Sailing South from Antigua to St. Lucia
12 May 2014 | Rodney Bay Marina St. Lucia
Bert - Partly Cloudy 22 kn North/East Trade Wind
So after weeks of fun and excitement in Antigua we left to sail back south and our first stop was Deshaies in Guadeloupe. We made this crossing on the same day of the start of the Antigua Sailing Week with the race from Deshaies Guadeloupe to Antigua. So we expected while sailing south to see a lot of boats sailing north using the calm seas and a very nice 15 to 17 kn. easterly wind to make good time to get to Antigua. This turned out to be a little disappointing since we only saw 11 boats. We made very good time but the very weird winds around Guadeloupe delayed us a little. We were sailing with a 17kn easterly wind at a speed of 6.5 KN. Suddenly without any warning or reducing in wind it turned 180 degrees to the west. Luckily our boom preventer was set and the boom could not swing over, but all the sails, main, stay and jib were back filled. After this wind event it became very difficult to respond to the continued changes in wind speed and directions so we motor sailed the remaining 2 miles. Deshaies is a very nice picturesque fishing town in a small bay near the north end of Guadeloupe’s west coast with a spectacular botanical garden close by that we visited last year. Guadeloupe acts like a wind scoop and this bay is a wind vent for the system and the wind can sometimes howl in an alarming manner. We did not have this kind of wind, but the wind was strong and constantly changing in direction. Anchoring in 35 ft. deep water we had 120 ft. anchor chain out and made very large swings. One moment the stern was facing the town and the next the Caribbean Sea. We were happy to leave the next morning to sail to The Saintes.
Last year we spent a weekend in The Saintes arriving on Saturday morning from Marie Galante and leaving on Monday morning to Dominica and did not visit a lot of the islands. So this year we took some more time to enjoy this beautiful place. And during the day you are not the only one. In the morning starting a 9:00 the ferries arrive from Guadeloupe with mostly day tourists visiting Terre D’en Haut the main island of The Saintes. I say ferries as on some days 4 to 5 ferries arrive with every seat taken. The very nice little town square with the ferry pier is filled with people visiting the main street with nice tourist shops, restaurants, bakeries and the butcher. This town feels like a fishing village on the French Riviera and people watching while sitting on one of the benches on the town square or along the street is so much fun. It is even nicer to sit on the terrace of one of the coffee shops or restaurants and have coffee and a croissant and in the evening delicious ice cream or crepe filled with homemade chocolate. These are the moments that you feel that life cannot get any better. Most tourists are leaving town soon to go to one of the most beautiful beaches. The roads in Terre D’en Haut are in good condition but very narrow which is not a big problem as most people use a scooter for transportation and cars and trucks are only used by businesses and the public works department. So the people that do not use a taxi bus rent a scooter or a small golf car type of electric car. We rented a scooter and visited all the beaches but started with a visit to Fort Napoleon. Every island in the Caribbean has forts that are a true reflection of the European history and typically Dorothy and I are not too much interested in these forts. But Fort Napoleon is special. It was built in 1867 and stands on a hill to the north of town, with a commanding view of the harbor, surrounding islands from The Saintes but also Guadeloupe, Marie Galante and Dominica. The fort has been magnificently restored and has a very impressive exposition of historic artifacts, drawings, pictures and documents. The famous battle of The Saintes of 1782 between a British armada and the French is depicted in several realistically graphic displays. But what we liked more is the fact that the top part of the fort is a well-tended garden of cactuses and succulents. The blooming aloes attract a horde of hummingbirds and iguanas are so used to the people that they just come to you. Every step you take gives you another beautiful view and every shot is like a postcard (See our pictures). Of all the beaches we visited we liked “Plage de Pompierre” the most and the next day we walked to this beach and had a great morning while reading a nice book in the shade of the palm trees. We also liked long straight Grand Anse beach not to swim but to watch and hear the Atlantic waves that are pounding on this beach. Unfortunately the mooring field was quite rolling and the last night was close to uncomfortable so we left for Prince Rupert Bay in Dominica. This short 18 miles crossing was wonderful and we had a great sail with 20 to 23 KN wind and a small reef in the main and the jib.
