Guadeloupe to Saint Martin, all the French Islands, Oh la la ...
It is now May and we are in St. Martin on the French side of the Island: this little island is divided in half – French and Dutch.
On February the 17th we left Grenada after six very nice weeks there. We went 140 miles North to St. Lucia. Our attempt to go straight to Guadeloupe failed since our board computer died. This little device powers also our Radar, GPS and Navigation Software. After a night sailing completely “blind” we decided that it’s time to “find” some land. Our good friends on “Eyes of the World” who sailed with us were our eyes and ears on the ocean, they told us when big ships approached or if we got too close to land. It was a very rough night; we had water coming over the bow and into the cockpit all the time, so we had to stay inside, which is quite scary if you don’t have any electronics that tell you what’s going on outside. But we made it and we stayed in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia for almost a week. We found an absolute fabulous Indian Restaurant which we visited four times in that week. That means something… stunning food and great service. If you ever get to St. Lucia you HAVE to go to Razmataz – Have to, have to.
We loaded all our software onto our Laptop, installed Radar, GPS and Navigation aids and left for Guadeloupe another 115 miles away. We love it in Le Saints, a small group of Islands South of Guadeloupe. We spent two weeks there snorkeling, walking up to Fort Josephine, finding treasures from the 17th Century (mostly broken china, but very beautiful), taking the dinghy to the main town to eat Noisette ice-cream and just simply enjoy life. We had a wonderful time and Jackie enjoyed her freedom after being confined to the boat on the English Islands. So many crabs to dig out and chase along the beach.
On the 10th of March we went to Marina Bas-Du-Fort where we spent last hurricane season. We cleaned the boat for almost a month, it was soooo clean, we had dinner almost every night down in the bilge – just kidding. The boat was loaded up with 300 bottles of wine (now I am not kidding) and lots of French food. We had to stop shopping for food after our waterline was too low in the water.
Guadeloupe is usually described as two islands in the shape of a lopsided butterfly with its wings separated by the Riviere Salee (a salt-water “River). When we left on the 8th of April after long weeks of very stormy weather (and lots of cleaning); we had to rise early. The Riviere Salee has two bridges that open at 5:00 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. respectively. So, getting up at 4:00 a.m. was a piece of cake since we really wanted to finally leave. We were the 4th boat on a line of seven and had an uneventful trip along the “river”. Coming out of the river the body of water was very wide and VERY shallow. All of a sudden every boat started to head in a different direction because the marker buoys were miles away and very unclear. Somehow we managed to be the lead boat and everybody followed us – what do we know, right! We managed to run aground once in sandy bottom but everybody was far enough behind us to avoid the shallow water. After about 10 miles we were able to set sail and head for Antigua about 55 miles away. Antigua has new regulations regarding dogs and we were not allowed to check in without seeing a veterinarian. Everybody was very helpful and very polite and we were allowed to have the dog on board without problems.
We took the little public bus to English Harbour, Antigua's graceful and evocative historic district. About fifteen square miles of Nelson's Dockyard National Park is developed as a base for the British Navy in the great age of sail, the harbor served as the headquarters of the fleet of the Leeward Islands during the turbulent years of the late 18th century. Although the dockyard was greatly expanded at that time byHoratio Nelson, it was gradually abandoned in the nineteenth century and was closed in 1889. Today Nelson's Dockyard has been completely restored, and it is now the only Georgian dockyard in the world.
On February the 17th we left Grenada after six very nice weeks there. We went 140 miles North to St. Lucia. Our attempt to go straight to Guadeloupe failed since our board computer died. This little device powers also our Radar, GPS and Navigation Software. After a night sailing completely “blind” we decided that it’s time to “find” some land. Our good friends on “Eyes of the World” who sailed with us were our eyes and ears on the ocean, they told us when big ships approached or if we got too close to land. It was a very rough night; we had water coming over the bow and into the cockpit all the time, so we had to stay inside, which is quite scary if you don’t have any electronics that tell you what’s going on outside. But we made it and we stayed in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia for almost a week. We found an absolute fabulous Indian Restaurant which we visited four times in that week. That means something… stunning food and great service. If you ever get to St. Lucia you HAVE to go to Razmataz – Have to, have to.
