Marie Galante Island

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Sat 21 Jan 2012 16:55

15:57.40N 61:19.36W

 

Tues, Wed & Thurs, 17th, 18th &19th Jan

 

Tuesday morning we launched the dinghy and went into town to catch up on wifi and have breakfast.   Pointe à Pitre has the rather tired air of a rundown seaside resort.   There seem to be lots of restaurants and bars, quite a lot of energetic renewing of shops and bars but no punters.   Perhaps they come out at night?

 

We checked in with Customs at the Marina office and when we enquired about WiFi we were directed to a somewhat seedy bar with poor wifi and a very disinterested waitress brought two old croissants, one plate and 2 cups of coffee.   Yup we are back in France!   We then set off to visit the huge variety of shops detailed in the Doyle’s pilot.   There is one very good chandlery, Karukera Marine, who happily talked Rob out of an expensive crimper for his fishing rod.    Otherwise the shops various did not, as ever, live up to the hype although we felt Fred Marine looked very professional if you were to have engine problems.   We also discovered that we would have to stay longer than we had planned to get some canvas work made for the outboard and various other bits and pieces which we decided against.

 

So we went back to Serafina for Rob to sort his emails and work out sizes, lengths etc. of proposed purchases from Karukera.   We then went back loaded down with 2 gas bottles and our mini B aqualung air tank to refill, and all the rubbish from Dominica, where they struggle to dispose of boat rubbish.   Sarah tottered off to the dive shop where she was told that the bottle was older than 2 years old and therefore cannot be re- filled.   It’s in pristine condition and has been used twice;  €261 seems an awful lot to replace it and for it then to sit in our cockpit locker for another 2 years and go out of date again.   So we hope to find somewhere (English speaking!) who will perhaps test and fill it.   Otherwise we will wait until an ocean crossing is imminent, since at that price we can afford a few divers in the meantime for any problems!

 

Rob made various purchases at the chandlery but was unable to swap one of the gas bottles as it was in ‘poor condition’.   Sarah managed to find a hairdresser who immediately cut her hair, not such a successful crop as previously….

 

And then we got caught in the mother of all downpours.   So all in all not a totally triumphant trip!

 

We have been really impressed by the black rain clouds that sit downwind of us covering the high ground at the southern end of Basse Terre (the other wing of this butterflied shaped island) and we haven’t actually seen the top of the mountain yet as it is permanently shrouded in deluges.

 

On Wednesday we set off to the town’s veg market and had to leave the dinghy on a slightly dubious fishing dock, where the enthusiastic selling of today’s catch was going on from the boats – complete with pelican residents. (see the photos at http://www.rhbell.com )   The market was wonderful:  fantastic produce with the biggest avocados you have ever seen, but Rob discovered that the vendors were not prepared to be photographed despite the fact he was only taking general views and it did feel a bit threatening.   After this, as per Doyle’s Guide Book instructions, we set off to the far end of the three-basin marina to leave the dinghy by the Aquarium (we dipped out of visiting this as the idea of viewing captive turtles wasn’t attractive) and then walk to the hypermarket.   In the event the highway was full of speeding cars and had no pavement so we flagged a taxi down and then spent a happy hour or so in the huge supermarket.   Oddly we never found any fresh chicken – all the other Caribbean islands profess chicken to be their preferred meat and most places are covered by the free-ranging fowl!  Our return trip by taxi had to pass the marina basin nearest to our anchorage to get back to where we had left the dinghy.   Not one of best Doyle’s best suggestions!

Thursday dawned flat calm but by the time we left the anchorage to sail to Marie Galante we had a force 4 nicely on the nose!   Two upwind sails in completely opposite directions are definitely rare out here.   The good thing about this change in wind direction is that it will allow us to anchor more safely at St Louis.   So we had a good four hour sail and Rob attempted more fishing after discovering that his usual fishing line has suffered UV damage and is too brittle to use, but still no success – cook was astonished.

We have anchored off the nicely shelving beach in incredibly clear water, but unfortunately some of the Atlantic swell creeps around the top of the island making it rather rolly.   The bay isn’t too busy as this island is a bit off the beaten track and even in today’s ideal wind conditions, it hasn’t attracted many yachts.