Les Saintes and on.
Moonshine
Sun 1 Apr 2007 18:26
changing it.
Les Saintes has been changed, and the change has been remarkable.
To accomodate visitors, and to improve the local economy, a quay was built, with E.E.C. money. Once it was possible to land easily, day trips from Guadeloupe were organised. To get the trippers round the island, bikes were put on hire, then motor scooters, hundreds of them. Restuarants opened, and closed at 4 when they left. Fishermen stopped fishing to sell trinkets. A hotel opened - the first. Business men saw opportunities. And so it went.
A tiny isolated group of islands grew up.
We spent a couple of hours ashore, but kept losing enthusiasm with the constant noise of scooters and day trippers, although of course we were those day trippers too.
We spent one night at anchor at Les Saintes. The water was so clear that we swam over the anchor 60 feet below, and looked down on it as if we were flying. It's clear enough to be disturbing - as if it were possible to fall.
It was also clear enough to see the mass of barnacles and growth on the bottom of the boat that I had asked, and paid to have removed in St Lucia! The propellor looked like a snowball made of weed and mussells - no wonder we were having problems. The speed log was destroyed by growth. An hour later with a mask, snorkel, and scraper, the propellor looked like a propellor again, but the log was not recoverable and will need replacement in England.
We cooked on the boat that night, cooking the tuna we had caught earlier, and eating in the cockpit, with a little gin and tonic, and the table lit with an oil lamp.
The bimini, made to keep the sun off, worked well in the rain.
We left at 10am to sail to Guadeloupe.
Rod Sandra and the mouse.
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