Monday, April 23, 2012

We love Deshaies, and that is even more reinforced every time we stop here. The town has everything we need close at hand. Easy and convenient Customs clearance, Fuel, Groceries, Boulangierie, free garbage disposal, comfortable anchorage with good holding, and warm people. In addition it is a picturesque place nestled into the surrounding hillside. We have seen more rainbows here than almost anywhere we have been, meaning of course, we have had more rain – but that is not a problem for us, and generally the morning dawns bright and clear and gorgeous.

The other day while enjoying the start of the day with the church bells chiming the hour we looked out to sea and saw two dolphins cruising just outside the harbor. Every morning and evening we see fish jumping and feeding while birds dive amidst the furor. We also saw what I first thought was the splash of a breeching whale off in the distance. In hindsight, more likely it was a sport fish caught that was trying to shake its lure, but still it looked magnificent. We regularly see turtles surfacing here as well.

For the past few nights we have enjoyed watching the sunset into the sea again, something we have not seen for months, probably since December, as everywhere we have been recently has been surrounded by islands. The clouds earlier in the week made for some beautiful color, but last night we were treated to a spectacular display of the green flash. A pop of neon color that burned brightly for a few seconds, then faded out with the setting sun….magnificent.

It was two years ago (yesterday, April 22) that we met Ginny and John on Wind Shepherd, right here in Deshaies, and they became our very first Caribbean cruising friends. As we have been travelling with them for the past 5 weeks or so, we decided to go out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary. So Saturday night we all get dressed up and head to shore to enjoy a lovely meal….well we discover a cultural difference that puts a slight hitch in these plans. NO WHERE in this little hamlet can you get dinner before 7pm. This is France, and they don’t even start thinking about dinner until after 7, so after checking every resatraunt, and asking in the Internet café. (Hilarious because when we asked where we could get dinner, the guys eyes widened, he looked at his computer and said…it’s 5:30! – as if we were aliens from another planet speaking a strange language). So, back to Wind Shepherd we went to share some appetizers instead. Sunday lunch proved much more successful and we enjoyed a lovely, leisurely meal overlooking the anchorage, and watching the rain blow thru. This is where we say goodbye to Wind Shepherd as they are heading back to Trinidad and we to Grenada

At the moment, we are preparing to leave here at dawn tomorrow for one last long trip, 200 miles to Bequia, SVG. Weather permitting we will arrive Wednesday afternoon. Stay tuned….