SV Windrifter42

We have now moved on to a new island Guadeloupe - also a department of France and offering the much need morning baquette, but alas so far no pain au chocolat.

We are now safely moored just outside the Bas du Fort Marina in Point de Pitre, Guadeloupe. We are in one of the two hurricane holes in Guadeloupe in a well sheltered mangrove swamp. We are also sheltered from the "big city" of Point de Pitre where all cruise ships and ferries dock - although it is fun to watch them come by behind the hedges. The weather blew us in, but we like it here quite a bit. If you take a mooring (for about $15-20 USD) per day, you have access to the marina's showers, laundry (the cheapest I have found in the Caribbean) and their dinghy dock. Most importantly we are sheltered from the winds and seas. We had first landed at Isle de Saintes - a beautiful island off the coast. Sadly, our first night was so rolly and rough we couldn't sleep - and that was in what the weather guru said was the "mildest weather to be expected this week." We were told the winds were going to get much, much worse and there would be a large swell into the anchorage from the open Atlantic Ocean. Umm not so much. So we decided to sail over to the more protected spot in Point de Pitre. We had quite a "romp" making the passage with wind on the nose and close-hauled (for land lovers that means we were heeled way over on one side), and making 6.5 knots with two reefs in our main. It was very very windy, but John was still pleased we made the trip in one tack (he is such a sailor now). I was just glad to get there without losing my lunch over the rail, but who am I kidding, I didn't make us lunch in that weather. We survived on dried apricots and crackers for the five hour sail.