Deshaies, Guadeloupe.

As a Prussian General once declared, “no plan survives contact with the enemy”.

Well, we don’t have an enemy as such, but we do have the Caribbean wind to deal with, which is certainly not our friend; this year more than most.

So we waited and waited in Antigua. A lot of days the dinghy ride ashore was either not possible or a soaking wet ride. Not once did the wind ease to allow even a thought of a passage west. There was a weather window once in late April but we weren’t ready and it was a very short one. Our friend Jim took it and got to Panama, but he is from the US and he left from Puerto Rico which is essentially forty percent of the way there.

As hurricane season approaches, we were mindful that we couldn’t stay in Antigua forever and took what the forecast told us was the first break to head south. Mmm, the channels between islands can often be a bit of a challenge, this was no exception. There were no volunteers to go below to bring up refreshments or write the log although I did manage to throw a basic cheese sandwich together at some point. The ride was wild and wet, not from rain, but from waves. It’s the first time we’ve had breaking waves crash over into the cockpit and the weight of water was pretty amazing. Luckily, Stargazer’s cockpit drains got rid of it pdq. It took us a bit longer to dry off!

Our friend Paul left Antigua at the same time as us. He sails a Holman and Pye 53. We were the only two boats out there (which may be explained by the weather) and we fully expected him to pull away (being 12 feet longer), but he didn’t. Stargazer kept up with this 53 footer all the way to Deshaies – a fact that we didn’t remind him of at dinner the following day.

So, after a bit of a hair raising soaking ride, and as we neared Guadeloupe, we both heard a kind of ‘thunk’ with the steering feeling a bit ‘not as it should’. Stargazer’s steering is a Whitlock Cobra system which has a direct stainless steel tube from steering pedestal to rudder top. Unlike wire, this gives a very direct feel to the wheel, but even so, this didn’t feel quite right to us.

Deshaies, Guadeloupe was our intended destination and so we arrived, a little worse for wear, on Thursday 28^th May. The following day we checked out the steering and the main culprits seem to be two ball joints and a steering bearing. We’d replaced the bearing before we left the UK and we do have a spare ball joint. If it is the main bearings on the vertical shaft, this would be a major operation but for now, it seems safe enough to continue. We aim, to head for our ‘sanctuary’ in these islands – Le Marin, Martinique. Once there, we’ll fettle the steering and sort our plans out, until then our only plan is to get to Martinique.

SG (front and centre) on her mooring buoy in Deshaies

One really great thing is that we both like Deshaies (pr. Day-Hay). It’s where the TV series Death in Paradise was filmed and is a nice, quiet, sleepy little place with a bakery and Auchan supermarket. I’ll see if the mate wants to tell us anything about it…

Before I get to Deshaies… we spent our final days in Antigua in the relative peace and calm of Nelson’s Dockyard  – in Tank Bay to be precise, on a mooring overlooking Admiral’s Inn (and Pillars restaurant – home of the famous zonker cocktails!) on one side and Boom restaurant (and Gunpowder Suites) on the other. Actually, they were somewhat overlooking us! The water taxi that runs between the two (with Clive the boatman) ran right behind us so I would always wave at the people shuttling to and fro. Skip was also monitoring how many of the guests never seemed to stop eating and just moved seamlessly from one meal to the next and/or one restaurant to the next! Not to be outdone we spent our penultimate evening at Pillars enjoying a Cosmopolitan (only one each this time!) and delicious meal at the water’s edge. Overlooking P2 and Stargazer :) It was lovely to escape the endless wind (although it was still blowy at times!) and swell in Falmouth Harbour. The swell was a real surprise this year as we have spent many months at anchor in Falmouth Harbour and it has normally been swell free. I can only conclude that some of the sandbanks that previously used to stop the swell entering the harbour have shifted, and now it is like most other Eastern Caribbean anchorages oh well.

SG on her mooring in Tank Bay (Boom restaurant behind and right)

View from our table at Pillars – P2 (with his floodlights!) in the foreground and SG just visible in the background to the right :)

The Mate enjoying her Cosmo

SG waiting patiently whilst the Mate enjoys her Cosmo (and dinner)!

On to Deshaies, which really is quite a charming place. It is somewhat ramshackle, with the usual French municipal structures and decorations, but has such a calm vibe. It seems quite arty with lots of murals, and, being French, lots of chickens and cockerels. Which always make me laugh when then are crossing the road! As it is the end of the sailing season (did it happen this year?!) and not yet French holidays then lots of the restaurants and bars are closed. Though maybe they always are. This just adds to the calmness and not much really happens, which is very relaxing. I was a little surprised to look out the hatch this morning (2^nd June) to see a Christmas market (complete with decorated Christmas tree with a star on top) set up on the quay. I asked the lad who had come round to collect the mooring fees what was happening and apparently they were filming an episode of Death in Paradise. Will have to look out for the Christmas episode.

Looking towards town from the bay

Downtown Deshaies – the building on the left is where we enjoyed a local beer

The local beer – a bit chewy but not bad!

Andy and Paul on the ‘high street’

One of the many murals

We are very glad we took a mooring buoy and didn’t anchor as the bay has some very weird currents, and katabatic winds charge down the hills surrounding the bay, meaning all the boats move around a lot in wildly differing directions. There were some very near misses yesterday between anchored boats, and I lost count of the number of rotations we did! The water is crystal clear and the ground tackle on our mooring buoy is a haven for lots of fish of varying shapes, sizes and colours. I encountered a very territorial Grey Triggerfish the other day when I went to clean the hull. She was already busy cleaning and got quite upset that I was muscling in on her job and swam up to me glowering and opening her mouth. She was doing a good job but I thought she needed a helping hand. She didn’t and went off in a huff!

As usual, we are waiting for a weather window to move on. The initial plan was to do some relaxed day sails down the islands to Martinique. The weather seems to have other ideas so the current plan is to do an overnight from here down to St Anne in Martinique and then rest and regroup. Watch this space…