We loaded all our software onto our Laptop, installed Radar, GPS and Navigation aids and left for Guadeloupe another 115 miles away. We love it in Le Saints, a small group of Islands South of Guadeloupe. We spent two weeks there snorkeling, walking up to Fort Josephine, finding treasures from the 17th Century (mostly broken china, but very beautiful), taking the dinghy to the main town to eat Noisette ice-cream and just simply enjoy life. We had a wonderful time and Jackie enjoyed her freedom after being confined to the boat on the English Islands. So many crabs to dig out and chase along the beach.
On the 10th of March we went to Marina Bas-Du-Fort where we spent last hurricane season. We cleaned the boat for almost a month, it was soooo clean, we had dinner almost every night down in the bilge – just kidding. The boat was loaded up with 300 bottles of wine (now I am not kidding) and lots of French food. We had to stop shopping for food after our waterline was too low in the water.
Guadeloupe is usually described as two islands in the shape of a lopsided butterfly with its wings separated by the Riviere Salee (a salt-water “River). When we left on the 8th of April after long weeks of very stormy weather (and lots of cleaning); we had to rise early. The Riviere Salee has two bridges that open at 5:00 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. respectively. So, getting up at 4:00 a.m. was a piece of cake since we really wanted to finally leave. We were the 4th boat on a line of seven and had an uneventful trip along the “river”. Coming out of the river the body of water was very wide and VERY shallow. All of a sudden every boat started to head in a different direction because the marker buoys were miles away and very unclear. Somehow we managed to be the lead boat and everybody followed us – what do we know, right! We managed to run aground once in sandy bottom but everybody was far enough behind us to avoid the shallow water. After about 10 miles we were able to set sail and head for Antigua about 55 miles away. Antigua has new regulations regarding dogs and we were not allowed to check in without seeing a veterinarian. Everybody was very helpful and very polite and we were allowed to have the dog on board without problems.
We took the little public bus to English Harbour, Antigua's graceful and evocative historic district. About fifteen square miles of Nelson's Dockyard National Park is developed as a base for the British Navy in the great age of sail, the harbor served as the headquarters of the fleet of the Leeward Islands during the turbulent years of the late 18th century. Although the dockyard was greatly expanded at that time byHoratio Nelson, it was gradually abandoned in the nineteenth century and was closed in 1889. Today Nelson's Dockyard has been completely restored, and it is now the only Georgian dockyard in the world.
fter a week in Antigua we set sail for St. Kitts. For the first time since almost two years we had the wind behind us, not enough to sail but a very pleasant day and we managed to stay completely dry – imagine that! Since we left Guadeloupe we have spent more and more time being “real” tourists. We visit all the sites, take pictures and enjoy ourselves. So we took the St. Kitts Scenic Railway, which offered a nostalgic and somewhat romantic way to tour the island and learn about Caribbean culture, history, and economy of yesteryear. Billed as "one of the most beautiful train rides in the world," the St. Kitts Railway was built between 1912 and 1926 to deliver sugar cane from the fields to the sugar mill in the capital city of Basseterre. Today, it's been re-invented as "a fascinating way to see the entire nation of St. Kitts," in the words of the operator, from a vantage point that is historically authentic yet modern, entertaining, and eminently comfortable. Well, there you go…
We stayed at Port Zante, which is a brand new development that caters to the very large cruise ships so they can dump all the tourists to spend lots of dollars at all the jewelry, liquor and other “duty free’ shops. Of course we had to leave some money there as well, since it’s so cheap!?On the 22nd of April we arrived in St. Martin and we are here now more than two weeks to get “our” bottom completely cleaned off of twelve years worth of antifouling bottom paint, sea critters and other things I don’t want to know what they are. It is getting summer here in the islands and it’s very hot on the “hard” without any air-conditioning. We can’t run our A/C or freezer because we have no water to cool the pumps. But it has to be done and we are happy when it’s over.
posted by Lucky Star @ 1:17 PM
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