Jobiska in the foreground moored near the beach at Ile Cabrit

We had spent quite a bit of time at Les Saintes in the past but mainly in the anchorage at Grand llet where I made a new sprayhood for the first Jobiska, our 27 foot Albin Vega, after the previous one had been blown out in a bad squall sailing north from Dominica. It took quite a time as it was all hand sewn, no sewing machine on board in those days but plenty of spare material. There weren't many yachts about but that is a different story now.

Even back in 1981 Les Saintes was a holiday destination for Guadeloupeans but particularly for the white population who were newly into topless and thong bathing, mainly sun-bathing so there was quite a bit of parading going on, they appear to have got over that. The Guadeloupean black population were still struggling with the racism and inequalities which were rife in Guadeloupe even though it had become an overseas Department of France in 1946, it was not unlike South Africa. The majority of the black population were the poorly paid cane workers, builders and factory hands living in shanty town conditions whilst the majority of the white were the politicians, business men and entrepreneurs. There had been riots in 1952, no state benefits then, when protesting sugar workers were shot but a protest for a 2% rise in pay by construction workers in 1967 was a catalyst, protesters and anyone that moved were randomly shot and it has been described as being like a war zone. The black population developed a hearty mistrust of what they experienced as a violent police force and state militia.

So there were no black holiday makers back in 1981 that we were aware of and to this day some Guadeloupeans still wait for the French government to officially acknowledge and apologise for the brutality that took place there. Visiting beautiful places like this is a wonderful experience but all is not always what it seems. Things have definitely moved on here but that apology is still outstanding.

It was a good but rough and fast 2 hour sail from Dominica to Les Saintes but our crew coped admirably with the help in Jill's case of ginger tablets and acupressure wrist bands. Most of our time in Les Saintes this year has been spent at Cabrit, a small uninhabited island in the group of nine which form a rough arc of enclosure that creates good anchorages. Nowadays one is only allowed to anchor beyond the 20 metre depth contour, further in it is all buoyed as the administration is trying to protect its coral and sea bed from the continual use of anchors. We managed to get a buoy very close to the beach which was great. Swimming and snorkelling were the order of the day but we also had a good exploration of the island and went up to Fort Josephine at the top. It is a ruin and cannot be compared to Fort Napoleon on Terre de Haute but was interesting and gave us wonderful views of this little archipelago. Thanks Josephine See gallery.

The crossing from Saintes to our next destination, Riviere Sens in Guadeloupe, is just 8 miles so before leaving we picked up a buoy in the harbour and spent the morning in Terre de Haute. It is very geared up for tourists with plenty of restaurants and cafes lining the streets and colourful shops to tempt the purse strings, it is a bit like some places in the south of France but without the dust.
A few hours enabled everyone to get the flavour of the place, for postcards to be posted and souvenirs to be considered. A nice small town, not too many people on the streets so quite a leisurely experience.

Guadeloupe
Chris and I were becoming increasingly conscious of the fact that Indian Town in Florida was over a thousand miles away and we needed to be there by mid April. Indian Town lies 40 miles inland on a canal that cuts across the Florida peninsula to the Gulf of Mexico. This was where we would leave Jobiska to fly home until our return in November after the hurricane season. We needed to push on if we were to achieve that as we had already booked with the boat yard where she would be taken out of the water, held down with land screw anchors and stripped of canvas ready for potential hurricane winds which hopefully would not reach that far inland. Very hopefully indeed.

We decided not to go into the big anchorage between Guadeloupe's butterfly wings at Basse Terre as it was too enclosed, could be a bit buggy and would add miles onto our further journey north. We opted for Guadeloupe's Sens Riviere marina which was small and open surrounded by a nice town with everything within walking distance.

Sens Riviere therefore became a departure point. It was almost the end of the Caribbean voage for Jill and Charles who would spend a few more days in Guadeloupe before returning to New Zealand and it would soon be the start of the final leg of our journey for this year. It had all passed so quickly, too quickly and I think we all felt a bit hollow that this phase was coming to an end.

Jill and Charles had AirBnB sorted for the rest of their stay before their flight to Miami then home. We sussed the marina which had everything we would need on hand or nearby so we sorted a nice restaurant where we could have a farewell dinner. This was a really good place specialising in French Creole cooking with an excellent selection of wines and the ubiquitous rum punches. It was great, all delicious and a lovely way to finish this journey.

A car had been booked for Jill and Charles the next day and we had the difficult goodbyes to make not knowing when we would ever see each other again. However, they still had some time to enjoy and were planning to visit a flamingo lake so something more to look forward to. We wished each other safe journeys and made our goodbyes.

Feeling somewhat deflated the boat felt empty so we threw ourselves into prepping for the first part of our journey which would take us to the British Virgin Islands some 230 miles north.