Pointe a Pitre, Guadaloupe - 1st time around
Nimue
Thu 27 Jan 2011 02:39
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Some interesting facts about
Guadeloupe History Columbus discovered the island in November 1493 and named it after a
Spanish monastery, Our Lady of Guadalupa de
Estramadura Guadeloupe was taken over from the French by the English in 1759
and fought over for many years. It was eventually returned to the French, which
has maintained sovereignty over it since 1816. Napoleon Bonaparte re-instituted slavery in 1802, which was eventually
abolished in 1848, following a campaign led by French politician Victor
Schoelcher Guadeloupe has had representation in the French parliament since
1946 Economy Heavily dependent upon subsidies from the French government and upon its
economic ties with mainland France, which absorbs the majority of Guadeloupe’s
exports and provides 75% of its imports Tourism is the island’s economic mainstay, but there is still a high
demand for bananas and sugar. Shocking Hurricane Dean barrelled through the Caribbean in Aug. 2007, destroying
80% of Guadeloupe’s banana planation Dangers Bilharzia can be caught if swimming or wading through fresh
water. Dengue fever (from some type of mosquito bites), has led to outbreaks and
some deaths on the island The 24 nm beat up from Les Saintes up to Pointe a Pitre was in strong,
gusty winds (28 knots) and once we were safely anchored, I went below and
noticed everything in the forepeak was wet. On closer inspection, sea
water appeared to be coming through the forward hatch and had drained into the
bilge where we keep the parachute anchor rode (100m length of rope) and other
bits and pieces. Not good news! The Lonely Plant guide suggests that
Pointe a Pitre (which takes its name form a Dutchman called Peter, hence Peter’s
point) doesn’t rank very high on an island must-see list and those who miss it
haven’t missed much. I would agree with this, but we did manage to find
some places of interest including the Schoelcher museum, the harbour side market
and an excellent frozen food shop, called ECOGEL. However we were
primarily here to order spare parts for Nimue. Both the transducer for the
forward looking sonar (it detects what’s in front of you coming up from the sea
bed) and the control panel for bow thruster had failed almost
simultaneously. We spent the majority of time in the careenage
anchorage just outside the Bas du Fort marina entrance, but we did end up
stopping a couple of nights in the marina to sort out one or two jobs and to
wash the salt off the 100m parachute rode.
Arriving in Pointe a Pitre
anchorage
The route in for all commercial traffic and docking
facilities opposite the anchorage
One of the starboard hand marks entering Pointe a Pitre –
yes starboard
Both pictures (above & below) show boats sunk after
hitting an obscured reef
Michael preparing to launch Merlin (our
dinghy)
Books drying out due to leaky fore
hatch
What a lovely
sunset
See how close the yachts are anchored close to the
main channel. Reef breaking in the
distance
A cruise ship passes close by
And a tanker.... yet another dismal
day!
A few days in the marina. Nimue was docked on this
quay
The market building in Pointe a
Pitre
Fish and vegetable market stall in the shabby
looking harbour
An array of fish and shellfish (lobster selling at
25 euros per kilo. Not bad)
Headless again!!
Conch for sale?
Vegetable market (above & below). A good
selection
Sunny one moment
Pouring down the next – a usual occurrence in
Guadeloupe as the high hills and volcano attract the rain clouds
We encountered the
usual problems with delivery of the parts we ordered for Nimue, but did end up
after several e-mails and SKYPE conversations later receiving a full refund of
US$ 120 from FEDEX for the very late delivery of the bow thruster control
panel. We paid for a 1-3 day delivery, which eventually turned up 10 days
later! Anyway, Michael did an
excellent job fitting the new parts and as soon as he had done a quick dive
under Nimue to check the fitting was good, eventually after 17 days we headed
back south to Les Saintes for the Cruising Association Party.
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