WEATHER: IMAGE: a close encounter with whales whilst sailing in Guadeloupe

Our arrival into Guadeloupe was on the north-western side of the main island into fishing village of DESHAIES, via a passage passing the eastern side of the islands of St Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat. We enjoyed good trade winds for this passage giving us good sailing. We experienced a very erry and strange sail past the totally unlit small Redonda Island in the early morning light of the 1st April. Redonda is a very small - now uninhabited island of only 2sq km and some 300m high, with a mad story attached to it of annexation, wealthy mineral deposits and a madman who claimed himself King of this 'Kingdom'. Due to the wind dropping off after passing Montserrat on the western side, so unfortunately we arrived 1 hour after dark into Deshaies - into this crowded little harbour and the anchoring was like a military exercise. James giving instructions from the bow up with his VHF and bright spotlight to avoid the fishing markers and other unlit small boats and other yachts and me receiving instructions in the cockpit with my VHF, and relaying depth info - all went OK. After a well earned hot shower, cold drink and canned ravioli for dinner we both crashed out... but it was too quite - not a sound, and I was still on 2 hourly 'watches' during the night. At 4am I found an excellent internet signal from the cockpit and collected my emails and read the newspapers. Seeing the anchorage and little village in the morning was a delight. We set off to check-in and take a look around. The French check-in system is just so hassle-free and simple - we just entered our info on the designated Marine/capitainerie computer at the little Le Pelican gift shop and the lovely lady took 4 euro with a smile, stamped our now printed official entry papers and that was that. We had a wander of the little village -we are both so impressed with the French Caribbean - they have all the infrastructural support from Paris which makes such a difference to the quality and lifestyle of the people. A French lunch was a must - so fresh baguette, cheese and pate in the cockpit, followed by a swim and a rest in the afternoon until 5pm when we went into the Bar/Restaurant L'AMar which had the best internet signal. We both successfully made our phone calls - me to Mum and James to Jenn. I was watching the bar/restaurant staff and was very impressed the professional manner they laid-up the restaurant and prepared for dinner service - simple French class here in the Caribbean. We decided to move on early on Thursday 3rd- so did a quick rubbish run to town and also the must have freshly baked croissants for breakfast and a lunch baguette from an already full and queuing bakery at 7am. We set off in light winds south, heading for PIGEON ISLAND to the Cousteau Marine Park. Thankfully there was a yellow yacht mooring buoy available so we took that amongst the many dive boats and others floating about in dingys and canoes. We snorkelled for about 1 hour - it was only just OK - nothing too impressive over this large area. Many of the corals were broken and drained of any colour they may have had and there were some coloured fish but it was not teeming as we had expected. We were glad we did not get our dive gear set-up as it would not have been worth the hassle. We had a leisurely afternoon sail down the coast in a strange south-westerly wind off shore breeze. The main island is similar in shape to a lopsided butterfly with the navigatable shallow, narrow Riviere Salee running through its central spine. Sailing along with coast we appreciated the heights of the volcanic peaks and the many idyllic palm fringed inlets. In the late afternoon we anchored in the company of a few other yachts, just off the marina and a blacksand beach. There were many people out enjoying the late afternoon walk or cycle along the promenade and/or a swim - all very middle-class. Our aim on Friday morning was to visit the Capital city BASSE-TERRE to have a look around and do some fresh food shopping in the local market. Just as we were launching the dingy and ready to set off our French neighbour signalled for assistance to move his engineless boat. After looking around the soul-less marina complex, we then had a long hot walk along the oceanfront promenade into the main town. Basse-Terre is an old colonial port town, now with a mix of original and new architecture. The town streets were alive with students from the university, and as Basse-Terre is now the administration capital there were many well dressed office staff heading out for their restaurant lunch - the narrow streets and lanes were busy but orderly. The public open-air market was full of fresh produce and tourist vendors, very colourful and musical too. The market has a beautiful floating wave for its roof - very new-French in design. After the hot walk back to the boat with our shopping it was great to just dive overboard to quickly cool off. Saturday 5th was tough, tacking sailing to making any progress west through THE SAINTES channel.
We had a WHALE of a day! - yes we came across 2 very large whales and they liked the look of us too. Even tacking to get clear of them did not work - they just followed and came alongside us! After a very exciting and stressful ½ hour we were clear of their area and then needed to decide which one of the many anchorages we would head into in this small, enticing archipelago. We decided on BAIE DU MARIGOT, a pleasant little bay with a calm white-sand beach and basic fishing village feel about it. We anchored with a few other long-termers, but did not find anywhere safe to leave the dingy. The main town BOURG DES SAINTS was just a walk over the hill - but now we will need to move the boat to visit it. After breakfast on Sunday morning on 6th April we motored around to the main anchorage, which was totally full of moorings at 9euro per night, with no anchoring allowed. We went for an afternoon walk through the little village, obviously home to most of the islands residents. The narrow side-streets were lined with whitewashed, shuttered cottages with a French Normandy/Breton feel, the crimson bougainvillea made a dramatic splash of colour. The town square is a small courtyard and on our wander we came across a gilded column commemorating the French Revolution and the very pretty Town Mairie and old stone church - generally a basic and expensive feel. The ferry terminal area was full-on setup for the tourists coming off the ferry from Guadeloupe with scooters, car hire, gift shops crammed into a tiny little central square. The long beachfront had a few bars and restaurants (all closed- well it was Sunday afternoon) with the owners and families enjoyed a long Sunday afternoon lunch at tables set up right on the beach - sand between your toes type of Sunday lunch. We could have stayed in The Saintes forever - numerous anchorages, beautiful palm fringed sandy beaches, and clear waters... just wonderful.
We sailed south from The Saintes to Dominica.