant
respite from anchoring as we don't have an electric windlass and most
anchorages are in 8m of water plus.
'Wings had already arrived and 'Tiger Frightener' shortly after.
We arranged a trip with the boat boys up the Indian River, where Jonny
Depp and crew were filmed in 'Pirates II'. An amazing tropical rain
forest/river, we were rowed up to a bar and craft area at the top by
'Bogart', who enlightened us further re. Dominican life.........