…and back to France! Isles Des Saintes is a small group of islands to the south east of Guadeloupe, and firmly part of the wider French empire. The main island town is Bourg des Saintes, overlooking a  wide anchorage, mostly taken over by mooring buoys run by the town.

We anchored on Tuesday night after a fine sail from Dominica, but this placed us well out in the bay and open to the swell that rolled in from the north.  Having looked round the village and found it delightful, we decided to stay for a few days, but moved to a mooring further into the bay to get out of the worst of the swell and gusts.

Clearing in was relatively easy, with the self-service Martinique system once we had found the right café! This sets us fair for Guadeloupe too, which is the administrative centre for these French islands.

Does Carnival Never End?

Another place, another day of Carnival! This time, however, it was a pleasant experience, with lots of happy youngsters dressed up, happy and parading along the tiny streets of Bourg des Saintes. The music was muted, and it ended late afternoon.

En Vacance

This is clearly a destination for the roving French looking for sun, sand and sea in the winter, whilst still able to buy a baguette twice a day and have croissants and coffee in the morning, all transactions conducted in their native language.  The ferries spew out hundreds of tourists with roll-along baggage, aiming for the rooms and cottages to let.

There are lots full of scooters for hire, the favourite mode of transport for the island….and it is important to watch out near these places, as proto-mods climb aboard and launch themselves unsteadily along the road. Typically papa has one youngster clutching to his back and maman another, though sometimes it is both parents and one child squashed onto the same machine. Unfamiliar with the gears, throttle and brakes, they wobble along the road weaving between pedestrians (remember, acute shortage of pavements!), and striking fear into all who encounter them. Accidents must be a regular occurrence, and the outcomes will be unpleasant since folk are often wearing swimwear or shorts and t-shirts - we did see some people with cuts, rashes and bandages which may well have been the consequence!

More Work and a Bit of Play!

Another bout of maintenance work took up a day and a half. The forward heads was still not quite right despite protracted graft a couple of weeks back, so once more into the breach!  We carry a complete spare pump, so exchanging this for the one that we cleaned and serviced last time seems to have done the trick. Why I did not do this before is another of life’s mysteries, never to be solved….

….and finally we have a speed log back working, after a bit of hull scraping and another clean and polish.

Showered and smelling sweet again, it seemed worthy of a meal out, but many of the restaurants were shut. We settled for the one closest to the dinghy dock, which was fine. Madame plays the piano beautifully, though she was on strike for the evening, but we had a fine time.

Our pleasure was enhanced once the loud and strident woman sitting behind us thankfully departed when her friends arrived off a yacht. A couple of Canadians who were at an adjacent table were equally grateful that she had left, and we had a very good and informative conversation with them about the sights on Guadeloupe, where they had stayed for a fortnight before coming over to Isle des Saintes.  

What’s Next?

We are still debating the strategy for this summer and where we are headed. The options remain as they were when we came back to the boat – leaving her stored ashore for the summer (hurricane season), heading for North America and lifting her there, or bringing her back to Europe in April/May. Wending our way north is common to all three options, but we will have to reach a conclusion before long, since we will come to a crossroads soon.

Our next destination, Guadeloupe, presents us with some decisions that could affect the debate – how we navigate round the island will make some options easier and some harder without precluding any. We will, however, not be able to procrastinate for very much longer…..

Ca va,

Watergaw