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Saturday 13th - Sunday 14th April 2024

We left Jolly Harbor at 7 am, sailed for 7 hours at an average speed of 7 knots and arrived in Deshaies, Guadeloupe in the early afternoon. The passage was a little under 50 nm and our average speed was actually 7.2 knots, including the lower speeds as we motored out of the anchorage. We had a single reef in the main and full genoa, and we were flying! I had been monitoring the weather forecast for over a week and it seemed like conditions were likely to be quite fierce. As it transpired the winds moderated a little (16-20 knots) and were from the ENE, a perfect direction for us to sail south on a slightly aft of beam reach. The seas were also from the ENE and quite large (7 feet) with a moderate period (7 seconds) and both Gloria and I felt a little queazy for the first hour or two, despite wearing scopolamine patches. We may just be a little of practice, or we might have put them on a bit too late (immediately before departure). Rod,  has never been seasick (lucky b.....)! We did try fishing and hooked something early in the trip, but as Gloria stated … we practiced “involuntary catch and release”. In other words, when I started to haul it in, I could see it splashing, then it got off the hook … bummer! We saw several boats heading north from Guadeloupe, a more challenging direction under those conditions, requiring close reach sailing. We didn’t see any other boats sailing south, either by eye or on the AIS (automatic identification system). Actually for most of the journey the AIS system wasn’t working. We didn’t want to troubleshoot the problem underway in case we inadvertently lost all our electronic navigation, but as we approached our destination I realized that I had accidentally switched off the power to the AIS … nothing wrong with system, clearly something wrong with the me!

We picked up a mooring in Deshaies, squared away the boat and tried to complete immigration and customs check-in, but the harbormasters office had already closed for the weekend. We were all pretty tired, and after a dinner of chicken scampi over linguini we had an early night.

Today we packed a lunch and took the Dainty Dog to shore, and hiked over to the beautiful orange sand beach to the north. Our route out took us the easy way along the main road and down a dirt track. The surf on the beach was spectacular, but it put us off any ideas we had about swimming. Near the beach we found a display board showing a map of the area with an alternative “sentier” (footpath) back to Deshaies. Taking this alternative route back seemed like a good idea at the time, but actually involved a long and steep ascent up to the summit of the mountain to the north of the harbor, followed by an equally challenging descent back in to town. We did get to see some fine birds on the way - including the endemic Guadeloupe woodpecker and Lesser Antillean Crested hummingbird. The beer we had at the restaurant adjacent to the dinghy dock tasted particularly fine! We all had a late afternoon swim from the boat and Gloria cooked us a wonderful dinner known as “deconstructed stuffed cabbage”. 

Tomorrow we must check-in to Guadeloupe and then move on southwards.

Mike

16 18.476 N, 61 47.796 W

Cotinga sailing beautifully. Rod is a gifted helmsman and he kept us on a perfect course despite being swirled around by substantial waves

A passing vessel mid-way between Antigua and Guadeloupe

Gloria enjoying the passage!

A short video showing Rod at the helm as we travel south at 7+ knots. I think it gives a good impression of how much movement there was. Gloria is sitting on the downwind side of the aft seat (the best seat on the boat!), but she is hidden by the steering wheel and instruments.

A short video looking forward along the starboard side deck. Apologies for all the wind noise in both these videos... I do have a separate microphone with a furry cover to reduce wind noise, but I haven't learned to use it yet! 

They aren't called "cattle egrets" for nothing

A painted concrete gatepost - abstract

The awesome beach at "Grand Anse" (wide angle lens)

A closer view of the breaking waves (telephoto lens)

Rod shooting from under the shade of the trees

Lesser Antillean Crested Hummingbird