Islands to Leeward.
Oriole
Sun 6 Mar 2005 20:04
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Although we have religiously been sending the web
diary every week we
discovered from Robert (possibly our only reader) that the last two week's communications had not arrived. There has been a glitch at the mailbox in England which is now corrected and so you can now catch us up in Antigua! Most yachts sailing up and down the island chain pass the islands in the shelter of the prevailing trade winds but this often means motoring in the calms behind the islands and getting blasted by accelerated winds as you poke your nose out again. The sailing is often better to windward. Most of the anchorages are on the normally protected sides but Martinique with its series of barrier reefs has some lovely unfrequented anchorages on its exposed side which we have been exploring this week.  Oriole's
track and anchorages on E Coast Martinique
(anchorages marked with A)
On Wednesday we sailed up the windward east
side of Dominica in light winds and visited Marie Galante which is part of Guadaloupe. Apart from a little tourism, the economy is still based on sugar. The cane looks ready to cut which is done by hand and then transported to the factory on ox drawn carts. We hired a car for the day but apart from sugar, a few tourists, some lovely sandy beaches and a quaint way of life there ain't much else there! 
Marie Galante looking SW to Dominica
Conditions are still very calm and we took the opportunity to visit an anchorage between two small islands, Les Islets de la Petite Terre (Lytle's Islands), also part of Guadaloupe. The entrance has a shallow bar which often has a swell breaking on it making the entrance
impossible.
The swell looked possible from outside so we took our hearts in our
mouth
but at one stage had less than two feet beneath the keel, but at that
point
we were committed! The islands are a nature reserve and the only
inhabitants
are the warden, masses of birds and iguanas. The water is crystal clear
and we were met by a large turtle as we entered.
 Oriole in Les Islets de la Petite Terre
(Guadaloupe to the N)
Once we were there the French started giving forecasts of northerly swells from a depression far to the north. This is just the condition which make the bar impassible so after a lovely 24 hours we reluctantly left yesterday for Antigua. The swells have materialised so we are well out of it! We arrived in Falmouth Harbour in the dark and awoke this morning to find ourselves back among the superyachts in a flat calm. It's been a funny winter, but no doubt the wind will return! |