After spending a few days in Montserrat on March 11th we had good weather to make the 45 nautical mile passage to the French Island of Guadeloupe. It was a very nice day sail, and we arrived at Deshaies on the northwest side of the island in the afternoon.
We had heard a lot of complaints about french moorings, and now we learned that they are true. The balls are attached to a chain and they will not lift one inch when you catch them. Gabby and I basically ripped off our arms trying to get lines on it, and then pulled it alongside the boat to a lower spot while Douglas hung upside down to secure it. Not fun, but very sturdy!
We really enjoyed exploring Deshais. It is where the television show “Death in Paradise” is filmed, which we didn’t know of until the Facebook comments started pouring in on our pics. We found some good French restaurants and a good bakery. Gabby and I even visited a botanical garden just outside of town for a day.
After a few days in Deshais we decided to set off for Terre de Haut in Iles des Saints on the South coast of Guadeloupe. We had to get fuel, but ended up being blocked out of the fuel dock by cruise ship tenders. We then went and grabbed another mooring to wait. This time we grabbed the mooring from the stern and it was really easy to deal with. Lesson Learned.
Since the waiting made us leave so late, we just went 12 Nautical miles down the coast to Anse de Bouillante. This anchorage is known for a hot water spring at the beach. We took the dinghy in to check it out but the dinghy dock was closed, so we tied up to a buoy a few hundred yards from shore to swim in. During the swim I got a nasty jellyfish sting so we only stayed in the hot water for a few minutes before heading back to the boat to treat it. It took a few weeks to heal!
That night all heck broke loose in the anchorage. We were all anchored in about 30 feet of water, so everyone had a lot of scope out and everyone was pretty close to start with. As the wind began to turn we could see a lot of boats coming very close to each other. Then at about 11 PM the boat on one side of us started blowing their horn and freaking out. As it turns out, another boat had drug anchor, hit them, and kept dragging out over a mile from shore. The owners were not on the boat, but came back and made it out in time to rescue it.
We had a bad sleep the rest of that night, as we got up and saw other boats dragging sporadically throughout the night. Our Rocna anchor held great, but that won’t keep other boats from hitting you. Nor will your anchor alarm tell you when someone else is about to hit you. Anchoring near other boats is one of the most stressful things about cruising.
As soon as the sun rose we left Anse de Bouillante and headed for Terre de Haut. We began to fall in love with it as we were approaching the town. It is just absolutely idyllic: Small, beautiful, great restaurants, beaches everywhere with good snorkeling, and interesting streets and alleys to wander around. We could barely drag ourselves away from there after five days. Definitely a highlight and a place we will return!
