27 April 2014 | From Deshaies to...
This is the story of our sailing trip, a sailing trip we took. Of how we decided to leave Deshaies bright and early that fateful morning, mostly due to increasing rolly conditions, which one look at each other had us exclaiming, "Nu-Uh, No-Way, not for one more day!"
So, now what?
"Well, there's Pigeon Island with the Jacques Cousteau Diving Park, 8 nm away?" says the Capt'N.
"OK", says I, "That's what, not even two hours away".
Towit, the Capt'N agreed. "We need to generate power and water too so might as well do it on the way".
The water in Deshaies Bay was not looking all that clean, due to the increasingly disturbed conditions anyway, and as you can imagine as you read, the sailing plan was hatched.
And Yeehaa, off we go. We upped the sails,
and the flukey sea-breeze effects had the wind conditions forcing us to do a bit of this,
and then a little bit of this,
and back to a little bit of this. Getting a wee-bit frustrated? I was!!
And yet, the sun was shining, it was a beautiful day and the current was helping by pushing us along the beautiful coastline,
of pretty picturesque and impressive places
of Guadeloupe.
As we approached Pigeon Island,
we noticed the masts of the boats in the anchorage swaying and rocking. From side to side, beyond heeling belief. And we looked at each other and said "Nu-uh, No Way, not today !"
Not wanting to give up that easily though, we slowed down as we entered the anchorage, but whoa, hold on... and as we rolled from side to side, guess what? "Nu-uh, no way... keep on moving" !!
Darn-it-all !!
The next bay down looked to be pretty, but again, the surf crashing to the shore spoke volumes,
and so we kept on going, and going, and going. Blah, blah, blah...
Look what we saw though, fuzzy but I got it!!
Off in the heights of distance, the still active volcano, La Grande Soufrière,
impressive in its mass and size,
the peaks of clarity,
wow.
We kept on going, and going, and going... blah blah blah. Sometimes it's a mind-set, isn't it? I hadn't wanted to go very far today. I hadn't felt like doing much today. The boat wasn't prepped, the lunches weren't prepped, I wasn't mentally, or physically prepped for an all day event, blah, blah, blah...
And eventually, the end was almost in sight. As we cleared the southern tip of the coastline, we then found ourselves facing a good hour, if not close to two, of increased winds and current and agitated and turbulent seas, oh joy, as we crossed from the mainland to Les Saintes,
the jagged coastlines impressive and inhospitable.
And that is how, dear reader, 2 hours turned to almost 7 hours, and 8 nm eventually read 33 nautical miles!!
We finally picked up a mooring ball in the quiet protection of Ile Cabrit. Followed by a swim and a snorkel, and then, a sundowner as we watched the sun set
in this very calm and quiet and comfortable spot.
My jitterbug impatience had me in a rigid place with my thoughts, cranking as we were, in my minds timeline and thoughts, doing it all wrong, going "too far", I wasn't in the mood, a fridge full of food but nothing for lunch, blah, blah, blah. Yet, when all was said and done, and thanks to the Capt'N thinking me through it, we had made the right choices given the conditions as we encountered them, did have a great day (a whale AND a photo, a volcano not hidden in cloudy mists, really!!) and a great sail (I suppose!), and had once again (thankfully!) arrived safe and sound. Life is Good. It's all about the journey, no matter how or when you get there, right?