Whisper's Web Diary - 16:10.385N 061:46.775W

16:10.385N 061:46.775W

Whisper

Noel Dilly

Sat 16 Feb 2013 18:17

"Pigeon Island - 12/13/14/15th February"

12th February - Portsmouth, Dominica

We attempted to go ashore today as we wanted to walk in the Cabrits National Park, but we were deceived by the calm of the day and realised as we approached the small dinghy dock that there was quite a swell running. We had just tied up and I was putting on my shoes when out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of a large wave coming over the dock, luckily I had time to grab my rucksack which was lying on the pontoon next to me but I was soaked to the skin. Deciding that it was not a good idea to leave the dinghy there, we quickly untied and jumped back in and returned to Whisper. After lunch we hailed Eric Spaghetti and asked him to take us over to the cruise ship dock, which is just by the start of the trails in the National Park and arranged for him to collect us from Big Papas dock at 7pm. We walked up to Fort Shirley, an old British fort dating from the 18th century, it has been partially restored and one of the large buildings is used for big events. We then walked up both the West and East Cabrits, which gave us a view towards Guadeloupe on one side and stunning viws over Portsmouth and the swamp on the other.

We met two younger people, who showed us a seed pod from one of the mahogany trees. It was very beautiful, the pod was open and the many flat seeds looking like large flat wafer thin shaves of wood in many different shades of brown lay in layers inside the pod. When the pod bursts open the many seeds spiral and float on the wind like helicopter blades before finally resting on the ground to germinate. We really enjoyed the walk, the dried leaves crunching under our feet reminded us of Autumn walks at home. The lower part of the woods were covered in the huge leaves of the mahogony trees, whilst the upper part was home to a different specie of trees the Gommier Rouge with its much smaller leaves.
We knew that Sweet Sensation was arriving in Portsmouth and as we had our VHF with us we called them up from our vantage point overlooking the bay. To our surprise they answered and we were invited to drinks onboard. We managed to get a lift back to Whisper with Macoroni to get our dinghy so that we could get to Sweet Sensation and then to Big Papa's for dinner and more importantly to tell Eric that we were back. After enjoying meeting up with Ken, Midge, Chris & Kevin we went over to Big Papa's to find it closed and that there was still a large swell. Noel dropped me off and motored around whilst I looked for Eric, whom I found chatting with his mates at the end of the dock. He was quite concerned that we had a lift and told me that despite tieing to the dock and putting out a stern anchor, the swell had nearly caused him to fall in but he had only got a wet butt! Assuring that he was ok and we would pay him the next day, Noel collected me and we went 'home' for dinner.

13th February

We spent today topping up the water tank in preparation for continuing our journey north. This we did with a jerry can and numerous 5 litre water bottles which we had collected. We tied up to a dinghy dock and walked the short distance down the road to a stand pipe. The first time two local young people were collecting water in a bucket as we approached the young man obviously thought that his young sister needed a shower and tipped the whole bucket over her! The next trip a young women had just finished doing her washing and was taking it home to dry it! The third trip, the local dust cart stopped and the workers came to fill up their drinking water bottles. How lucky we are to have water mains at home!

This evening we invited our friends to join us at the PAYS mid week beach bar-b-que and ended the evening with a night cap on board SS. It has been a busy day but fun nonetheless.

14th February - Isles des Saintes

We slowly prepared Whisper for our departure, a little sad to be leaving Dominica as we have really enjoyed this beautiful island and its abundance of happy people. We had a lovely brisk sail, there was not too much wind, but the swell from the Atlantic as we crossed the Dominica Channel was somewhat large, but Whisper rode over the waves and we made a fast passage to Isles des Saintes, picked up a mooring and checked back in to France!

15th February - Pigeon Island

This morning was an early start, so that we had plenty of time to enjoy the West coast of Guadeloupe, there are several places to stop but we had not made a decision, we would just see where we fancied when we reached there. We had a spritely sail across the Canal des Saintes with only the main up and a following wind and large rollers. At the helm, one look behind me was sufficient to make me concentrate on keeping our course to the SW headland of Pointe du Vieux-Fort as we rolled along at 6-7 knots. Once past the headland we had a more gentle broad reach as we passed along the coast and a much needed cup of tea! Eventually the wind died away as we approached Pigeon Island. The snorkelling here is excellent, the main attraction being the Cousteau Underwater Park which is a wonderful scuba diving area with cliffs, rocks, many types of coral, octopus and many species of fish to enjoy. We decided that we would anchor in the bay where anchoring is allowed as it is not possible to anchor anywhere in the Park?

We had no sooner arrived when I spotted a turtle popping up his head to take in some air. We soon changed and went for a snorkel to check that the anchor was dug in, it had become quite gusty as we arrived. What a surprise we had, there was a huge turtle feeding on the eel grass below Whisper. We had a wonderful snorkel, we saw a total of seven turtles their markings are so sharp and mosaic and all very different. We saw beautiful sea ferns and fans, many different species of brightly coloured fish, even a turtle with a fish attached to its back, poised ready to suck up any debris left over from the turtle's meal. We swam through shoals of fish who seemed oblivious of us. How I wished that I had thought to take my camera. We were so pleased to have stopped here even though the gusts of wind increased during the evening, giving us a force seven, one puff reaching 30 knots! It has been a great day.

Tomorrow we will head off to Deshaies, a picturesque fishing village near the north end of Guadeloupe's west coast where we will spend a few days, one of its main attractions being a spectacular botanical garden.

Photographs: "Prince Rupert Bay From Fort Shirley" "Prince Rupert Bay From East Cabrits"