Thursday 15th December
Nowcrew
Sat 17 Dec 2005 03:42
Des Haises -
Guadeloupe
We were up early
this morning and left Iles Des Saintes at first light. Our first destination was
a small island off the coast of Guadeloupe called Jacques Cousteau Island. We
arrived at about 10.30am and after a few hairy moments trying to hook up to a
mooring boy we settled down and got into some swimming and
snorkelling.
This was clearly a
very popular destination for diving as boats soon surrounded us full of people
from the main land out for a diving experience. We managed just as well with the
mask and snorkel and Ian, Tom, Andy and Tommy all spent 40 minutes exploring the
underwater life of the area. There was lots of colourful fish and coral to be
seen in the crystal clear waters.
It was then back to
the boat and a big salad for lunch served up by Tom and Maureen. We all lounged
on deck after lunch until about 15.00 when we set sail again for Des Haises at
the north end of Guadeloupe.
On arrival Andy and
Ian were surprised to see the Club Med 2 Yacht anchored up in Des Haises Bay.
This brought back some very happy memories of the week we had spent together on
this cruising yacht in 1998 off the south coast of France.
We dropped anchor
and then went ashore to explore the town of Des Haises. At local steel band was
playing on the key side, put on to welcome the Club Med passengers who had come
ashore. All the local women were dressed in very colourful national dress and
sang along to the band for hours. It was then on to the local bar for a few
bottles of Provaince Rose for sundowners.
We dined ashore this
evening in a delightful beech restaurant. the waves lapped up against the
terrace of the restaurant and we enjoyed a great meal of local
specialities.
As has become the
norm now we were all back aboard the boat by 10.00pm and tucked up for an early
nights sleep.
Nowcrew
out.