Passages: Week 36 August 18

There is a saying, not sure who said it, but if you stop learning you may as well be dead. Well this week I learnt how to make bread successfully! I have made bread in the past but it just was not quite right. Well Week 36 started off with a lesson from Mira on sv Fata Morgana on how to make bread. Like with most baking – in my experience – it is the technique

Monday morning while Ivo and Mel went for a run, Mira showed me how to make bread. It tasted good – even if I say so myself.

Afterwards Mel and I pottered around on the yacht until late afternoon when we all decided to go for a walk and look for mangoes.

On our walk down from the waterfalls on Sunday, Mira spotted a tree full of mangoes, so off we

went up the very steep hills to find mangoes.

Ivo is such a character – he climbed up the tree so he could shake the branches while we caught the mangoes from below.

Tuesday morning we decided to hire a car and drive to the volcano and to the many waterfalls that can be found along the Route De La Traversee – this road cuts right through Basse Terre.

The volcano – La Soufriere is an active volcano but it last showed signs of erupting in 1976 which caused major panic and disruption to the Basse Terre – the capital city of Guadeloupe which is at the foot of the volcano.

We arrived at the car park for the walk up to the top of La Soufriere at about 10.30am. It became cooler as we drove higher and the vegetation became thick and lush. Some of the roads were so steep and narrow that the poor little car we were in, seemed to struggle.

There are a number of trails of varying difficulties around La Soufriere which falls under the national parks board. There are signs indicating the length, estimated duration and as mentioned, degree of difficulty.

Every one (including myself) was keen to walk to the top of the volcano as it is not something one does every day, so off we went.

The first part was very organised and relatively easy – it finished at an unused car park. This was when I looked up and saw how high the trail up to the top was and you could also see people walking along the trail, meandering their way up – when panic set in. I told the others that I was the tortoise of the group but would slowly make my way up. The estimated time to get to the top was 1hr 45mins. Well it sure took me that long to reach the top!

It was amazing to see how the vegetation changed as one climbed higher and the temperature became cooler and quite refreshing.

The smell as you reached the crater of the volcano wasn’t great as it was spewing sulphur and it irritated our eyes but it was an amazing sight to see and experience! We spent about an hour walking around the crater of the volcano.

I managed to walk up the volcano now it was a matter of walking back down. As always it is the very last bit that seems the longest as once we had reached the unused car park what should have only taken 15mins to walk took what seemed like forever. It felt good having accomplished such a hike and for the wonderful views, scenery and vegetation that I saw along the way. It was well worth the pain, suffering and two bruises on knees and legs.

On our drive up to the volcano, Mira noticed a tree full of avocados, so on our way down we found the avo tree and took some lovely BIG avo’s. They are SO good!!!

We were back in the car and driving off to see one of the many waterfalls along the Route De La Traversee by 3.30pm. The most popular one is the Cascade aux Ecrevisses but the one we would have liked to have seen was yet another 45mins hike from the main road. We knew that the trail would be closed after 5.00pm and we would never make it in time.

The traffic along the side of the road where the Cascade aux Ecrevisses was, was interesting – peak hour traffic jam. The falls were lovely and the water was very refreshing and very much appreciated after such a hike up to the top of the volcano. Many of the locals spend time relaxing in the pool and waters around the waterfalls and river.

We eventually arrived back on our boats around 6.30pm utterly exhausted but feeling good of what we had seen and achieved.

Wednesday we decided we would sail south to Pigeon Cove. This is where the Cousteau Underwater Park is situated. It was only 8nm so we were in no rush to leave Deshaies.

We naturally had to stop off at the Bakery before leaving Deshaies and Mel and Ivo went for a snorkel at the north entrance of the bay where we had snorkelled on Saturday.

While the men were snorkelling, a Customs boat arrived in the bay and custom officials proceeded to come around on their dinghy to ask where each yacht moored off the bay, came from.

About an hour later as we were preparing the boat for the sail down to Pigeon Cove, the customs officials came back to our boat and asked permission to board the boat. You can’t really say “No!” so three officials boarded Passages.

In their broken English, they explained that they were doing some officer training and they appreciated our time. They checked all of our boat papers, registration and passports then proceeded to inspect the boat, opening up cupboards, looking behind our seats where all the hidden storage compartments are, under the floor boards where other hidden areas are. They were very pleasant but it still don’t feel good having our “home” invaded and searched. They left after about half an hour on the boat.

We continued preparing Passages for our sail to Pigeon Cove – we left Dehsaies at about 1.30pm and had a very short but pleasant sail.

Ivo, Mira and Maya had left for Pigeon Cove a few hours before us, so they were already anchored and settled when we arrived about 2 hours later.

In Pigeon Cove there are so many turtles!! You can look out over the water and see up to 3 -4 turtles at a time – all varying in size. It was amazing and wonderful to see.

