Caribbean for real - finally
Week 1 (!):
Left St Lucia, with overnight (still loving overnight sailing!) sailing to Les Saintes, Guadeloupe.
On the way we could sail the parasailor until it got dark. Parasailors are the Best sails Ever!!
First Anchorage in Guadeloupe; turtles all around! And then dinner at a tiny local place that was truly, as James aptly called it, “authentic”! Next night on a more touristy island where we got great, French food and a beautiful sunset. Thanks for travel tips, Marianne!😉
(James’ photo)
Next day we got a mini drakes passage practice with pelting rain, 2 m,
short waves and up to 38 knots of wind! Entertained ourselves with discussing worst ways to die on a boat… James thinks fire. Mine is overturned boat slowly sinking. Yours?
Then we arrived in Cousteau marine reserve. We were excited to snorkel or dive with turtles, but alas: Poseidon interfered as usual! After near-death experiences on the dinghy dock going ashore, fighting swells, we retreated to the boat at night which rocked like crazy! No sleep! Next morning another crazy dinghy ride to provision. Looking at the feat required to get up to the wildly bouncing back of boat where the short swim ladder is (getting slammed to pieces under the hull of the boat should make the death list too!), we decided the (many) turtles we’d seen from above from the boat was enough, and left!
As I’m learning, a hassle with all these islands is that they each require border clearance in and out. And locations and hours to do so are limited! So next stop was a poorly reviewed anchorage where everyone on my app said to get a buoy due to katabatic winds. I actually made my first post in the app that night:
Trying to make lemonade..: got a chance to test the anchor alarm app Patrick recommended. It is really good! The anchor held all night and we didn’t drift onto the boat I thought we might. And we were next to Morning Glory. Can’t find who owns it now (!?), but it was previously owned first by Rupert Murdoch and then berlusconi. With two nights of poor sleep we luckily had a perfect sail up to Antigua. I deployed my night time watch trick to stay awake - dancing - during my shift. Now you finally know what I look like when I listen to your playlists (thanks again, Marianne and Gauthier!) during my night watches. Yes, I’ve been called crazy on some boats!
And now we’re in the perfect anchorage with beautiful beaches, hikes, sunsets and amazing racing boats. But that’s for next post!