We are still in the same beautiful anchorage in Guadeloupe. We are planning to leave on or about the 3rd and head directly to Grenada, which is about 43 hours away, so 2 nights and nearly 2 full days. We'll probably leave near to 12noon, so we arrive Grenada in the morning. Then from there we will go the 75 miles to Trinidad. We now have reservations at a yard in Trinidad, which I was concerned about, and all that remains is to get there and arrange the haul out.

In the meantime, we are truly enjoying Guadeloupe. Last Sunday we took a hike up the Deshaies river, which is where we tie up our dingy when coming to town. Just east of the foot and road bridge there is a small road that parallels the river for a short way, then from there it is hopping rock to rock and thru and along the river bed for two hours. It was fun, but quite a climb, past small falls and over boulders both small and large. It was shady, and after about ½ an hour you could begin to see the LARGE leafed plants and the vines and trees that made it clear we were in the rain forest. I would post the photos, but am still having a problem with that, so sorry, but it was beautiful. However, after a hours climb I was getting tired, and after 1.5 hours we were both wondering where the road was that we were supposed to climb to. This particular trek is in the guide books, and it says after you climb 1.5 to 2 hours you will get to a road that will lead you right back to town in 15 minutes...frankly I was getting a little skeptical, but finally we saw a house on the right side of the river and just a bit further we saw the electrical lines coming from the left side of the river....hallelujah...power lines are always laid along roads! So we climbed up the ravine and found it! Jim took a short (50 feet) walk further along the road and found that if we had just kept along the riverbed, we would have come level with the road just ahead of where we climbed out...oh well, I wasn't taking any chances at that point - I was tired!
We began following the road down and it wandered thru high meadows where cows were tethered and past a lovely cemetery high in the hills. We had no idea how high we had climbed in to the mountain, but after walking down 35 minutes, we just came to the outer edge of the town..must have been over 500 feet high and just beautiful.

Monday we relaxed, and swam, got the computer charged on shore and generally recuperated after our Sunday adventure, so by Tuesday we were ready to get out and go again. We rented a car and drove north along the coast heading for Pointe a Pitre to look at the marinas and anchorages there. This was a much easier drive, not nearly as hilly as the South road to Basseterre, and we went thru many small towns and meadows with cattle tethered with chains to their 20 feet of grass. Some of these are on the very edge of the road, and often the animals are lying down in shady spots. We also passed what must have been sugar cane fields and several farm trucks carrying mounds of it, like we in the Midwest are used to seeing haywagons.

Pointe a Pitre was a busy city and driving was just like any city anywhere. The downtown area is much like Basseterre with shops piled on top of each other and wares hanging well out in the streets. Very busy with shoppers and car traffic and busy one way lanes. I did not get a picture as we drove thru, but wished I did. After leaving Pointe a Pitre, we drove back toward Deshaies and stopped at Baie Marhault to go to the Carrefour. How civilized! The Carrefour is in a mall, with all kinds of shops and food courts etc. We must have spent 3 hours there wandering the aisles and finding everything that we need...and a few things that we just wanted, like Water Noodles to relax in the sea. We finally got back to Deshaies then we had to take all the goodies out to the boat, including the 3 water jugs we filled up this morning...many things are easier to do with a rental car. Then come back to shore and drive back around to the fuel station and fill up our Jerry jugs with fuel, then take those to the dingy, then return the car...fortunately, it is just three blocks from the river and then walk back and get the jerry jugs out to the boat. Then put everything away....then relax and watch the sun sink into the Caribbean Sea. The sun goes down here about 6:30 and by 7pm it is DARK.

Tuesday night the wind piped up to 25 and the anchorage was a little rocky all night. Wednesday morning, 5:40am, I woke to someone shouting "Hey, Wake UP!" which I did only to find that it was John on Wind Shepherd trying to wake the boat next to him that came in and anchored VERY close Tuesday night, and proceeded to swing and hit him. Fortunately they hit his bow anchor rollers so no damage, but he was understandably pretty darn cranked and after having to dingy over to the other boat to wake them up and strongly recommend that they MOVE...they did. While I am watching this, I notice that the dingy from another boat is drifting away (quickly, as it is blowing pretty hard) from their boat. As Jim and I were getting ready to drop our dink we see another guy heading out to rescue it, then here comes John in his 11 foot dingy, with a 15 HP engine zipping out to retrieve it...I can't believe how fast that thing is and so said to Jim - one more reason to get a big, fast dingy...that is now #3 on our list of purchases when we get to Trinidad...We gotta get one of those!

So now here it is Thursday, we've been here for a week and saw a bit of the island, swam a lot, filled our fuel tanks and Jerry Jugs, added some water to see us thru the next few weeks, and topped off our provisions. Now we are relaxing, enjoying the HOT weather...98.6 yesterday afternoon..in the shade, and getting ready to head out next week.