Overnight waves, wind calmed and we enjoyed a lovely 3 hour sail to The Saints, a grouping of small islands south of the mainland of Guadeloupe, all French islands. The previous week's wild weather had boats hunkered down and with the break in weather, many boats were on the move and we benefited as multiple mooring balls were open for the grabbing right near the main town docks. Before we come to a mooring field or anchor, we put on headsets, called Marriage Savers (perfect name) so we can talk to each other without me having to look back towards Mike using hand signals, or yelling, as we go through the process of anchoring or pulling lines through mooring ball loops. Mike cannot see what is happening at the bow, how close the boat might be to a mooring ball, which direction to turn, slow down, or back up. And when anchoring I am letting our chain and watching to see if it skips over the ground or hooks solid but I have no idea how much chain is being let out as the chain counter sits back at the helm where Mike is. So we can quietly talk too each other through our headsets about all these things important to getting the boat secure.

Once we had our clearance paperwork in hand, we walked the charming, very touristy streets of The Saints. There are resorts and houses on the island, but there are also multiple ferries dropping day trippers from the mainland. Many restaurants, clothings stores line the main pedestrian street, while electric scooters or 4-wheeler cars are for rent for those who want to explore the lovely beaches further from town. We always check out grocery stores right away and of course, stock up on pastries when in visiting a french island.

The next day we chose to walk up a steep road to Fort Napoleon, which offered a birds eye view of the anchorage, True North a small dot in the harbor below. The fort was well maintained, with gardens showcasing the dry climate found at the top of the hill. Unfortunately, all descriptions were in french so we could only look at the photos.

We strolled back to town and found an awesome French restaurant to have lunch, in a stunning setting tucked into a back outdoor room with beautiful plants surrounding us. We had the place to ourselves for most the time, so service was incredible which matched the quality of the delicious food.

That evening relaxing after dinner, a tall ship called the Christian Radich came into the anchorage. We last saw the boat moored in downtown Gothenburg, Sweden so it was quite the surprise to see it just behind us. And when I was a 13 year old girl, the ship came to Duluth for a festival of tall ships and my family and I toured the boat which was then a military cadet training ship. It's still a training ship, Norwegian, but not connected to the military.

With weather cooperating for a a few more days, we decided to leave early and sail to the top of Guadeloupe, anchor overnight then leave at first light for the 45 mile sail to Antigua. We were aiming for the last city with a big bay, but powering past several beautiful sandy beaches where a couple sailboats had anchored, we turned and followed their lead. It was a beautiful setting, the water was calm, and it was nice to have the anchorage almost to ourselves.