Third time in Les Saintes - stormy weather and French manners
Nimue
Thu 17 Feb 2011 19:09
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After the CA party, we decided to head back down to Les Saintes with Sea
Otter for a couple of days and this time had a lovely beam reach sail. The
winds were stronger than previous times in the anchorage, so we tucked in around
the headland, but it took nearly an hour before both us and Sea Otter were happy
that our anchors were properly dug in. When I went below to turn off
the navigation instruments, I heard that familiar sound of water swilling around
in the bilges. Surely not the forehatch again? No, this time the
toilet hadn’t been locked off and sea water had seeped up inside and spilt
over into the forepeak bilges. The rode had yet again had another good
soaking, so out it came to dry off. This was the third occasion, so
we’re hopeful that no further incidents will occur.
We were tucked in nicely here, but lots of white water out to sea! 
Heavily reefed yacht heading up to Pointe a
Pitre
Sea Otter hoisted up a trendy steadying sail to
stop her swinging
On reflection we should not have re-visited Les Saintes and
headed up to Antigua instead. The forecasted weather system appeared much
earlier, so we were stuck there for nearly a week before we could move up the
east coast of Guadeloupe in readiness for the crossing up to
Antigua. The anchorage became interesting as many boats started to
drag their anchors and there was one case where an American boat was forced to
loose his chain and anchor as a French yacht had dragged over it.
The American helmsman did yell a number of choice words at the Frenchman and
understandably too. To make matters worse the American had to pay a diver
to find his chain and anchor. In gthe meantime the French yacht appeared
to be hanging around to pay something towards the cost. However, just as
he was jilling around the bay, he suddenly lifted his sails and then motored as
quickly as possible out of the anchorage heading towards Pointe a Pitre.
It was a while before the American realised what was happening and then shouted
“come back, come back....” Apparently the Frenchman had said that he
was there first, so it was not his fault. He obviously didn’t remember
that he had been dragging and causing chaos in the anchorage for the previous 3
days!
The Frenchmen on the blue boat, the
American’s on the white boat and Divers to assistance on the yellow
boat
Michael and I normally have no issues with the French and it
is usual to see a French yacht enter a mooring without any fenders in
place. However, our observations of the French in the Caribbean have been
somewhat tainted We had one Frenchman who started to shout at us as we
were about to anchor for our first time in Les Saintes and by his gesticulations
(he was holding up a length of wire) we thought there was a problem with the
holding. When we motored past him he was shouting that another English
yacht had collided with his yacht and caused some damage without stopping and so
was anticipating that we would do the same! As we went by, I did mutter
something to the effect that he shouldn’t tar all English yachts with the same
brush, but I think it fell on deaf ears. We didn’t really want to stay
around, so found another suitable spot on the other side of the bay.
Despite the mayhem, in the anchorage, we spent the next few
days enjoying Les Saintes with Jonas & Heather.
Heather & Jonas with Stormy
Yours Truly
The town centre, with
church in background
 The main street
The local takeaway
Anchorage and the building shaped like a ship is the Doctor’s surgery
Day trippers docking area right next to the main square
Untying Merlin from the
dinghy dock
Stormy waiting to jump on board Eventually, with the winds forecasted to be coming from the
east, we set off to sail up the east coast of Guadeloupe, stopped one night at
anchor in Anse a la Barque and another in Deshaies before making the 42nm
crossing to
Antigua. |
