The banana flambe was excellent and was soon demolished by three eager spoons after we had already tucked into carpaccio and smoked fish, then more fish and Bob with a big fat juicy steak and the thinnest crispiest French fries that rivalled Macdonalds.

It was a hot night because of the lack of domestic power which meant we could not afford to run the fans and drain the depleted batteries further.  I decided to sleep upstairs and brave the mossies while Francesca returned to her no longer evil smelling fore peak.

We set off in good time in the morning and wended our way out of the scenic Saints and headed up the left side of the left wing of Guadeloupe that is shaped like a butterfly.  We had an extraordinary sail.  Gusts of 15 rising to 22 then nothing at all.  Then the wind suddenly decided to change direction completely, rose and fell, rose and fell in a most irritating manner, it does interrupt the flow of the novel that ones reading.

We had the engine running for most of the day, in neutral to charge the batteries, and put into gear to counteract those irritating lulls.  We chased one yacht all day and gained on another as we all headed in the same direction with the same ups and downs.  Windy loves big wind and goes all slack and lazy if the wind can’t be bothered itself.

We arrived at Deshaies, anchored tidily except when the windlass suddenly decided to stop working.  Another scrabble through the manuals for Bob and a relatively simple mending job except this still didn’t leave enough time for him to tackle the engine stop that doesn’t work.  Good grief.

We persuaded Bob that all work and no play made Bob a dull boy so dragged him into town.  Francesca was made duty driver and, apart from thinking that she was in the Grand Prix thus soaking those of us at the front end of the boat despite please to slow down, did a good job.

Deshaies is lovely with a couple of streets filled with alternating nice balconied houses and falling down wrecks and a church that looks as if it is made from lego.  Unfortunately we couldn’t go inside because yet again there was a funeral going on.  Is someone trying to tell us something?

We made Bob go to the supermarket and after all his hard work mending things was at his most belligerent particularly when Francesca and I discovered the delicious smoked fish that we had eaten the night before and piled it merrily into our basket.

We relaxed this evening watching the sun go down, read our books, listened to the couple on a boat nearby having a very loud row and one of them running off in the dinghy for a good sulk, washed and brushed up and are ready to head into town for dinner.  We have an eye on a nice looking restaurant that rather bizarrely sports a giraffe as its main feature.