We are still at Deshaies, Guadeloupe. We have had an exceptionally busy few days starting with Wednesday, when we got here...exhausted and exhilarated from 80+ miles. Thursday we checked in and looked into the best way to get Emily home from here, as we are not sure where we will be next. After an hour or more of research it turns out the best flight would be Friday @ 7:40am thru SJU. We are, at the minimum, an hour away from the airport, but as it turns out our new friend Ginny is heading home Friday as well and has a taxi picking her up at 5:00am so we check and of course it is no problem for Emily to join her and the driver Charlie say's ce' bon.

Wind Shepherd joins us for drinks at 5:00pm and we celebrate our very first boat guests aboard! Very exciting and they are just great, fun people.
We agree to be ready and leaving the boat @ 4:30 AM on Friday to meet the taxi - so I set TWO alarms, and ask Jim to set his internal clock to 4:00am so we will be up and ready. After a mostly sleepless night worrying if the alarms will go off, they all did (Jim of course woke first) - and 4:30 we are hauling luggage into the dingy and working our way to shore following our boat neighbors. The moon has set, so it is, dare I say it?...DARK, and the sky brilliant with stars..the milky way stands out brightly and Emily spies 2 shooting stars on the short trip. I am busy shining a flashlight ahead of us and being thankful that there is a streetlight over the river we need to dingy up to tie up.

So, here we are 5 people standing on the edge of the road near a bridge over the small river at 4:45am in the DARK with 3 suitcases and misc travel necessities waiting for Charlie to show up in a little grey car. This is a crazy Life! 3 minutes after 5...when we were ALL nervous here comes Charlie in a large blue van...we say our goodbyes, put the girls in the van and off they go. Those staying behind dingy back to the boat and Jim and I crawl back into bed for some rest. I wake to Harold, the fine young man who delivers our morning bread, showing up, and we have fresh Baguettes for breakfast.

The rest of Friday is a washout. After 160 water miles and 3 countrys on three day, plus the travel arranging, I am dead and we relax, swim, nap and rest some more. We find that the girls made it safely and quickly to the airport and were relaxing between flights in San Juan, so all is well.

Today, Saturday we rented a car and drove down the coast to the big city of Basseterre. Down is more like, up and down and back and forth because this is a mountainous island and believe me when I tell you driving the road to Hana on Maui is a WALK IN THE PARK compared to this. Two lanes, winding and climbing and falling back down, slowing thru towns, then climbing again - in a stick shift...thank GOD, because at least I felt I had some control. I'm exausted! As the crow (or maybe pelican is a better term) flys it is about 50 kilometers...felt more like 500!

However we LOVE this island. Well kept and prosperous with Lovely people, very warm and welcoming. I was a little concerned because according to our reading the people of Guadeloupe were the least likely to speak any English. No problem checking in, no problem renting a car, even the vendors in the market have some English and we have no problem getting what we need and want and making ourselves understood.

Saturday is market day in Basseterre, and they are also having a music and art festival in town, it is crowded with both car and foot traffic and amazingly vibrant. The markets and vendors are spectacular. There is an outside area under near the renovated waterfront with 30-40 individual stalls, and inside an open air market area, they had fruit sellers and spice vendors and basket vendors and butchers and fish - fresh and smoked. Table upon table...it was wonderful. As we were walking down the street toward the music we spotted a watermelon vendor, so on our way back we bought some, and had a nice chat with the seller. Then we stopped to by an avocado and mangos and tomatoes from a lovely lady who told me her sister lives in San Diego, and she has a cousin in Hawaii. As we were leaving she gave me an extra tomatoes..like I said, warm and lovely and welcoming people.

We think we will stay here for a week or so and then travel south with Ginny & John on Wind Shepherd and any other boats that may join us. There is safety in numbers and we will be at least two, and hopefully more to bunch up and head to Trinidad together. The intention is to take two big legs, here to St. Lucia, and then St. Lucia to Granada, then the final leg Grenada to Trinidad. For now - we are well - in a very beautiful place and we have the best entertainment every night starting about 2:30 til sundown watching the boats come in and anchor, and sometimes re-anchor! One of the best was two nights ago, when a charter sailboat anchored exceptionally close to a beautiful trawler, and as the winds were very light, (and Jim predicted) when the night wind shift happened they swung stern to each other and the gentleman on the Trawler had a serious conversations with the charterer sailboat. Who then up anchored and moved...although we didn't see where to. We are learning A LOT and having a great time!

Just had a visit from Harold and ordered our morning Baquette, for 1.20euro he will deliver it to the boat. You gotta love the French!