So the French do have a sense of humour.
Stream
Darrell Jackson and Sarah Barnes
Sat 5 Apr 2014 02:27
With the wind forecast to become more southerly later in the day an early start was required for our 42nm sail to Guadeloupe, and we were under way after a quick breakfast at 07.00. The wind was a F4 easterly and we made excellent progress under full main and genoa. The Atlantic swell from over the weekend had subsided considerably and Stream romped comfortably along at between 7 and 8 knots with the result that Sarah was a happy bunny and we arrived off Guadeloupe soon after 12. Then we hit the infamous flooky winds off the north of the island. Down to 5 knots of NE wind, up to 25 knots of SE and then a more constant 12-15 knots of South Westerly wind, probably the first SW since our passage from Portimao to the Canaries! However, we anchored amongst 20 or so other yachts in the bay off Deshaies (pronounced "dey hey") at one o'clock in plenty of time to get the dinghy launched and outboard attached in the calm waters before the "customs" opened at 16.00.
Guadeloupe is usually described as "butterfly shaped", because, strangely, it is shaped like a lopsided butterfly. The two wings of the butterfly are in fact two separate islands separated by a navigable river. It is part of France and the French named the mountainous island Basse Terre (Low Land) and the smaller, low one, Grande Terre (Large Island). This is a much older island geologically and it's mountains have been eroded producing low, rolling hills. The Caribs called the island Karukera or the Island of Pretty Waters and it's lush tropical rainforest coming right down to the sea in places was obvious as we approached.
We dinghied ashore to the newly constructed jetty in the middle of the small bay and were immediately struck by the contrast to Antigua. There is very much a French feel to the town, with some pretty bars and restaurants along the road that runs by the beach, along with a patisserie and shops selling local produce. We both immediately felt at ease here and looked forward to our stay. The "customs" in Deshaies is to be found in one of the small gift shops that are along this main road and consist of a dedicated computer on which one completes a simple form with the vessel particulars and crew details (same format as in St Barths, another French island). This was then printed off, signed, photocopied and the fee of 4€ paid and that's it. "Simple", as that annoying merecat would say. No passport checks, but that meant no stamp in them as well, so there is a downside to this easy system. We did see the Douane's launch visiting yachts in the bay later on, so the authorities obviously check on boats arriving and departing.
A cool beer and iced tea in one of the bars not only refreshed us but provided us with wifi code that could be picked up in the bay as well as in the bar. This really is turning out to be a good place. Cakes duly bought from the patisserie, we returned to Stream for a late afternoon tea and to watch the sunset but there was not to be a green flash to finish what had been a good day. An early night did not prepare us for being woken in the night because we were too cold! Without going into details of what we do or do not wear in bed, we usually sleep without a sheet and climb under it if we get cold, but this night the sheet was not enough and Sarah even considered getting Darrell to get the duvet out from its deep storage under the bed.
There was a very heavy dew over the boat in the morning which did help the skipper's efforts in removing the salt covering everything from the previous days sail. After a hearty breakfast, the usual fruit and cereal, we went ashore and left the dinghy at the old dinghy dock just up the Deshaies river, where we started our exploration of the rain forest. This followed a brief description of the route from our sailing guide and started easily enough along a concrete track for a few hundred metres before becoming a "choose your own route" walk. Now we were well into the rain forest, and whilst it may not be "jungle", walking along the bank of the river was not possible due to the trees and ferns and the lack of a machete, and so the only route was along the river itself. Fortunately it had not rained heavily recently and so there was not too much water and we were able to boulder hop our way up the valley. If we had been back in the UK this would be described as "gorge scrambling" or now, the more trendy, "canyoning" and was something that Darrell used to do in his days teaching in the outdoor service, but this was something bigger and better than Ash Gill near Garrigill or even Tilberthwaite Gill in the Lakes. The boulders were huge, the vegetation stunning in its diversity, the pools deep and clear and the occasional glimpses of birds and huge colourful butterflies made our frequent stops to catch our breath even more enjoyable. We even saw a black woodpecker, endemic to Guadeloupe! We scrambled along the river for over two hours before reaching a small road that would take us more easily back down to Deshaies. The walk had been a real work out, testing not only stamina, but flexibility and balance and confidence, and we both felt tired but content at the end.
Fortunately the walk down the road was comparatively easy and generally shaded with a cool breeze. Along the river, whilst it had been shaded, there was no breeze and the humidity was very high resulting in very wet t shirts and feet sliding around inside sandals. On the way down we passed the Sanitaire Mere du Salut, which appears to be a religious retreat and had in its grounds large white crosses which Sarah (with her RS teacher hat on) informed me represented the 14 stations of the cross (Via Dolorosa) telling the Easter story. All seemed freshly painted and the grounds manicured and ready for worshipers in a couple of weeks. The end of our walk took us past our 'usual' bar where refreshments were had and strangely it also took us past the patisserie where more delicious fruit tarts were bought to have for afternoon tea back on Stream.
