Marie-Galante and Onwards

Marie-Galante was a nice and refreshing stop on our way north. After giving it a pass a couple of times before, the weather approved our stay this time. Mark and I rented a scooter for a day and explored this flat and rural French speaking island. We left from St. Louis (where Irie was anchored) up the west coast and stopped at a couple beautiful and quiet beaches. Traffic was very light and we took it easy, gazing at the farm land scenes and sugarcane fields.

At the northern end of the island, we had a look at a big sink hole and some scenic rock faces. We continued inland and made a brief stop at the renovated wind mill Moulin de Bézard. We had seen several of the hundreds of ruined wind mills before, but this one was in tip-top shape. Before noon, we managed to explore the grounds of Marie-Galante’s most famous rum distillery, Distillerie Bellevue. There trademark white rum, rhum agricole, is 59° alcohol. Of course we had to try a sample! The tastings are free and they also have a variety of flavored rums.

In Capesterre, a small supermarket offered the cheapest lunch option (bread and salami), devoured at a gorgeous beach where we watched some kite surfers “take off”. We considered a swim, but, believe it or not, the water is too cold for us to get in. It is winter after all! Via a side stop at an interesting old slave plantation, the coastal road brought us to the capital Grand Bourg, where we got lucky to find the customs office open and finally checked in (and out of) Guadeloupe. The hospital perched on top of a hill was supposed to offer great views, but we were a bit disappointed. Our fun and interesting island tour stopped where and how it began, in St. Louis. I’m keeping it a bit short here, because I am planning to write an article about our experience on the island… :-)

Marie-Galante is a quiet place with many wonderful beaches and we had a hard time not having Darwin with us. The climate this winter is also perfect for dogs and humans. Today Darwin would have turned 10 years old and we miss hem more than ever. He would have had a great time on and off Irie this cruising season!

After waiting a week for a weather window of lighter (around 15 knots) winds, we left for Deshaies, on the northwest side of Guadeloupe. A lack of wind in the channel called for three hours of motoring, but we tried our best at sailing up the coast of the “big island”. After a bad night of sleep with funky winds in this deep bay, we continued on to Antigua.

Jolly Harbour, without a dog this time, was still a hassle and a negative experience. This is the only place in the Eastern Caribbean that we know of, where you have to bring your boat to the customs dock. We arrived in the harbor close to closing time and didn’t want to take the chance to stumble upon a full dock (there is only space for one boat) and having to circle forever or having to turn back because it was 4 pm, so we took our dinghy. A rude woman snapped at us to bring our boat. When we asked why, she got offensive, indicated that this was normal procedure in all the islands and threatened us with fines and sentence to prison for disobeying a customs officer. When we turned back to our boat, another sailboat pulled up the dock. Purely out of principle, we were not going to bring Irie over the next day or deal with the big and power trip attitude of the woman, so we checked into Antigua’s capital St. John’s were people were much friendlier!

Hopping North

A very enjoyable afternoon and evening with our land-based friends Sally and Tom, concluded our stay in Bequia in the beginning of the New Year. About an hour before we left the harbor, a big oil slick traveled through our area, staining Irie’s (and others) hull, all four sides of it, leaving a blackish mess behind. It wasn’t even four weeks after we worked so hard to make her bottom clean, pretty and presentable! Now, we have to do it again, in the water and it will take more than soap and a sponge… An experience not in favor of our already mixed feelings about Admiralty Bay.

A short, slow but nice sail brought Irie to new-to-us Keartons Bay in St. Vincent. It is a pretty, quiet and small bay where the boat boys are friendly enough and anchoring - without lines to shore - is possible for a couple of boats. It was pretty rolly, but we needed a better jump off point for our next, long sail to St. Lucia. After motoring our way up the Vincentian coast, we were ready for a great, brisk sail across the channel. As always, the sight of the Pitons was majestic, but no dolphins this time. Once we hit the shores of St. Lucia, we motored for a bit, but then managed to sail the rest of it, adding an hour and 5 miles to the trip because - being set off course - we had to tack back into Rodney Bay, well before dark.

