Dominica to The Saintes, (one of our favourite Islands) then onto Guadeloupe.

December 7th 2014

Dominica to The Saintes, (one of our favourite Islands) then onto Guadeloupe.

Well Dominica is great but as we had spent to much time here last year and previous season we decided an overnight stay was enough time was marching on and we were looking forward to spending xmas in Antigua.

So we spent the night on a mooring ball in Prince Rupert’s bay, Portsmouth. 

Don was a little suspicious about the alternator charging correctly so he changed it for the spare one we had been carrying for the last 3 years, I had vacuum packed it so it wouldn’t corrode, it was in perfect condition. 

8th Dec 2014 

Onto Isles The Saintes one of our favourite islands governed by the French, they seem to get things right as far as checking in and out its all DIY. The bay is pretty big with lots of moorings, we took one pretty close in so it wasn’t too far from the dinghy dock. The ferry dock isn’t too far away either which meant there was quite a lot of disturbance when the ferries whizzed in and out at speed, I’m sure the law says they must slow down when entering and leaving the bay.

Busy anchorage

Lots of cute houses

My favourite shop on the island

As we had already provisioned well with French goodies we didn’t need to shop. However the first time we came here we both bought some clothes from a boutique called Maogany, its owned by a lovely French lady and her husband who is an artist. I also bought a genuine Panama hat in blue, I loved that hat but it came to an untimely end when it flew off my head while we were on the dinghy, ok it was rescued and washed in fresh water so it had shrank. The lady in the shop managed to steam it for me so it would fit but by then it looked in a sorry state so I looked for a new one in blue to no avail but ended up with one in red. Hat photos later

We found a lady painting water colours and loved the look of them they have so much detail, some with people, boats and local scenes so we now have more souvenirs to take home.

10th December

Next stop Guadeloupe, Deshaies another place we had visited before, its a big bay, the place is French and another well run checkin and out, DIY in a shop with a P.C. 

We had a great sail for the first part of the journey, we had set off at 08:25 as it wasn’t too far away, at first we had 15 to 18 knots of wind and we were doing 8.5 SOG  which was brilliant, flatfish seas too. Then after doing just over 20 miles the wind decided to desert us, so we had to motorsail the remaining 13 miles.

So by 14:25 we had picked up another mooring ball.

When the surge came in the sea went pretty high up the walls

Tough life for some

Would have been nice to see it under full sail

Oh look a rainbow after all that rain

Sun almost down

Deshaies is a pretty place but it was quite busy with boats coming and going. We had a few visits ashore, one of the days taking shelter and lunch inside one of the places that is used for filming “Death in Paradise” a TV series from the UK. I say we took shelter it poured down for what seemed like an our, the dinghy had to be bailed out before we went back to the boat.  

Sheltering from the downpour well we had to do something

Oh boy did it rain

One of the film locations for Death in Paradise, we had a nice meal and a few drinks while the rain poured down

We stayed for 3 nights and just chilled out.

13 th December next stop Antigua.

BFN
Glenys and Don Agua Therapy
Currently in Virgin Gorda and lovin it here, anchored off Prickly Pear Island. Friday 30th of January 2015