Monday 4th February Bourg de Saintes, Isles des Saintes
Spellbinder
Mon 4 Feb 2008 18:52
An early bus into Castries the next morning soon had the business done, and we set sail at 1030.A light ENE breeze gave us a flat but fairly slow crosssing of the strait to Martinique, with some motor asssistance. Decided against an overnight sail, and layed course for St Pierre in the north of Martinique. A mixture of sailing and motor sailing had us dropping anchor shortly before 6.30. Supper onboard, and a reasonably early night ready for a long day to follow.
Saturday morning we weighed anchor at 0600, and set off at first light. Lightish winds again, so we made Portsmouth, Dominica our destination. Another day of sailing and motor sailing, arriving at 3.30. Henry went ashore to do the necessary immigration and customs, and then a quiet evening onboard. Canasta school becoming rather competitive.
On Sunday we only had another 18 miles to go to get us to our destination of the Saintes, and we had a lovely breeze to get us there, force 4 or 5 from the east. A very brisk sail, over 8 knots at times, and also our first wave in the cockpit in a patch of confused water appproaching the Saintes, George got rather wet. Ended up with a lively beat to windward through the Passe du Sud Ouest, where we very satisfactorily sailed past a larger French yacht, inspired by the battle of the Saintes! To anchor, and ashore in time for a very pleasant lunch. Watched some street parades in the afternoon, as festivities are getting underway for Carnival on Tuesday, before another demon session of canasta in the evening. Now one all.
Monday morning we set off to climb the hill to Fort Napoleon, overlooking the bay. A magnificent structure dating from the 1860's, with extensive views across the Saintes, and to Guadeloupe. The grounds are well planted with succulents, and populated with iguanas. Inside a fairly extensive museum of local life and history, not quite as much on the battle of the Saintes as we would have liked, but maybe that is understandable. All well kept, and many French tousists, this is really very different from the other islands we have experienced so far, with sophisticated boutiques and good restaurants, all with a strong French feel. Decided on lunch ashore again, and a slow afternoon. Some rain around, so not really a beach day.The plan now is to have a long day back to St Pierre tomorrow, so we will be pancakes rather than carnival. Then on down to the south of Martinique on Wednesday, ready to go into Le Marin marina on Thursday, from where both George and Henry set off back to the UK.