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| The main town of Iles des Saintes. |
Where is the time going to? We are starting to ‘worry’ about our remaining time and where we still would like to sail to and spend time, as we know this will be our last time in the East Caribbean. We will start making our way west towards Curaçao in a few weeks time and then onto Columbia at the start of next year’s sailing season and possibly the Panama Canal. We have become prisoners to the weather, as our aim is to only sail when the weather window meets our easy sailing conditions.
We find that once we are settled
in a comfortable anchorage without too many dramas, we often stay about two or
three days longer than what we originally planned.
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| Pigeon Island (Jacques Cousteau established reserve) |
This happened in Malendure and later in Iles des Saintes. In Malendure, the anchor was firmly set, and most people had been sensible keeping a suitable distance from us and other boats when they anchored, and the weather was good. Our friends, Monica and Dave on Evy were anchored nearby. We met up with them and walked along the coastal road, enjoying the many shops and restaurants along the way. Another couple we had met in Deshaies, Wendy and Nick on Paper Moon, also spent some time close by but they were keen to sail further south.
While in Malendure, we went snorkelling around Pigeon Island (Jacques Cousteau established reserve) and all was good in our environment until Tuesday evening. My goodness, we did not know where the awful swell came from, but Tuesday night was one of the worst nights we have had on Passages. We hardly slept as we were rocking and rolling at angles of more than 30 degrees. We mentioned in the morning that it would have been easier to pull up the anchor and sail off, in the direction of the swell, for 3 hours and then sail back. At least we would have had 3 hours sleep each while the other was on watch. Anyway, on Wednesday morning we decided it is time to move on south along the west coast of Guadeloupe. We left Malendure at about 9.00am and decided to have an overnight stop at Vieux Fort, which is on the SW tip of the mainland of Guadeloupe. When we arrived there, the boats were rocking and rolling to the same degree as we had the previous night, so we decided to sail on to Iles des Saintes. Our friends on Paper Moon, Nick and Wendy, had been in contact with us and had told us that the mooring balls were only 13 EU per night. We decided to try to get a mooring ball in one of the mooring fields closest to the town. Our sail to Iles des Saintes was enjoyable. Yes, we were beating into the wind as we were heading SE and the winds were blowing from the SE, so we had to tack several times. (As can be seen on NoForeignland). When we arrived at Iles
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| Ilet a Cabrit |
des Saintes, we motored around the main mooring fields but couldn’t find an available mooring ball. On previous occasions, we had anchored there at two different spots but this time we wanted to spoil ourselves and take a mooring ball for a change. As we entered the Iles des Saintes area, we noticed that along one of the smaller islands, Ilet a Cabrit, mooring balls were available, so after failing to find a ball in the main field, off we went to Ilet a Cabrit. Well, 9 days later, we eventually released Passages from the mooring ball. It was such a wonderful and relaxing experiencing. We were quite far from the main dinghy docks and shops, but not much further than what we would have been if we had anchored. While there, we met up with Nick and Wendy on Paper Moon for a drink in the town before they left Guadeloupe. Dave and Monica on Evy joined us later, tying up to one of the mooring balls and like us, ended up staying longer than planned. We dinghied into town a few times during our stay. Iles des Saintes is such a pretty place and is considered to be more European than Caribbean, although there is no mistaking the Caribbean flavour. There are lots of colourful buildings and the flowers are so vibrant and plentiful.
At Ilet a Cabrit (our mooring
ball spot), the snorkelling was outstanding!!! There was a HUGE aquarium just
off our boat with many reef fish and superb corals. Every morning, we would
watch the pelicans swoop down for their breakfast. We woke up to birds chirping
away and the bleating of kid goats wanting their breakfast. We enjoyed the
walking trail on the island up to Fort Josphine. There was the odd swell during
the day from the ferries motoring between islands, but it was nothing like we
would have had if we had of been on a mooring ball closer to town. We had
intended to leave Guadeloupe after being in Iles des Saintes for 5 days, but
the wind died on us and was in the opposite direction of what we would have
liked. It was south and even at times southwest and we were heading south.
Normally the prevailing winds are easterlies, but they have been inconsistent.
As mentioned earlier, we are prisoners to the wind, so the first opportunity to
sail south only arrived on Friday 21 March, which we took to Dominica.
The sail was fast….. we are not
sure what any of the weather prediction models were referring to when they said
there would be gusts of up to 20 knots and the average wind speed would be
15/16 knots from an easterly direction. My goodness, there were gusts of 28 knots,
average windspeeds of 19 knots and all from a SE direction, so once again we
were close hauled and Passages managed to reach speeds of 8.7 knots when the
Admiral – Me said this is not fun, we must reduce sail. BTW – we were not on
full sail, so I was keen to reduce sail even more so we could slow down a bit
and not be healing over between 15 – 30 degrees. We knew we had plenty of time
to reach Portsmouth, Dominica as it was only 21 Nmiles from Guadeloupe.
So here we are in Portsmouth, Dominica on anchor. Dominica is often referred to as “the land of many rivers” or “the land of many rainbows”. It has been made popular because the film ‘Pirates of the
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| The anchorage in Portsmouth, Dominica. |
Caribbean part 2’ was filmed in and around Portsmouth – the Indian River and on a few of the beaches along the eastern side of the island. The last time we were here was in 2018, when we stopped overnight, on our way from St Pierre, Martinique to Deshaies, Guadeloupe. In 2014, we spent over a week anchored here, enjoying the many trails, hikes and waterfalls found in this lovely island paradise. (See link below of our time in Dominica 2014).
We are not sure how long we intend staying in
Dominica. All we know is that time is running short, as we intend being in
Curacao by the beginning of May.
So….Until next time – take care
and keep safe.
Best wishes always.
Mel and Caryn
Our blog entry from 2014 on
Dominica.
Some photos of the town of Iles des Saintes.
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| Passages on the mooring ball. |
Malendure, Guadeloupe