The weather window to go north (less strong winds with an eastern-southeastern component instead of northeastern) lasted a few days, so after a day of shopping, catching up on internet work and a bit of rest, we left early in the morning for Fort-de-France in Martinique, a fast sail five hours away. The main reason for a stop here is a store called Leader Price. This is where cruisers stock their boats with French goodies like cheese, salami, pâté, smoked salmon, snacks and wine at affordable prices…

The following morning was, yet again, a very early one. From the moment we could “see”, which is around 6 am this time of the year, we motored our home out of the bay and raised the sails. Going north along Martinique’s coast was a patient and time consuming endeavor that we had to give up the last 6 miles. We couldn’t afford losing too much time and motored the last bit, before gaining speed again in the channel between Martinique and Dominica. We were trying to cover 65 miles in 12 hours of daylight. An impossible feat totally under sail, because the wind dies along the land. From the moment we approached Dominica’s capital Roseau, it was time to start the engines again. The rest of the way, we were busy adjusting the sails to motor sail or sail in the most efficient way. When the sun set behind the horizon we finished our long day in comfortable and familiar Prince Rupert Bay (Portsmouth). Loud music onshore made for a sleepless night.

By now, our natural clock made the use of an alarm unnecessary to get going early. Taking advantage of the eastern winds, we reached Marie-Galante in Guadeloupe before lunch, setting a new record high speed of 8.8 knots. Sure, we’ve done 10 knots, but that was either because of current or of riding on top of a breaking wave… Choppy, high seas made for a wet and salty ride, but we were happy to finely arrive at a new place. Time for some island exploring, once again!

Northbound: Guadeloupe

Point à Pitre is Guadeloupe’s biggest city. It is located on the southern edge of the thinnest part of the country and has a big harbor with a few anchorages. There is a marina area that is very convenient, clean and self-contained. You find marine shops, car rental places, a supermarket, expensive restaurants, and a chiropractor all in walking distance from the dinghy dock. The day after our arrival, “sore backed” Mark visited the chiropractor, who “cracked” him five times. The whole ordeal took less than five minutes and cost 60 euros. In the afternoon, we paid a brief visit to the city.

The following two weeks, we basically stayed put in the harbor, to examine the developments of Mark’s back, work online and “wait for weather”. Mark spent hours on end improving the Wirie website, updating the manuals and preparing for our big launch of The “improved” Wirie. We were mainly anchored off a quiet island, Islet à Cochons, inhabited by little biting bugs. It was a good place to take Darwin to shore, except early in the morning or late in the afternoon. While the captain’s back was resting, the crew carried 70 gallons of water back on deck, filled the water tank, hauled the dinghy up the beach each time we took Darwin to shore and pulled it up our davits every night (a security matter). As good practice, the captain is steering the boat and the crew is lifting the anchor and the sails these days… Sometimes life on shore sounds appealing!

But, it wasn’t all work and bug bites. One day, we rented a car to explore the mainland a bit. Guadeloupe, shaped like a massive butterfly, consists of two islands cut apart by the Riviѐre Saleé. Grande Terre is flat with nice beaches, resorts and agriculture, while Basse Terre is mountainous and lush. Most of this side of the island is a National Park with many hikes, view points, a volcano and water falls. I’ve wanted to check it out for a while and Wednesday, January 13^th was the selected day to do so.

Mark, Darwin and I loaded up the dinghy and went to the marina area to see whether Cap Caraibes had a cheap car that day. Sometimes, they don’t have any cars at all and you can’t reserve. They don’t care. This is French land. Everything is laid-back and unorganized… We waited for about an hour and got lucky and on our way by 8:30 am in a tiny, crappy Renault Twingo. Well, what do you want for “only” 30 euros ($ 45)? After a few wrong turns because of my awful co-piloting skills, we stopped at a super duper, bigger than American-sized shopping mall to check their closing hours. To get most of our car and day, we would do some shopping here once it got dark.

The trip went on, over the Route de la Traverse to the National Park. Our first stop was a pretty, but busy waterfall, worth the picture. When we saw the National Park sign, however, it became clear to us that dogs were not allowed! We left Darwin in the shady car for a quick glimpse of sights in the busy areas and took him for a long walk up a mountain where no tourists were present. This trail was very challenging and muddy. We need better shoes than flip flops! Darwin loved it and everybody got their exercise and mud bath for the day.

