We had a good reaching sail down to Deshaies from Antigua, making 8-9 knots; even slowing the boat at times when the wind exceeded 25 knots.

 

As we reached Guadeloupe’s north west corner, we were greeted by the sight of a pair of (Humpback?) whales breaching. Unfortunately, we failed to capture them on film despite watching them for about 10 minutes.

 

Deshaies is still the delightful little town that I remember from my visit last year.  Clearing in at the “Pelican” gift store is straightforward.  With its many waterside restaurants (we enjoyed the Creole menu at l’Amer) and classic French cafes, it is a delight to visit and the harbour is well sheltered.  The Spar supermarket is well stocked and also provided Mick with squid for fishing bait which enabled him to catch a few small fish from the boat to use as bait for bigger fish later.

 

I had an interesting conversation with a lady from Bordeaux during a 45 minute walk in search of a hardware store (no luck!).  She seems to have found a good lifestyle spending the winters house-sitting in Guadeloupe, then returning to France for the summer. The road out of Deshaies towards Santa Rosa is quite rural with much colourful encroaching vegetation. Not quite as good as the local botanical gardens, but pleasant nonetheless.

 

Whilst sitting at anchor we saw several green turtles, larger than the Ridleys(?) we had seen in Antigua but they were, as usual, hard to photograph due to their brief visits to the surface.

 

Deshaies from the sea

 

L’Amer restaurant

 

Fishermen’s corner restaurant

 

Green turtle

 

 

Deshaies anchorage