Guadeloupe A month full of experiences
A crashed plane, self-caught lobsters, the iguana island, snorkelling paradise, botanical gardens and the coolest birthday ever
Bonjour Gwada - The second of the French countries. Consisting of one main island and several small islets, it has a lot to offer. We spend a month here, with two crew changes, old and new acquaintances.
The beginning
After a rainy crossing from Dominica, we reach Marie-Galante, one of the offshore islands of Guadeloupe. Here we spend two peaceful days on a picture-book Caribbean beach. We then continue on to the main island where we drop anchor in Gosier. Full of joy, we spot a sailing boat we know next to us: You may remember our French friends from Mindelo. They were robbed at anchor on New Year's Eve, had a broken engine and everything was shit. We never found out what happened to them and whether they made it safely to the Caribbean. That's why it was all the nicer to see them safe and sound and with a new engine next to us 🥰
Aaaaaaadventure Day!!
We get a rental car and do what we always do: climb the highest mountain on the island! 🌋 The active volcano called Souffrière offers us a varied hike, and after about 2 hours we eat our sandwiches at the top. We overhear a conversation about an aeroplane that crashed nearby and it soon becomes clear that we want to see it. After another two hours of walking, steeply up and steeply down as always, we reconsider our endeavour. Some people come towards us, their legs full of mud and visibly exhausted. So we decide to split up. Kent and Thierry carry on, Andy, Atlanta and I turn round. We go get the car and meet up again in the warm bath at the start of the hiking trail. Amoeba ahoy - shout out to Kent 😉 A wonderful but exhausting day comes to an end. Apparently there are only around 28 days a year when the summit is not covered in clouds. What luck 🥳👌
Now our three friends are leaving us after two weeks of fun and adventure, best holiday eveeer! 🤪 Thank you for your visit, it was great with you!
Crew change no.1
We pull into the harbour in Pointe-à-Pitre because Thierry's parents are joining us on board! We will spend three weeks exploring the surrounding area together. But before that, we have to glue our dinghy again, because a new part of the floor has come loose since the repair in Martinique 😅
We take another rental car and explore the island. A visit to the Jardin des Fleurs makes Christie and Peter's hearts beat faster, as they both come from a flowery past 🌺 After this cosy introduction to Caribbean life, we cast off from the harbour and head for a very special place: Les petites terres, two small islands in the east of Guadeloupe. The wind and waves are just small enough to get there. The entrance is sketchy, the depth gauge still says around 0.7 metres under the keel at the shallowest point 🤠 But it's worth it! The uninhabited islands are protected and therefore have some very unusual inhabitants: in the water we see turtles, rays, barracudas and lemon sharks, while on land gigantic hermit crabs crawl around alongside numerous iguanas. We enjoy this spectacle for two days, with an invasion of some kind of flying ants on the first evening. We also meet our Catalan friends Alex and Bruna from the Oleron (flying fish in Catalan, what a cool name! 😎).
Next, we head for Marie-Galante again. This place is just too beautiful. Thierry and I work, Peter and Christine enjoy the beautiful beach. Home-caught lobster for dinner is definitely a highlight! 🤩 We then move on to the archipelago of Les Saintes. The little town of Terre-de-Haut is cute, but very touristy. We celebrate Peter's 80th birthday with a very tasty dinner ❤ We enjoy a few days here by walking in the rain, playing skipboard and eating Schiffli pizza before moving on.
Guadeloupe
We head for the west coast of the main island of Guadeloupe. The crossing from les Saintes goes well, we have a nice wind, sail a good distance up and anchor in a small bay 🤩 As it is Sunday, there is a small get-together of the locals on the beach, with dancing and music. The next day, we sail the short distance up to Réserve Coustau and the Îlets Pigeon. A wonderful snorkelling area with a healthy and diverse coral reef awaits us here. A variety of fish and corals offer us an aquarium-like underwater experience. Only the nights are unfortunately a bit rolly due to the rather poor protection 😅 We continue to Deshaies. Here we take a buoy far out in front. I practically spend the next two days in bed, my circulation somehow goes crazy 😵 I feel dizzy and everything is exhausting. So I chill out 🤡 Meanwhile, the Müllers visit the botanical gardens and drive around the island in the rental car. We also meet up with Alex and Bruna again and enjoy dinner together. I'm slowly getting back on my feet and we make our way back south. We find a small bay and spend two days snorkelling, working and being happy 😉
It's wingfoil time!
We are back in les Saintes, this time behind the Îlet à Cabrit, and on the way there we don't miss out on a little race with the Oleron: We tack hard into the wind at an average of around 16 knots and 21 knots in gusts, close to the sails of our friends. We catch up well and enjoy the short-term ambition of the mini regatta 😉😎
The next day, Christine and Peter go for a walk on the island. I try to fix our watermaker, which is having a bit of a problem at the moment. On the one hand, we have a leak in the high-pressure unit, but we can't do anything about that even with 3M5200 and the spare part is waiting for us in Martinique. More annoying, however, is that the electric pump, the motor relay and the cable between them get literally INCREDIBLY hot after a short time. Together with Customer Service, I find a cable connector that is making poor contact. As I can't find a replacement, I solder a bit and the temperature development is manageable. But we're not quite happy yet. And while we're at it, our new fridge isn't working either. I come to the conclusion that the thermostat isn't working, bypass it and the thing cools again 👍 That means going back to the fridge guy in Martinique.
In the afternoon we finally get to go wingfoiling again!🥳🤩 The wind is nice and Thierry is making great height, bravo Capitano!😘 He visits Judy and Tinu on the Spindrift of Hamble, they are anchored at Terre-de-Haut. Invited them for an aperitif in the evening. I have a tough start to my wing session, but then get my act together and see an improvement on the last time!😎👌 As the wind is favourable at the moment, we set off again the next day. You can guess where 😉
Crew change no.2
After three wonderful weeks, Christine and Peter disembark in Marie-Galante. But we don't have to say goodbye quite yet, as they are staying in a rented house on the island for a while longer. We use the two-day break to clean and wash, because the next motivated crew will follow straight away! Welcome Kaya and Gabriel 😍
The two of them have already been backpacking for six months and are now joining us here from South America. We got to know them through our good friends Ale and Zoe on New Year's Eve last year. The four of them visited us in the harbour in Licata. Now they will be accompanying us for a not quite defined time to Grenada. We are really looking forward to it!
We pick them up from the ferry in a hire car and then cruise around the island for a day. Rum distillery, spaghetti at Mama & Papa Müller's, picking mangoes in the forest and pizza as a summary 😉 The next day, we move on to our favourite bay, Anse Canot. This is what I wanted, and rightly so.
Dirty thirdy!
For my 30th birthday, I wished for a day at the beach. I'm woken up at midnight to the sound of toots, and in the morning I start a dream day: brunch with pancakes, Peter and Christine join us with two homemade Linzer tarts. After a short siesta, we set off on the hunt: Poseidon gives us four lobsters 🦞🙏 We pop the corks on the beach, duel hard in the beach ball, and eat our prey from the barbecue with breadfruit from the fire 😍 With my new LED pois, we conjure up colourful lines under the starry sky. Thank you all for an unforgettable day. ❤😘😍
We are now starting our journey south. Our next destination is Dominica. We want to spend a few days here and get to know this green island even better 🌴🌋💧.
What we don't know yet: 4 ultra-intense days await us. Look forward to a story of a different kind 😉
Off to Dominica!