The day after the night before
Mawari
Bob & Sue Dall
Tue 22 Mar 2011 00:30
Fortunately we did wake up roughly in the same place we went to sleep. Bob was disappointed his suturing skills didn't need to be put into practice on my foot,just enough sticky plaster so I could get my fins on and have a snorkel before setting off again. It was like swimming in a tropical fish tank, fantastic!
We anchored after a 20 mile sail to St Pierre and set off on a 50 mile stretch to Portsmouth Dominica at dawn the following morning. The top end of Martinique is beautiful, it is best to hug the coast to the northern point before crossing between the islands. As we set off across the open sea we notice big plumes of spray on the horizon , must be a whale! It arcs around us as it heads south , the blow is several meters high and vertical, and appears only once every few minutes, unlike the pod of sperm whales we saw crossing the Atlantic, so it is quite difficult to keep track of its course, but so exciting!!
It was a very exciting day for wildlife, we were visited by dolphins again, this time they were a lot larger than the pod we saw a couple of days ago, and then as we motored up the coast of Dominica the boredom was relieved by a fantastic leaping display, a huge Marlin out for dinner!
After a great night under a full moon in Portsmouth its off again at the crack of dawn to Guadalupe. . .50 miles away.
The dreaded Deshais Guadalupe. . We had spent 4 horrendous nights there on the way south, suffering frequent 35kt gusts day and night, I wasn't looking forward to the return visit. There is something about topography here which just funnels the winds across the anchorage. It isn't anything like as bad as our first visit, we didn't worry we might lose the boat this time! Although we did lose a pair of Bobs swimming shorts, shame that. . . and then in dead of night as I was bringing the washing in, my bikini bottoms went flying into the sea, without a moments hesitation I jumped straight in after them. . fully clothed, . The swim back to the boat was more difficult than I would have anticipated in the clear light of day, but I made it, Bob was very surprised to see me emerge from the sea, I thought he was very lucky that he didn't have to buy me a new bikini. . . He thought I was very lucky that I didn't have to wear just half a bikini!
The blackberry doesn't work on French soil so we phone Cam instead. He passed level 2 snowboard instructor with flying colours !, well done Cam! He has booked flight back to England on Thursday 24th March
We decide to have a break and spend two nights here as the weather is good! In the morning we do all the checking in formalities in a cafe on line , the French do some things well! I buy a beautiful carved turtle to remind us of the many we have seen in this bay and to add to the collection. During the afternoon the wind really picks up, boats are pointing in all directions, we have to take up some chain to keep clear of a neighboring boat, it all gets a bit scary for awhile.
As things calm down we go ashore and take a walk up beside the river. Boulders abound all along the water, forming huge fresh water pools every now and again, the temptation is irresistible and we decide its worth wearing soggy clothes for awhile to enjoy the shear pleasure of submerging ourselves in wonderful clear fresh water. . .heaven ! Its getting late and Bob's only pair of sandals have broken (no sympathy from me) so we bolder hop all the way back down, 3 faults for a wet foot, 4 faults for a wet bottom. . . I win easily!
----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com