Iles des Saintes
Persephone... Cruiser/Racer
Nigel & Karen Goodhew...
Tue 28 Feb 2017 16:28
After all this, at about 1030 on 22nd February we were clear to depart, in a rather unusual southerly breeze. Quite quickly, the light wind clocked right to south west, then north west, so the sailing was fairly easy until we had just passed the entrance to Fort de France, the islands capital. Then, we encountered a prolonged squall. Biblical rain, accompanied by an increasing wind, up to 28 knots, followed by even heavier rain and less wind, then more rain and no wind!
We all got thoroughly soaked, and experienced a steady and sustained failure of our senses of humour. The working plan was to put in for the night at the anchorage at St Pierre, a few miles north of Fort de France, but a glance or two at the yachts leaping around in the onshore seas, changed my mind completely. I recalled how the only holding was within a few tens of yards from the shore, and with the wind now strengthening from the west, this plan would, at best, give us an uncomfortable night, and at worst could be disastrous.
So we pressed on, into the evening, and the night, planning to stop in the neighbouring island of Dominica. The decision was not greeted by all on board as a welcome one, as we had not planned or discussed a night passage. But we were vindicated a couple of days later when we heard that a couple of yachts had been washed up onto the beach at St Pierre, and many more put out to sea to avoid the huge waves pounding in to the anchorage.
Portsmouth, Dominica was rolly but safe...a welcome stop at dawn. A few hours kip and then we were off again towards les Saintes, lying off the southern tip of Guadaloupe.
Conditions on the 23rd could not have been more different...calm seas, blue skies, dolphins, light breezes and all. We pulled into the anchorage at Bourg at tea time. Perfect.
Les Saintes are real gems. The islands are verdant and interesting. They are very French, and the restaurants though expensive, offer real French food. The cars are electric, the population is almost exclusively of european descent and race around on scooters. There's a museum in the Fort Napoleon, which looks down on the town, which tells of the great sea battle here in 1782, and through apocriphal gritted french teeth, documents the emphatic victory enjoyed by the English which marked the start of an epoch of English maritime superiority.
Michael and Anna left us here. They took their ferry to Guadaloupe, then a sequence of planes back to London. So we are two again.
And then, Silver Lining hoved into view and anchored next to us. Almost immediately, a plan was hatched for a delightful supper on board SL so we are anything but lonely. Neil and Gillian are headed off to Panama via the San Blas islands from here, so our paths will diverge in a few days.
Venture Lady, here when we arrived, have been over to Guadaloupe but will return in a day or two so the same 3 boats who made friends all those months and an ocean ago in northern Spain will be reunited.
Plans for a supper party on board Persephone are taking shape
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