Guadeloupe-Antigua………….Turtle rescues and Cul de Sacs

17:00.307N 61:45:632W

29th January 2015

5686 Miles from Ramsgate by log.

Our journey over to Pointe- a-Pitre in Guadeloupe was all going very much to plan. We left the Saintes at 0900 after taking delivery of our Croissants from the harbour master and headed across to Guadeloupe which was clearly visibly about 6 miles away. Our route up to the marina in Pointe-a-Pitre was in fact closer to 22 miles as it is at the head of the Petite Cul de Sac Marin and would give us easy access to the river Salee which bisects the two islands that make up Guadeloupe. The cunning plan was to spend a night at the marina and then move out to anchor near the first of the two lifting bridges on the river for the next night. This would give us a flying start for when the bridge would open at 0430 am to allow us to pass through and head on up to Antigua in one easy day sail. That was the plan anyway, more of that later.

We just managed to make the headland at the south end of Basse Terre after having to take avoiding action to miss a really big turtle on the way and shot into the Petite Cul de Sac Marin doing a respectable 7 knots when we sighted the first of many fishing buoys. The whole area is absolutely littered with them and the markers are usually no more than a coke bottle or a small piece of polystyrene which makes spotting them a bit of a trial in the choppy seas. As we crossed the bay we reduced sail to better spot the markers when Norma who is our champion buoy spotter, (no pun intended), shouted out that there was another turtle dead ahead. This one didn’t seem quite right and so we slowed down for a better look as we passed close by, only to find that it was well and truly tangled in a fishing net that was slowly strangling it. We dropped all sails and went into man over board mode to attempt to save the turtle. Steve steered, I grabbed the boat hook and Norma prepared a line while keeping the turtle in sight as we manoeuvred around. Now the problem was that Mr Turtle did not appreciate our efforts and every time we got close he dived down only to resurface gasping for air a few minutes later. I finally managed on about the tenth attempt to hook the net and get him alongside but he dived deep ripping the boat hook out of my hands and nearly taking me and Norma with him. At this point a large yacht race came by complete with attendant umpires on ribs and one of the boats broke of from the race to see if we needed any help, it was a kind offer but there really was nothing they could do and so they sailed on wishing us good luck (in French of course). After recovering the boat hook we had another go and on the second attempt Mr turtle dived under our bows and I heard him thumping under the hull. Rather speculatively I  leant out as far as I could go and reached down under the hull with the boat hook, more by luck than judgement I managed to snag the net that was trapping him. This time I was not letting him go and so with a heave I managed to jam the boathook and net behind one of our mid ship rail cleats; that got him safely attached to the boat at least but he was still under water and slowly drowning. The next step was Norma quickly passing me the fishing gaff hook which is on a pole so that I could snag the net lower down. Putting all of our effort into it, (a struggling 1 meter turtle is a heavy thing), Norma and myself hauled on the boathook until finally the turtle surfaced with a big gasp for air. We managed to hold him just long enough for Steve to lean over and attach a rope to the net which was again fixed to a cleat, now we were in business. Norma dashed below for our sharpest knife and then, while I hauled up on the net to try to get as much of the turtle out of the water as possible, Steve lent over the side with Norma sitting on his legs to stop him joining the turtle, and began to saw away at the net. It took quite a while and it was distressful hearing the turtle gasping for air but after repositioning the ropes and hooks a couple of time the turtle slipped free and without a backwards glance swam away at speed. Although pretty tired we decided the best thing would be to bring the net aboard so that it didn’t snag anymore wildlife and so we all began pulling it up, and boy was it heavy. After a while the reason for the weight became clear, there was another equally large turtle trapped in the net further down. This one had been under the water the whole time and so we thought it was dead but to our great relief when we got it to the surface its eyes opened and it took in an enormous gasp of air. Again I hauled, Steve cut, and Norma sat on his legs while pulling lumps of netting out of the way. This one was well and truly entangled, it took a while, but we got him cut free eventually and watched him swim away which to be honest was quite emotional. Only after the event did Steve notice that he had cut his hand on the turtle shell but small price to pay I think.

Turtle number one gets pulled up the side

I hold while Steve cuts Turtle number two free Norma is sitting on his legs

Nearly free we got busy after this so no more pictures I’m afraid.

As if that was not enough excitement for one day as we entered the channel to go up to the marina the biggest dolphin we have seen yet surfaced right next to us, it must have been about 10 feet long it was an absolute monster and we mistook it for a shark at first. As we entered the marina, which is a huge 1000 berth affair the large international racing fleet were moored on the first few rows of pontoons inside, a fleet which included a brace of truly massive trimarans, one of which we later found out had crossed from St Malo to Guadeloupe in 8 days!!!!. One of the guys shouted across to ask if we had saved the turtle to which Norma replied that there were two turtles and that we had saved them both while holding up the remains of the net. The whole racing fleet gave us a round of applause, clapped and cheered as we went by, what an entrance!

The next day we all trekked into Ponte-a-Pitre town the capital of Guadeloupe for a look around and for Norma and myself to get some photographs taken. Our UK passport pictures do not meet the requirements for a US visa application and so we had to get new ones (the saga goes on) The lady in the shop said that our t shirts were too light and so we went and brought two black ones (the saga goes on and on). Once that little task was completed and my wallet was 30 Euros lighter we had a wander around the old town. I wouldn’t say that it was a nice looking place but there were parts that showed its faded grandeur from days gone by, unfortunately the road we walked in on was lined by ladies of the night, working in the day but I am sure you get my point, which rather clouds your opinion of a place.

Faded charm in Pointe a Pitre

That nearly brings me up to date apart from to say that when we moored up we discovered that the lifting bridges on the river Salee was broken and so we would have to go back the way we came and go around Guadeloupe making it a 76 mile trip up to Antigua, oh well it is an adventure after all. On the afternoon of the 28^th we slipped from the marina with the plan of heading up the coast a bit and dropping anchor for the night before heading onto Antigua the next morning. Again the gremlins struck and my engine alarmed showing water in the diesel, no problems open the valve at the bottom of the filter and let the water out, all fixed. No such luck, the valve was seized shut and so I had to remove the filter. The only way to get the valve off was by cutting up the filter which only proved that the valve was completely buggered and so I now have a new filter fitted, I always carry a spare or two, but no water release valve. This is not a show stopper but annoying none the less. We are now sitting at anchor just inside English harbour and I am eating the last of the grapefruits that we gathered on our Indian river tour in Dominica. The trip over yesterday took 15 hours including a couple of hours trying to find a place to anchor, we didn’t finally managed to get the anchor set until just before 2300hrs, even then the holding was so poor and the anchorage so tight that I dropped all three anchors to make sure of the job. It is like trying to get an anchor to hold in thick soup. One strange coincidence this morning we woke to find the yacht anchored behind us is Dark Horse. This 60ft schooner was the ex Lloyds bank yacht that Norma and myself sailed from Cadiz to Tenerife via Madeira on back in 2002, small world. That’s it for this one, Steve has just got up 09:30 the sleepy bugger, I am going ashore to complete customs, find a fuel filter and sensor and look at all of the pretty millionaires playthings moored alongside Nelsons dockyard…..Talk soon.

 PS: we are looking for some crew to come back across the Atlantic at the beginning of June. Three legs of about 2 weeks each, Norfolk to the Bahamas, Bahamas to the Azores, Azores to Cork….anyone interested in all or part? drop us a line.

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