Thursday morning we decided to spend the morning snorkelling around Pigeon Island which forms the Cousteau Underwater Park. The park actually consists of two island, Pigeon Island and Petit Ilet with a few diving and snorkelling spots around them. Anchoring is not allowed but there are mooring buoys around the island – you just have to use the correct coloured mooring ball. The white and blue ones are for dive boats and professional groups while the yellow ones are for yachts or dinghies.

We first went to the NW side of Pigeon Island to the Aquarium and snorkelled there for about an hour. There were lots of beautiful fish and a few corals – some fish I hadn’t seen before and need to find out their names. The fluorescent blues/lilacs of some of the fish are quite beautiful and amazing.

We then went around the west side of Pigeon Island and in between Pigeon Island and Petit Ilet – here the snorkelling was ten times better. The amount of fish was amazing – in fact there were schools of fish. The coral was much better as well although the seabed consisted mainly of rocks and boulders.

Mel and I had brought along some stale bread – left over bread from the bread I had made earlier on in the week. It has no preservatives so it goes stale very quickly. We broke up the bread and were immediately surrounded by fish. It was awesome!

While we were snorkelling it started to rain – it was much warmer being in the water than out and it was fascinating to see the raindrops falling on top of the water and looking under the surface of the water.

We stayed here for about another hour until we were all rather shrivelled up from being in the water too long.

Weather wise, we were watching a low pressure system that was passing north of us – over Antigua. We felt we were protected from the wind but we didn’t expect the swell that we had been experiencing for the past day and night (Thursday night) and would experience the rest of Friday. The boat was facing into the wind but the swell was coming to us from the side which meant we were rocking and rolling big time! We had two nights of very little sleep so were keen to find a quiet anchorage that would protect us from the wind and the swell.

Friday we spent on the boat rocking and rolling – it wasn’t fun!

The weather forecast also predicted very strong easterlies over Tuesday and Wednesday of next week so we thought we would sail down to Iles des Saintes (Islands of the Saints) which are south of the mainland of Guadeloupe, on Saturday. There we hoped that the anchorages would protect us from the predicted winds.

Saturday – 6.00am the anchor was up and we were heading south. The forecast said strong SE but that is not what we had. At one time we were going 1.5knots!!!

Ivo is a bit of a purest – he has an engine but does not believe/like using it. At times he will use his canoe and pull the yacht, instead of putting on the engine. See their blog: http:/www.TheLifeNomadik.com – They are an amazing and awe-inspiring family, living life to the full, appreciating everything that comes their way after growing up in communist Bulgaria.

After about 2 hours of bobbing along, Mel said we needed to make water so we had to put on the engine.

The sail down to Iles des Saintes was only 28nm and technically according to the weather/wind forecast should have taken us 6 – 7 hours with doing only two tacks – well like most things in life,

things seldom go according to plan. The sail took us 10 hours and we tacked about 6 – 7 times! (I lost count!) When we had about ½ nm to go I begged Mel to put the motor on so we could be anchored by the time the sunset and the fast approaching rain storm, arrived. We put down anchor at 5.00pm in Baie De Marigot off the main island of Iles Des Saintes – Terre Den Haut.

Despite all the tacking, I thought it was a comfortable and enjoyable sail – only half the sails were out – Mel wanted more but I was concerned about the gusts (some reaching 23knots) and the rain storms that periodically came our way.

Ivo, Mira and Maya arrived just after 7.00pm – they had had an awful sail.

Needless to say, Saturday night we were in bed very early and slept like babies – we were exhausted.

It is times like these when I think about the whole concept of sailing – “sailing off into the sunset”. Hollywood movies often have the two main characters (particularly in romantic comedies) on a yacht with the full sails out, calm flat seas, drinking champagne, hair, make up and nails immaculate and wearing some smart lovely sarong or item of clothing. Well I did say Hollywood – the truth between reality and fantasy - the TOTAL opposite!!!

My hair is always a mess – yes, I do tie it up and my “true” colour is apparent, make up – what is that!!, Most days I put on a swim suit or a pair of shorts and T shirt. Our T-shirts are all looking worse for wear – we don’t wear any shoes on the boat, in fact even when we go to somebodies boat, we don’t put on shoes. We actually leave our shoes (thongs/slip slops/ flip flops) in the dinghy and only put them on when we go on land – of course. AND yes we do spend quite a few sunsets with a lovely cool drink in our hands (alcoholic and non-alcoholic).

Sunday we made our way into town – Boug des Saintes. The Saintes is French and is beautiful – it has a Gallic atmosphere and appearance and has changed little over the years. The houses are brightly coloured (see photos below) and there is an abundance of flowers! Not many cars are found on the island as scooters are the main mode of transport.

We spent most of the morning walking along the main road where most of the shops and restaurants are as we were keen to find some Wi-Fi to check on the weather. Unfortunately or fortunately most places close at 12.30 until 4.00pm so we weren’t able to check on the weather. We decided to go to back to our boats and enjoy the rest of the afternoon snorkelling, reading and relaxing.

What a week – full of wonderful and exhausting experiences. Who knows what next week will bring!

Until next time.

Love

Captain Mel and Admiral Caryn/xx