Guadeloupe

From Montserrat, we sailed in to Guadeloupe â a little apprehensive as we had met a French couple in St Kitts who had told us they had been robbed badly on their boat while they were sleeping in the capital of Guadeloupe â Basseterre.  Thankfully, we didnât experience the heights of Harlem on the island, and sailed in to the sleepy town of Desaie which is in the North East of the island.  The anchorage could be a little rolley, but the winds made a howling noise as they came off the near by mountains.  Desaie is a traditional little town with a picture postcard little 19^th century church, and a number of shops on the street selling souvenirs or seafood restaurants.  One thing we have found so far is that the French islands such as French St Martin seem to us to be always closed!  This is not quite true, but the shops all generally close between 12 â 3pm (or 4pm depending on how sleepy the village is!) as well as Sundays and often Mondays.  As a result, we often feel like we are walking through ghost towns on our search for a baguette or fresh vegetables!  The plus side is that the French islands tend to have the best and most fresh food with little Spar and Casino shops scattered around selling quiche, Yoplait and an array of cheese â this has been a godsend to us!  We stayed in Desai for a few days and tried to hire a car, but we have learnt that often rentals are like gold dust and alas, we werenât successful.  We did a bit of boat maintenance (me jumping in the water in full scuba gear to check under the boat and rid us of any barnacles â a big bain of our boat life!!) and were ready to sail down the island on our journey towards Le Saints.  Just as we picked our anchor up, we realised it had dredged up an old mooring buoy â thankfully a local Dutch yacht â with his to children in tow, were there to give us a hand in their dingy and see us off! 

The plan was to go to Pigeon Island â which is famed for being part of a national marine park which the French naturist, Jacque Cristo was famous for going to.  It has a big   tick in the box for scuba diving, so we planned to drop anchor and spend a night there.   Unfortunately the winds were against us as we tried to shelter in a nearby bay and the lack of mooring buoys at the island meant that given the choice of a long sail the next day without sleep, we were pressed to move down the coast to another anchorage which was very picturesque and tranquil.  All in all, we didnât see a huge amount of Guadeloupe and the lack of mobility of the island made it difficult to get around.  As we passed the Southern tip of Guadeloupe on our decent to Le Saints, we passed the sleeping volcanoes above Basseterre, along with lush green rolling hills and a traditional square rigger boat in the background for added scenery.  Our crossing to Le Saints was particularly windy and choppy â which again seems to be a reoccurring theme â the assumption of tranquil and kind waters in the warm Caribbean sea is but a myth!!