We followed the west coast of Guadeloupe down and passed a few places we had anchored on our way to Grenada. Near the capital, Basseterre, we turned inland to approach the volcano La Soufriѐre. The top was in the clouds and rain was approaching while we drove through the lush environment. The Twingo had a very hard time climbing the steep roads, only allowing Mark to keep moving in first gear. If the car stopped, we were screwed. When that happened, we all got out and pushed. Just kidding! We did roll backwards while Mark floored the pedal in order to go the right way (=up) again. Near the volcano are a lot of interesting looking hiking trails to waterfalls and view points, but we couldn’t leave Darwin for that long. Plus, what’s the fun of going on a big walk without having a happy dog with you? We dipped out toes in a natural hot pool and drove the Twingo down again.

The roads in Guadeloupe are surprisingly good with stretches of highway and passing lanes. Along the southeast side of Basse Terre, we drove inward again to see the most visited and highest waterfalls of the country, the Chutes du Carbet. Because of rock slides, however, the closest falls were closed. The higher falls were accessible, but the day was running out of hours, so we opted for a walk around the serene Grand Etang with Darwin instead. The trail around this lake went up and down over tree roots and rocks with views of a calm pond in between the branches and leaves. It was a nice, but tiring way to end our sightseeing trip.

Back in Point à Pitre, I was excited about checking out the Decathlon outdoor store and the huge supermarket. Mark and I did find some new and affordable swimwear, but the Carrefour supermarket was, just like everywhere else in Guadeloupe, very expensive. When we tried to fuel up our car, the gauge didn’t want to get to the fifth bar, which was how we left the rental place. After a few tries and spending a lot of money, we gave up.

When we searched out a third gas station the next morning, we kept pumping without results. We figured worst case was to fill the tank and ask some money back, since there obviously was a problem with the gauge. By that time, we had spent 43 euros ($ 63) on fuel for this little Twingo! The owner of Cap Caraibes didn’t want to have anything to do with refunding money, blaming us for trying so many times instead of just bringing the car back. Are we too responsible? Or too dumb? The experience made this car rental the most expensive of our lives, costing over $ 100 for a day! Mark hated the fact he didn’t speak French, but I assured him that even knowing French would not have helped in this case as I was the proof of it! No, Mark is still not fond of the French islands…

One day, we moved over to cute and pretty Ilêt du Gosier, an uninhabited little island with a lighthouse, palm trees and a nice beach. Lots of people swim over from the mainland, since it is only 600 yards off shore. The place got quite busy during the day, but was all right in the mornings and the evenings, when we shared the island with the biting bugs. Dogs were not allowed, so we had to sneak Darwin on shore before and after “busy hours”. Not that rules are followed or enforced, based on the many camp fires!

Our last adventure in Guadeloupe took place a couple of days ago. We moved Irie to the south side of the Riviѐre Saleé, the slim body of the butterfly, to pick up a mooring ball that wasn’t there. We anchored for the night and got up at 4 am the next morning, to utilize the 5 am bridge openings. In the dark, we lifted anchor and made our way to the first bridge. Easy enough. The second one was close to the first one, but off set and very narrow. Once in the opening, with a foot on each side to spare, the current pushed us against one of the walls with a small crack as a result. Then, a 30 minute pitch dark slide through the mangroves followed, with some lit and unlit markers “showing” us the way and many no-see-ums. The last bridge was wide enough and we hoped to pick up a mooring ball on the north side until daylight was present. None were to be found, so we had to keep going until we reached the big bay up north. There, we dropped anchor for a few hours before continuing on when the sun was high enough to see the many reefs.

Later that day, we dropped anchor west of Ilêt à Fajou, far away from shore in shallow water. We were the only boat, surrounded by turquoise waters and expansive views. The exercise of the day was wading along some of the beaches and mangroves in clear water avoiding sea cucumbers and star fish and providing the local biting bugs with food for weeks to come. We returned to Irie red dotted, but ready for a day of relaxation. No internet here! Not even with The Wirie. Unfortunately, that meant we couldn’t check the weather again and found ourselves in a dead calm ocean the following day, heading north…

Guadeloupe: A Taste of the Butterfly

The shape of Guadeloupe looks like a butterfly. After our fast crossing from Antigua, we touched the left wing in a small town, called Deshaies. I still don’t know how to pronounce it, but we spent two nights there to get some rest.

