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