The Butterfly

Chris’s parents have been staying with us this week so we’ve been on the move.

Wednesday saw Draper’s on masse check out & head off in a little squall around to Carlisle Bay for the night. A uneventful shake down hour motor to get Sue & Lawrie into the swing. The afternoon had crept up & we decided against arriving in Guadeloupe in the dark.

Last August when we pulled into Carlisle Bay I drank my weight in rose & there wasn’t another boat in sight. This time it’s a hell of a lot cooler & there are over a dozen boats here.

After giving himself a headache free diving to check the anchor Harry, & therefore I bowed out of snorkelling to source potential lobster dinner. We sent the in-laws & Lily with Daddy instead. A lion fish was culled but didn’t make it to the dinner table unfortunately!

Thursday saw us leave Antigua. As I woke us & rolled over I realised that vertigo was back again. I felt like I’d just jumped onto an upside down rollercoaster midride every time I turned to the left in bed! So after 8 months & during a moderate sail the boat was finally christened with vomit – great!!

Following 5 hours of reaching in 20-25knts we reached the chilled shores of Deshaies in Guadeloupe. It’s a small picturesque village not dissimilar from St.Anne in Martinique. It’s also apparently the location that UK programme “Death in Paradise” is filmed too (random fact).

Harry got stuck into sailing his new Rc model boat that was hand crafted by grandpa! Obligatory croissants were loaded & a trip to the botanical gardens was had. A 1km walk up a reasonable hill brought us to the beautifully kept botanical gardens. Touted as the gem of the region by other cruisers, everyone was kept entertained & Harry took up paparazzi duty.

By mid afternoon Friday we were on the move south along the west coast. The main aim was to chop up our trip to Les saintes over the weekend. We overnighted in a deep anchorage just off Rivière Sens beach in Basse Terre. After an unsuccessful Boulangerie trip & a painfully slow jog we were on our way to the Saintes in the morning with Lawrie enjoying some time on the helm.

Les Saintes are a quiet archipelago of islands to the south of Guadeloupe. We’d been told there is plenty of snorkelling & stunning beaches to explore. Our first stop just off Sucre Pain beach was as advised. Probably some of the best snorkelling we’ve had in a long time. As per usual no GoPro battery means I can only offer kids pics of what they saw!

Our morning trip into le Marigot was timed perfectly to get ourselves in the way of a Palm Sunday procession. The small town itself was enchanting with rustic french charm and a gentle buzz.

A short walk takes you across to the Atlantic side with sargassum covered beach of Grand Anse. Great if you want to be pounded by a shore break, otherwise the perfect location to pick up some drift wood or build a den….

Sunday afternoon rolled in & we snorkelled some more spotting an array of Caribbean Sea delights. Even a few bits of live coral would you believe!

Sundowners were rudely interrupted by a leak which occurred as we tried to re-pressurise & clean the water pump strainer. The main risk being electrical wires immediately adjacent to the leak…Some buckets, sponges & problem solving later & we were hopefully sorted.

Chris & I started the week off with a short run up to Napoleon fort. Fairly appropriate for a short couple! Stunning vistas rewarded even those who walked up the hill (ahem!) but sadly these pics will stay in my mind & weren’t caught on film.

We had a quick dip to rinse off whilst trying to avoid Barry the barracuda who was lurking beneath the boat. I shot out the water when I felt a fish brush my leg. Half an hour later I realised the hungry fish was highly likely to be my last pair of sunnies that were perched on my head when I jumped in…guess those frown lines will be getting deeper!

Despite Lily’s protests of “changing spots all the time” we soon cast off & began the 5 hour beat towards Marie Galant in champagne sailing conditions.

Anchoring up in St.Louis, Marie Galante we realised that whilst the town had the appearance of infrastructure & amenities including numerous car hire places, coffee shops etc. the town was sleepy or shut, presumably as it was Monday on a French island, but we did find a sleepy beach bar, so the others had rum was before sunset. Tuesday rolled round & the sleepy town never awoke. We did manage to call someone to loan us a car.

We visited 2 historic sites of sugar plantation attempted to explain the history behind sugar plantations & the concept of slavery to the bemused kids. Sugar cane & cattle were aplenty in Marie Galante.

The other small towns we came across were equally empty but with evidence of restaurants, bus routes, mechanics, a hospital, a hospitality college & even a stadium. To be honest it freaked me out slightly…maybe they heard we were coming or it was a week long enforced holiday. I’m guessing a faltering economy & lack of visitors is the real cause. Amongst closed businesses we did stumble across a beaut of a beach bar a plage fleuirrile. Sadly we missed the distillery trip though as it is only a morning affair 9-1pm only…since I’ve been pretty much dry since January I forget that rum in the morning is utterly acceptable here in the Caribbean.

Moving north up the intermittently rugged coast we were treated to the empty beaches of …,.and vieux fort. We anchored for another eve in an unspoilt bay. This ship was heading north in search of surf for the morning….

The trades seemed to have vanished this week & light airs on the nose meant the donkey was on. However, soon a white plume told us all was not well. A broken impeller was located & replaced. It looked like it had been in there a while…slightly odd as we’d just had an engine service & had thought they’d been replaced. Anyway it didn’t hold us up too much. A touch of wind filled in, we even flew the gennaker a few times as our heading eased off.

5 hours into the sail Harry took it upon himself to do a small piece of writing on dolphins, totally unprompted. Nearly as soon as he finished he seemed to get his reward. In a spooky turn of events a pod of dolphins was soon frolicking in our bow wave. Harry tells me Poseidon sent them…

We arrived in Port Louis on the Eastern inner corner of the “butterfly” just in time for Chris to get in the much anticipated surf! Not as big as when we were there at the start of the month but fun all the same. Another bonus of the otherwise empty anchorage was meeting a great kid boat “Little Wing”. The play dates with Seb & August we’re short but sweet & hopefully will keep the kids satiated until the weekend.

Family beach and surf time took up the rest our time in Port Louis and Sue & Lawrie squeezed a walk and explore in. We complete our speedy circumnavigation of Guadeloupe today as we head back to Deshais.

After a great week we’re having a glamour sail in 14-16knts with the purple beast unfurled in 120-40 TWA. A quick few gybes at the north west tip of Guadeloupe and into Deshais we go. We have a crew exchange on Saturday. Sue & Lawrie are off exploring & the family Ward are on for a trip to St. Barths!