The island is divided in two halves by a river, wide enough to take Irie across. This area contains a lot of mangroves and is therefore known as a decent hurricane hole. Upon arrival in Guadeloupe, we had big plans to run around to the north side, motor the short cut to the south side and do lots of exploring inland. That was before we actually realized that it was almost August, the height of hurricane season…

Deshaies is a small fishing village that reminded us of the towns in the Dominican Republic. Nothing special was happening, a variety of food was hard to find and the little community just did its thing. There was no good beach, but the hilly surroundings were very green and we discovered that the path along the river was very enjoyable. We walked Darwin there in the morning, while the jungle around us made the air moist and the mango trees dropped their fruits in massive quantities.

We altered our plans a bit and decided to follow the west coast. We would do the other things on our way back north. Our next stop was Pigeon Island, where we picked up a free mooring ball to go snorkeling. This area of actually two island is also called the Jacques Cousteau Underwater Park, because he declared it to be one of the top dive sites in the world. It was pretty rolly this far away from shore, so we didn’t waste much time and jumped in the water before I could get sea sick. Once in the company of coral and tropical fish, we executed our grand plan of circling the biggest island. Talking about a work out! It took us a little while, but at least we now know where the best snorkeling is to be found around these rocks.

Since the anchorage on the mainland, across from Pigeon Island, is more comfortable, we opted to spend the night there, near Malendure Beach. Now this place is very popular with locals and white people alike and we have no idea why… The sand is black and littered, a mucky river empties out on it, the seawater is grey and it is very busy. In the morning, we wanted to go for a sign posted hike, but ended up in a housing development and gave up.

It was Sunday and we needed some provisions. Our idea was to anchor off the marina in Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe’s capital, before noon to catch the store before closing. The sail down there was a bit tough, since the wind died down over and over again, just like on our trip to Pigeon Island. Only then, the wind shifted so much that we were actually sailing back north at one point! Now, at least we kept moving towards our destination, albeit very slowly.

We dropped anchor in a bumpy harbor just after 12 pm and realized it wouldn’t be comfortable enough to spend the night. Down went the dinghy and all of us fought the beating heat to make it to shore. I had a half hour left to “stock up”. I only needed five minutes, since the store didn’t have anything interesting or healthy. A stop by the bakery revealed that they were out of bread. So, we got back to Irie, hauled the dinghy and the anchor back up and left. At least Darwin had a little break and swim on shore.

The only other place we could go before dark was the Saintes, a group of islands south of Guadeloupe and an area well raved about. We looked forward to a short visit here. It was only 10 miles away and we could see them luring us over, but… the wind came exactly on the nose and under ten knots, while a few squalls passed nearby. Since we now are hardy sailors, we needed to prove a point and sailed all the way, avoiding a water spout in the distance. It “only” took us four hours and we did more than twice the distance to get to Bourg de Saintes, the main town on the islands.

Terre-de-Haut is the most populated, popular and interesting island of the bunch. The three of us spent a few days there and enjoyed the cute, clean, colorful town with its welcoming and friendly village atmosphere. We also walked to a couple of other bays and lost gallons of sweat. The Caribbean in the summer: it is hot and humid!

Our last evening in the Saintes was spent in a harbor on Terre-de-Bas. A walk on shore revealed a very neat, organized and friendly community with well-kept parks, lots of hiking opportunities and child friendly areas. When we get back… But now, the weather was quite favorable to make the crossing to Dominica.

Antigua: In and Out

It is early in the morning on the 9^th of July. Mark and I are in a surprisingly good mood, despite the current circumstances. Together with hundreds of flying fish, we are flying south ourselves. It is blowing a perfect 15 knots and we are sailing quite a bit off the wind, which gives us speed and comfort. Finally. From now on, no more bashing into the wind. Supposedly. We made it to our last south eastern destination… and left. We are on our way to Guadeloupe. Who would have guessed?