Prince Rupert Bay is a very large and protected bay that is over 2 miles long and 1 mile deep. This is the third visit to this bay and we have described in our previous blogs all the great things about the bay and the access from this bay to one of the most beautiful islands in the Caribbean. This time we limited our visits to shore so I could use the time to do some varnish work on our boat. The teak with the clear varnish gives Island Girl a very nice look, but it is a lot of work to keep it up. We spent a lot of money on the varnish last year in Grenada but unfortunately it did not hold that long. I already started re-varnishing in Suriname and did quite some work on it in Trinidad and decided not to wait until the hurricane season but already do more work during our trip. Of course we attended the traditional Sunday night BBQ organized by the Portsmouth Association of Yacht Security (PAYS). After three visits we know nearly all the members but Albert is special and is always taking care of us. This visit we did not use a lot of his services but every morning and evening he passed by for a little chat. Arriving in Prince Rupert Bay always gives us the feeling of coming home and seeing our friends. On the north side of the bay is the Cabrits National Park with the very nicely restored Fort Shirley. In the center of this fort is a very old large Mango Tree with nice benches underneath and a wonderful view over the bay. Besides fruit the tree gives a lot of shade and the since you are high above the bay there is always a very nice breeze. Dorothy and I always enjoy it very much to sit here and relax, meet people and look over the bay and the mountains. This time we met a group of students from the University in Portsmouth who had a project to make a video about “Peace” and what it means to people. They asked us to participate and make a statement about what peace means to us while they recorded it. We also met a very nice lady from Ireland who is a professor at the University with a specialty in Brain and Spinal cord. It was obvious that she is a very good teacher because we learned a lot about our brain and spinal functions and related problems. The problem with the BBQ from PAYS is the free rum punch. You can have as much as you like, it is very tasty but also very strong, actually too strong for me although I drank more than I normally do. When we came back on Island Girl after the BBQ we took the dinghy out of the water so we would be ready early the following morning to leave Prince Rupert Bay and Dominica and sail to St. Pierre in Martinique.
We raised the anchor at 5:00 AM in the morning with the first light and we had a very pleasant sail in the lee of Dominica and a crossing to Martinique. Close to Martinique however the wind turned to the west and for the first time we anchored in St. Pierre with the stern to the beach. Most cruisers do not like the anchorage in St. Pierre due to the fact that the sea floor comes up close to shore very steep and you have only a small area that has good holding. We have managed to anchor every time on the same spot and have no problems. The next morning after a breakfast in our favorite bakery and clearing customs and immigration we sailed to “Anse Mitan” on the south side of the Fort de France Bay. Anse Mitan was originally a supper-chic tourist area. We anchored in front of the now closed and abandoned Meridian hotel. The building still looks good from a distance, but it is completely destroyed and the windows have no glass anymore. However, the hotel has 3 beaches with breakwater around them and these are now the best protected public beaches I have ever seen. The rest of the beach is also very pretty except that the restaurants and other buildings along the beach are very badly maintained. However, it looks like the area has become livelier with the construction of “Creole Village” an area with new restaurants and shops. It has of course a very good French Bakery and we enjoyed the great coffee and pastries. Just for the fun we took the ferry to Fort de France for some shopping. The next morning we sailed to Ste. Anne on the south/east side of Martinique at the entrance of the bay to Marin. Ste. Anne is a delightful seaside town with a very long beautiful beach and very nice seaside restaurants. In the center of the town are the Stations of the Cross which symbolize the suffering of Jesus Christ from the palace of the Roman governor to the place of his crucifixion. In Ste. Anne this is a very steep climb, but with a very rewarding view. We used the dinghy to do some part shopping in Marin, the largest yachting center in the Caribbean and to check out of Martinique.
We left the next morning at 5:00 AM to complete the short 21 miles crossing to St. Lucia before the predicted tropical wave would arrive with slow moving squalls and wind speeds up to 35 KN and a lot of rain. It was predicted that some areas would get over 10 inches of rain. Both visually and on the radar we saw a very large squall line all the way from Martinique to St. Lucia about 7 miles east of us. The sky was black and we saw massive amounts of rain coming down. Just 4 miles from St. Lucia the squall line passed us and the first rain started. But at the same moment the squall disintegrated right on top of us and it was amazing to see this disintegration on the radar. The result was that we had some good rain and 17 KN of wind and this was the weather we had yesterday since our arrival and today. Both the Rodney Bay and the marina are full with boats with people visiting Rodney Bay for the Jazz Festival on Pigeon Island on the north side of the bay. Pigeon Island is now connected to the main land by a causeway and it is part of a national park. It really was a pity for all these people and the musicians that there was so much rain, but it appeared that the show kept going on.
We will stay in Rodney Bay for a couple of days before we continue our trip south to Soufriere on the south side of St. Lucia before we go to St. Vincent and the Grenadines of which we will report in our next blog.