Guadeloupe

Wandering Dream
Steve Litson
Fri 8 Apr 2016 19:34

16:18:5N 061:47:9W

Friday 8th April 2016

Deshaies, Guadeloupe

We sailed from Los Saintes, leaving early and caught a great 15-20 knots of wind. We looked at the anchorage at BasseTerre and decided it was very shabby and had little protection and not much room on a ledge.

Snorkelling with Divers 
We were lucky enough to pick up a mooring at Pigeon Island, a Jacques Cousteau Marine Nature Reserve. By the end of lunch four dive boats had arrived and were spilling many neoprene clad people all around WD. We donned our flippers, face mask and snorkel. Wow! What a variety of fish. The sea just dropped straight down off the island, away to a dark blue nothingness. As I swam around the island occasionally diving and a little concerned about what may be lurking out of sight in those depths, I heard a huge trumpeting call. It turned out to be a glass bottom boat, concerned I may surface near them. I gave a wave and moved on.

We were just off the rocks at this mooring, too close to spend the night there. So on to Deshaies. A pretty town catering for the tourists. We were pleased to see Mary and Dick sail into the bay in SY Alacazam. The next day we were sitting on WD when the Rachel and Paul Chandler came and introduced themselves. They also have a Rival 38A and had been kidnapped by Somalian Pirates a few years ago. Their Yacht Lynn Rival has been refitted mostly by them and I was keen to see what they had done. They left the next day having been very pleased to show me, what is rightly their pride and joy.

Fishing
Dick showed me how he had made a fishing rig for me. He is the author of "The Secrets Of Sailboat fishing." An ebook and covering pretty much all you need to know.At $4.99 US, a must have for any seafarer. The Chandlers recognised Dick immediately, I had no idea I was in such esteemed company. Mary was concerned that I should be able to cook the fish properly and shared some great recipes. What a great couple, such fun to be with.

Provisioning
Denis and I had decided that Antigua would not be as well stocked with food as French Guadeloupe, so we hired a car and took off for a huge Carrefour Supermarket, where we bought all manner of delights, well non-perishable type anyway. We visited a water fall, Club Med beach, yes a few were topless men and ladies, got a new hinge for the one broken on the anchor locker lid and filled our Jerry cans with diesel ready for the Bermuda passage.


Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

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