Grande Anne D'arlet Is a nice protected Bay from easterly winds but that nasty storm that hit us all the day before had turned this calm little bay into something treacherous.
According to Les from the yacht Golightly the storm turned the sea into 1-1.5 m swells, short and sharp. One boat's anchor chain broke and they were flung onto the beach with the boat perilously on its side. We walked past along the beach and they had pumps draining the water out and the mast tied onto a tree. We felt really bad for them and hope their yacht is able to be salvaged but so far today there does not seem to be any action and the yacht is still on the beach.
On a positive note, it was really good to see Les and he will be joining us on Silver Lining tonight for sundowners. There are heaps of turtles around here and the water is beautifully clear. We had a lovely calm evening and I genuinely saw the green flash at sunset! This morning we got a number of chores done, such as laundry, window cleaning, and general tidying of the cabin, and Neil has been working on the dinghy engine which is giving us a few problems. Alongside us are two huge tall ships so we have good company.
24 Feb 2017
We had a pleasant sail to St Pierre this morning and saw a whale on the way - about 30ft long, blowing its water spout and heading in the opposite direction to us. Great excitement on board when it dove down, waving its tail in the air! A day of delights especially when we had a lone dolphin keeping us company for a while, and pelicans diving for fish near where we anchored at St Pierre. St Pierre itself was disappointing as the wind was blowing onshore and the sea had a bit of swell and chop. It was very deep but we were unable to put much chain down because we would swing to close to shore. We climbed in the dinghy to head ashore but when we saw another yacht recently wrecked in the beach we decided that I would wait on the boat and Neil would go ashore alone to clear out Martinique and pick up a few groceries. On his return we decided to do an overnight sail to Les Saintes, Guadalupe rather than risking staying in an unpleasant anchorage. As we were pulling up anchor an American couple came over on their dinghy to give Neil a bottle of red wine, to thank him for helping him with their dinghy which had got stuck under the pontoon. Very nice of them.
It was a lovely night to go sailing. The stars were out and there was a steady breeze giving us a beam reach all the way. At times the wind died and we had to motorsail for a short time, but up it would come again and we were off again, gliding along in the dark. Approaching Dominica we were bombarded by a so many lights it was hard at time to figure what was a boat, a street light, or a car.
We arrived in Les Saintes at 9am this morning to anchor next to Persephone. We have visited the town Anse du Bourg, a gorgeous little town with a narrow winding street and everything French surrounding. We hope to hire a scooter and explore the island tomorrow and then there is a Mardi Gras to look forward to. Strong winds are forecast over the next few days so let's hope that won't upset our plans.