A dash up the island chain - Dominica, The Saints, Guadeloupe.

We were pleased to depart before sunrise on Thursday 15 December and head to Dominica. It was a long day with flukey winds shifting radically in position as well as strength. One minute the wind would be 8 knots and the next 25 knots. We wanted to get to Dominica before dark, so the donk got turned on a few times when the wind dropped. Andrew spent most of the time at the wheel with the help of George, our auto pilot, trimming sails all the time to get the best out of the wind.

Trimming sails

At one point in our journey Laura looked up to find Andrew wearing his seeing-eye-glasses over his sunglasses. She found this incredibly funny and laughed so hard!

We had a whale surface right next to the boat, so between watching for fishing cages which only have a coke bottle on the surface as an indication that they are there, and watching out for more whales, we had a busy passage.

 

As we were only planning on staying overnight in Dominica we didn't bother to drop the dinghy or check in. 

We had a good nights sleep and woke early the next morning to continue our journey towards the Saints. The wind was quite strong and we made good time with boat speeds of between 6 and 8 knots. 

The pictures below show our entrance into The Saints.

Anchoring was not permitted where we chose to stop in the bay so we had to pick up a mooring ball. We managed to nab the second last ball close to Gumbar. Bully was just coming in behind us but missed getting the ball next to us by a few minutes. A cat picked it up before Jim came into the bay. We managed to find another mooring ball for him and Ian dropped his dinghy to help him with the mooring lines. We thought we were lucky to get the last two balls, but it turned out that they were the worst ones in the anchorage. The swell coming into the bay was terrible and we had the metal loop on top of the ball bang on the hull most of the night. Andrew and I even got up at one stage to check that it was ok and not damaging the boat.

As The Saints is part of Guadeloupe, we were able to check in and spend some time ashore. We were in the town of Terre-de-Hout, where check in was as easy as before, using a computer in what looked like a laundromat and cost 4 Euro. 

Andrew checking us in

Claire checking in

Then we had a wander around the small town. 

Welcome

 

We departed The Saints and made our way to Guadeloupe. On the way the wind picked up and we experienced winds of 25 – 30 knots most of the way. Thankfully the sea was not as rough as previous days. We arrived at our chosen bay to find it littered with fish traps and the wind gusting 30 to 35 knots. We decided to go round the corner to another small bay where we dropped anchor. There were only two other boats in the bay, so plenty of space and no fish traps! The wind dropped later in the afternoon, and we had a very good night’s sleep.

Andrew, Laura, Faye and I dingied ashore to go and see the town. Sadly the weather wasn’t playing ball and it was raining off and on. We managed to find the dinghy dock which was in a cove surrounded by rocks. It was packed with small craft but we managed to squeeze our way into a space to tie up.

We anchored a tad close - so we moved

 

Being Sunday, everything was closed except the two supermarkets where we bought a few things – no baguette, all sold out. The Soccer World Cup final was on and we could hear cheers when France scored. Argentina won in the end after penalty shoot outs.

View from the shop door

Waiting for the rain to stop

 

We got caught in the rain when we left the shop, but it never lasts for long and we dingied back to the boats.

 

Jim, Claire, Faye and I played Canasta on Gumbar. Expecting to just be a by-stander, observing the ongoing feud between Jim and Faye, I was surprised at the outcome! The tables had turned. Claire came first and I came a close second. Although Jim tried all sorts of dastardly tactics like going out so fast, we were holding all our cards (which put us into minus scores), and killing the pack, Claire and I prevailed. The next game is going to be deadly!! No more Mr Nice Guy from any of us!

Laura being funny

 

The following morning, we upped anchor and headed for Deshaies Bay, hoping to drop anchor there for the night. This is the part of the island where they filmed Death in Paradise. Sadly the bay is small and it was quite full. We didn’t think we were securely set, and the boats were swinging all over the place, so there was a change in plan. We decided to check out of Guadeloupe and do an overnight sail to Saint Martin. 

 

Faye, Claire and I went ashore to check out. It is a quaint little town much like many of the others we have seen. 

 

The shop where we checked out

We got ourselves ready for the overnight sail. This means getting the life lines and life jackets out. We don't wear life jackets during the day on day passages unless one of us goes forward of the cockpit or the seas are really rough. Once the sun sets, we don life jackets and hook onto the boat with life lines attached to our life jackets. Neither of us gets out of the cockpit at night without the other person in the cockpit and watching. We stow everything else away during a day sail, so we didn’t have much else to prepare. We left Guadeloupe at 1pm.

Sunrise with Gumbar and Bully

Watching for the green flash