Guadeloupe for Christmas

We entered Guadeloupe in the Isle de Saintes. The Saints are an archipelago of French islands, just off the southern coast of Guadeloupe. And if there was one word to describe Les Saintes, it would be charming. The main town of Bourg des Saints is really just a quiet fishing village. It is quaint and picturesque, all the houses have red roofs and the church steeple in the center of town can be seen from the anchorage (and the church bells ring every 15 minutes throughout the day and can be heard in the anchorage as well). The town is built along the waterfront and very accessible by dinghy. We shared the anchorage with a few boats that were a tad bigger than us.

There are many great boutiques and restaurants in The Saintes, a few art galleries, a patiserrie which sells delicious baguettes and pain du chocolate, and a gelato shop that has the best ice cream in the Caribbean. We had a great time exploring town, buying trinkets and sweets, and had many delicious meals of local fresh seafood. The locals figured out what to do with the poisonous Lion Fish... they eat them!

There are many locals selling fruits to the boats out in the anchorage and we even had warm croissants and pain du chocolate delivered to the boat at 7 AM on two of the three mornings that we were there.   

We all went to a nice restaurant to celebrate Laurie’s 50^th birthday from Moanaroa.  They were also getting ready to leave us and dash north to pick up additional crew before heading to the Panama Canal and across the Pacific Ocean.  Can you imagine crossing the largest ocean in a small boat?…Oh yeah, we did that…

We took advantage of relatively low seas to head downwind and enjoyed the flat water on the west coast of Guadeloupe as we motored up to Melendure and Pigeon Island where there is a Cousteau Marine park.  We enjoyed the snorkeling and did two SCUBA dives on our own while there.  It was nice to dive again as a family and we had no problems with our equipment or getting our SCUBA tanks re-filled.  There were plenty of turtles all around our boat and sightings became common.

Emily played with the other kids many days after homeschool and we agreed to take some time off lessons between Christmas Eve and New Years.  All the cruisers got together aboard Day Dreamer for a Christmas Eve pot luck dinner.  It seemed funny to be eating sushi and pizza in 85 degree sun for the holidays!   

Emily memorized the poem “The visit from Saint Nicholas” and recited it in front of the 20 cruisers.  It was a proud moment for parents who have trouble remembering what we had for lunch.  Here’s a video of her for those readers that could not make it to the Caribbean for Christmas.

We spent a quiet day aboard Emily Grace on Christmas day as Kim made a nice turkey with stuffing and pies while Emily played with all the toys that Santa delivered.  Life is good and we are trying hard to store away the memories of our last Christmas at sea with tropical warmth. The crew of Emily Grace hopes that each of you have enjoyed your holiday season too and have every blessing for the coming year.

 

Tom

Martinique and Dominica

We spent about a week in Le Marin in Martinique.  It was very calm there and the water was surprisingly clean and clear.  There were quite a few boats anchored near but we found a nice spot.  Access to the town was made easy by numerous dingy docks.  Emily got an eye exam and 2 new pairs of glasses with detachable magnetic sunglasses for less than $200 US.  Tom refilled some more prescription drugs and all they needed to see was an old Rx bottle.  It should be this easy in the USA!

From there we headed overnight to the north of Dominica and dropped the hook in the harbor of Portsmouth.  There we enjoyed a hike up to Fort Shirley.  This English colonial fort overlooks the harbor and is among the ruins found at the Cabrits Historical and Marine Park. It was fun hiking with the other kid boats.

Moana Roa were die-hard hikers and they organized for us to hike segment 12 of the Waitukubuli Trail.   

 

What was advertised as a 3 hour hike turned into a 6 hour slog up some pretty steep and muddy trails.  Several sections were so overgrown that it was hard to determine where the trail was and we were reminded of some of the “death march” hikes we did with Lovina.  Kim slipped and fell at one point and stretched a tendon in her knee that would slow her down for several weeks.   

We did, however, get some nice views along the way and saw some land crabs.  Most surprising was the “elephant” we saw on the trail!

In Dominica, we also organized a guided van tour with 9 other cruisers and kids and did an inland trip.  We first hiked about an hour deep in the forest to see the Chaudière Pool.  The fast flowing waterfall had carved a deep pit in the rocks that allowed diving the 20 feet into the pool below.  Everyone had a chance and the cool clear fresh water felt good after the hike.

After a decent restaurant lunch, we visited the descendants of the Caribs, the first inhabitants of Dominica, or Waitukubuli, as they called it.  We visited a bakery where we bought warm coconut and ginger cassava bread and had a chance to buy more of the baskets that they weave here.  The Caribs live in eight villages in this reservation.

Along the roads our guide stopped several times to shows us cinnamon, bay leaf, grapefruit and orange trees and we picked great bunches of samples as well as lemon grass to make tea.  Many of the beaches were all fine black sand from the volcanic activity.

We also spent some time exploring the unique Red Rocks, a caved landscape in Calibishie, which also offered a great view of some neighboring French islands and the beautiful north-east coast of Dominica.

 

After about a week but too soon, the group decided to move north to Guadeloupe and visit the Saints.  Come along with us.

Tom