Two days earlier, we were all ready for our crossing to Antigua. We were very excited about visiting this country and had looked forward to it for a long time. We knew we needed a current health certificate for Darwin and an extra rabies shot. We obtained a health certificate in St. Maarten on June 9^th and thought “Good we got it today, so we can change the date into 19 or 29 if we need to.” In St. Barth, nobody cares about dogs and when we were thinking of leaving there, we tried our best to find a blue pen that matched the ink used on the certificate and gave it a go. We changed the date to 29 and immediately felt bad about it. It didn’t look that good either, and now we really had a problem. So, we decided to hitch hike to Gustavia with Darwin, for a new health certificate and the extra vaccination… There was one other -irrelevant- test request in our email from the Antigua agriculture department, but we knew Darwin didn’t have the disease, we never needed this test before and we figured we could deal with it at arrival. We also knew we needed a temporary import permit once we got to our destination. That couldn’t cost more than $10…

Sailing to Antigua is not a fun event, since it lies pretty much in the direction of the wind. We waited for a nice weather window with north east winds, but it was nevertheless a very bumpy and quite uncomfortable ride, that made sleeping during our “off shift” impossible. But, we got to sail the whole way! When we anchored in Jolly Harbour, we were spent and ready for a nap. First, we had to check in. Mark and I lowered the dinghy, put its engine in place and drove the mile or so to the customs and immigration office. There, the officials told us we had to move Irie to their dock for check-in. So, back we went, with the dinghy. Then, we lifted the anchor and motored to the customs dock with our big boat. So far, this wasn’t an easy process…

We talked to the immigration officer, who gave us a bunch of forms to fill out. We could not officially check in, until a vet came to inspect Darwin. Maybe we shouldn’t have mentioned him? A lot of people got away with this… But, we don’t feel comfortable with that, so, we waited. For four hours. Then, the fun began…

The vet wanted to test Darwin for lyme disease and give him an examination. Lyme disease mainly exists in the north east of the United States, and Darwin has not been there for two years. That didn’t matter. When a dog has this disease, he shows symptoms, which Darwin didn’t have. That didn’t matter. Also, Darwin was just examined in St. Barth by a vet and received a health certificate, meaning: he was healthy. That didn’t matter. So, why did we have to spend $50 there to get a current health certificate? “You only spent $50? What a bargain!” was the vet’s response. There were more discussions, proving that the test was totally unnecessary, but what really threw us off, was its price: for this little joke, we had to pay the equivalent of $50! And, after that, we would be issued a temporary import permit for… another $50! We wished we knew all this ahead of time, so we could have sailed straight away to Guadeloupe from St. Barth, a way nicer sail.

If we wanted to visit Antigua with Darwin, we had to give this vet (or the agriculture department) 100 USD. That was outrageous! They really wanted to make money on this. In all the other countries we have visited with our dogs, we never had to pay more than $15 a dog. Most of the time a permit is free, not required or about 10 dollars, including the vet visit. This vet, who already had an attitude, got annoyed with our objections and suggested we’d just leave the country instead. To his surprise, we actually agreed. He stormed to the immigration office to tell them we were not allowed to stay! Now what? We were so very tired from this last crossing, it was already 2 pm and we knew we couldn’t make it to Guadeloupe, mentally, physically or by nightfall…

After this incident, which took place outside the buildings and was witnessed by all people and officials present, we had a nice talk with the immigration officer. He had sympathy for our situation and allowed us to stay one night in the harbor to get some sleep. The other officials were also very friendly, so our impression of Antigua wasn’t “all bad”. After going through the stream of paperwork to check in and out of the country and getting the required cruising permit for $12, we moved Irie back to the anchorage for some well deserved rest.

Now, back on the ocean, we have all this behind us, but feel good about our decision. Too bad we don’t get to see and explore Antigua, but… we’ll spend our money elsewhere, in places where our dog is as welcome as we are. On this 9^th of July, the elements agree with us. The sun sits bright in the sky, the wind keeps up, shooting us forward at an average of 6.5 knots. I think: “Look at us now, people, and be jealous. It doesn’t happen a lot, but now you are allowed to envy us. This trip is awesome!”

In a record time of about 7 hours, we would arrive in Deshaies, Guadeloupe. Checking in there is free and takes five minutes. One sheet to fill out, no stamps or permits required. No mention of Darwin…