We were casually dangling our tired legs in the water off the bathing platform at the stern before making tea when, out of the corner of his eye, Darrell spotted 2 fins approaching us less than 5 metres away. Momentary panic turned into disbelief as four bottle nose dolphins calmly swam past us passing almost within touching distance under our moored dinghy. This was no fleeting visit though as the dolphins swam around within a hundred metres of us for over an hour and a half. There were three larger ones, one with a nick out of its fin and another with minor scratches on its fin, and a much smaller (younger?) one. As people on other boats saw them they got into the water and started swimming with them. Now Darrell is very much against this as he has read the Dolphin Code and assumed it affected their behaviour but having watched everyone having a fantastic time with the dolphins he gave in and we joined the fun. The dolphins were obviously feeding, but would actively seek out snorkelers and swim around us, coming within touching distance before diving down chasing the fish near the bottom. We were in about 8m of water and could clearly see them chasing the fish before surfacing, taking a breath and then gracefully swimming down again. We would not have believed they would be so unconcerned about our presence and made no attempts to get away. After half an hour or so with them we got back on board and watched as more dinghies and a dive boat came to see the action. The dolphins gradually moved further away before pursuing the dive boat as it took its customers out to the reef for an evening dive. What an experience! We felt so honoured to have witnessed this and are sure it will remain a highlight of our trip.
After such a treat, there was only one thing we could have for our evening meal, another treat in the form of poached egg on marmite rye bread toast with a cup of Earl Grey. No one can say we don't know how to live it up on Stream.
After a good nights sleep without getting cold, Sarah, broke the habit of a lifetime (totally untrue, I am often up before Darrell) and was up first and reading in the cockpit as the early leavers weighed anchor and set off north and south. At 7.30 Darrell was summoned from his pit as our dolphins had returned, this time bringing their mates. Again they came within metres of Stream as they twisted, turned and leapt out of the water in small groups. We estimated there were between 10 and 12 and this time a couple of very small ones who were never away from their mothers, appearing almost joined to them as they swam and came up to breathe together. This time we stayed on board to enjoy the spectacle, even being able to see them swimming under Stream as they chased the fish. The young ones were able to match their mothers movements, but occasionally would slap their tails as they were about to dive. This did not seem to be by accident, as if one did it then the other would when it dived. Fascinating behaviour to watch and left us wanting to know more about their socialising. We even saw one young one apparently feeding as it's mother lay on her side and swam on the surface for several metres, and on more than one occasion saw a dolphin motionless on the surface apparently looking around or was it posing for photos? The local Dolphin Watch boat and it's customers came out of the harbour on its regular trip, but only had to travel all of 100 metres to satisfy it's passengers desire to see dolphins. Easy money today and happy punters!
The dolphins moved around between the anchored yachts for well over two hours before again apparently being drawn out of the bay by a departing yacht. A late breakfast and then a walk to the south of Deshaies up the steep hill took us to Le Jardin Botanique for this mornings visit. The large sign at the entrance informed us they had been built with financial assistance from the EC and so we were disappointed to discover that they only had information in French and even more annoyed that the only people reading the information was us. This was quite a stretch at times for our French translation skills. The gardens are laid out so that there is only one concrete path that twists and turns its way through the gardens resulting in everyone moving through together with no choice of route. The specimens represent the flora of not only Guadeloupe but most tropical countries and many of the smaller plants were familiar UK garden centre indoor plants. Our favourites were the many varieties of Bird of Paradise plants which were just coming into flower. Sarah has been on a quest to see parrots in the Caribbean (not pirates in the Caribbean) and today her patience was rewarded by seeing Tasmanian wedge tailed and rainbow Lorikeets and even had them feeding from her hand. We also saw Macaws who looked as though they had just woken up. We had lunch at the snack bar overlooking the bay where Darrell sampled a Botik Complet. This is like a breakfast in a bun and has fried egg, cheese, ham and sausage with lettuce and tomato in a focaccia-like split pocket. Very tasty and something East Coast Trains should consider if they could match the 5€ (£4). It was nice to see plants that we had seen in the rain forest the day before and although we enjoyed the gardens we felt them to be a little too formal for our taste and would have liked to have seen a greater emphasis on the Caribbean plants (and notes in English!)
The walk back down to the town only took 20 minutes and we suddenly found ourselves back in the patisserie where the days selection was made for afternoon tea. We hardly dared hope that our cetacean friends might make a return trip and that proved the case. We did see dolphin activity in the distance but not close to the boat. However a very large Hawksbill turtle popped up a metre from the boat while we were enjoying afternoon tea, took a look around and a few gulps of air before disappearing back down to feed on the eel grass 8 metres below, never to be seen again. This really is a lovely spot!