After our morning coffee watching a few of the local fishermen heading out for their catch, we waved hello and good-bye as we weighed anchor and headed out.
One reef in the main, mostly Easting once again in 20 (plus) knot winds, with some bashing into the built-up seas, although much less than the day before, and once we'd turned around the corner of Montserrat and got away from the land effect and sea effect and God only knows what other effect, the seas became much less agitated and twisted, we had a great sail, and after 45 nm we arrived safe and sound, and anchored in Deshaies, a tiny fishing village on the North-West coast of Guadeloupe.
After our last Customs & Immigration experience, we were a little hesitant to repeat yet another check-in procedure, especially since the Cruising Guides indicate that it's simply a computer terminal, in The Pelican shop by the waterfront, that is open in the morning, closed for an afternoon siesta, and re-opens at 4. Hmm, ok?
"Dave, honey, ya think the Cruising Guide is right this time?" I asked... However, it's easy to understand how in these little communities, the one year old written information can quickly become out-of-date as things change.
Once anchored in this gorgeous little bay, we got ourselves squared away, put the lines away (yadda, yadda, yadda), got the engine on dinghy, and Dave dove on the anchor,
a must-do as this time he found that the anchor had dropped on a piece of rock and was not set well at all, especially not given the high winds forecasted for the evening We repositioned and this time, we were dug in but good. Peace of mind.
We waited till 4, dinghied to shore, and are happy, no thrilled, no, just ecstatic to report that not only was there a The Pelican shop, not only was it on the waterfront a short walk away, not only was it open, not only was there a computer, not only did the computer work, but the whole process took us all of 5 minutes.
Could've maybe been done in 4 minutes, but the extra time was due to Dave's one fingered typing approach. Grin. We paid the $6 fee, signed the printed page and voilà, tout fini. Free to stay for a day or a year. And free to stay in the area for 48 hours after clearing out. Now THAT's helpful, non?
Now this is technology. This is how they all should work. This is like enjoying superfast WiFi. HA !
All around me we saw and heard French. I was thrilled, as being bilingual, or trilingual even, and working on my 4th language (Spanish), excited to be able to speak and understand the Deshaisiens. Dave, being pretty bilingual as well was thinking he would be able to at least keep up with what was being said and contribute a few things...
Well, not that easy my friends. This place is French, yes, but, WTF?? I could read some of the words, some no, as in what's that accent doing there? And how did you spell that ? I could understand even less of the conversations I was having and conversations quickly resorted back to English. WTF?
Eventually I realized that this is because there's a bit of Creole in there. Specifically Antillean Creole, whose roots lie in the African and Caribe languages, and somehow combined with French... WOW. To top it off I thought I spoke fast, but holy crap, this was all beyond me.
For example, as I type this it's raining. (There always seems to be an afternoon shower here). Anyhow, the Guadalupanos would say :
Lapli ka tonbé. (La pluie qui a tombé). Or today is beautiful :
Odi-a se an bel journin (Aujourd'hui est une belle journée). Or i'm going to the beach :
ka alé bodlanmè-a laplaj (aller ... who knows... a la plage). WTF ??
This beautiful place was called "Karukera" (The Island of Beautiful Waters) by the Arawak people, until the Caribs came and killed them all and then who knows what it was called. And as we can all guess, C.C. came along but this time, he was thirsty my friends, and stopped here to replenish his supplies of water. He named this place "Santa María de Guadalupe de Extremadura" after another Monastery somewhere or other.
Interestingly enough, C.C. "discovered" the pineapple here and called it "piña de Indias" (Pine of the Indians). I'm hoping to discover some pineapple here as well, given our supplies of fruit, at the moment are non-existant and we are in severe fruit withdrawl mode.
Back on the boat, we lowered the Yellow Q Flag, and hoisted the French one,
and settled on our verandah for the evening, enjoying the view and enjoying a just bought baguette, some pâté and a glass of vino, parfait !!
As we listened to the church bells chime the hour, we both agreed, that although we haven't seen or done much here yet, we already love this place ! And for anyone wanting to come here, I wouldn't worry about the French, we got by just fine in English.
Bonzu is their way of saying Bonjour, Hello, Good Morning.
Always a great way to start any conversation. Along with a smile.
Harry Belafonte sang it well "
Mèsi Bondyé" (Merci Bon Dieu)
We are saying Mèsi too.
Merci and Thank You.
We are truly blessed and grateful. Ah que oui.