12/01/03 Iles des Saintes
Oriole
Sun 12 Jan 2003 21:04
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We left Deshaies on Monday morning and motored in a flat calm
down to Pigeon Island. We anchored
just off the mainland and took the dinghy across to the island, there is no
anchoring allowed in this marine national park. We spent two hours snorkelling in the
most wonderful aquarium! It is a
haven for divers so we planned our visit to coincide with the dive boats lunch
break so had the place almost to ourselves. We returned to the boat for a late lunch
and although the anchorage was rather rolly decided to spend the night there so
that we could return for some more snorkelling. The trades had been pretty quiet for the
last few days but we were expecting a good stiff reach from the bottom end of
Guadeloupe across to the Saintes.
This lasted for all of ten minutes then we motored across to a delightful
anchorage off a palm fringed beach on Ile Terre de Haut where we spent three
days swimming, walking and relaxing.
 Sadly on the third day
the gendarmerie arrived in their launch and ordered all the boats in the
anchorage to leave. A pipe line
which we had carefully avoided runs across the bay which is a recognised
anchorage, but new and unpublished rules seem to have been produced. We moved to an equally good
anchorage off the small town of Bourg and noticed by next day the first
anchorage was full of boats again!
We have met up with Tempo II once again (see diary entry 13/10/02), with
three young on board Robert is enjoying their company. We have shared some ‘Happy Hours’ which
have gone on late into the evening.
We climbed to the Napoleonic Fort with a commanding view of the anchorage
where there is a small museum which describes the Battle of the Saints but
conveniently glosses over the fact that this was a decisive British
victory. The small town of Bourg
des Saintes is gradually shedding its bohemian past and is unfortunately
becoming rather chic with boutiques and restaurants. Tomorrow we head back to Guadeloupe to
hire a care and explore the island before saying goodbye to
Robert.
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