A Tale of Two Chemists: Well that was Scary !

Well that was Scary !

Saturday 3rd - Sunday 4th February 2024

Visiting the Iles de la Petite Terre on the south east coast of Guadeloupe had been one of my ambitions from the outset of the trip. The two islands, Terre-de-Bas and Terre-de Haut, form a National Park, that is supposed to be spectacular, and the water between the islands creates a well protected harbor. The only problem is that you need to pass over a hard coral bar that guards the only viable entrance. This bar is 8-10 feet deep, which shouldn’t be an issue for our 6 foot draft, except that when there are swells from the north waves can break across the entire entrance. When we were in Guadeloupe a couple of weeks ago the conditions were way too rough to consider visiting these islands, but the forecast for light winds encouraged us to head back north from Dominica to explore the area. We were able to reserve a mooring on line for two nights and departed St Louis in Marie Galante around noon on Saturday.

The winds were less than 10 knots, but from a north easterly direction and so we ended up motor sailing the 18 miles to the island. When we arrived off the entrance, some three hours later, we were dismayed to find a sizable swell and waves breaking with regularity on either side of the entrance, and occasionally across the whole length. We had read numerous reviews about navigating the bar and had put specific waypoints for the deepest water into our chart plotter, but we were uncertain about how safe it was to proceed. Our biggest concern wasn’t being swamped or pushed around by waves, but grounding out on the bar in the trough of a wave. We followed another sailboat towards the entrance, but they turned around and headed back in the direction they came from, which wasn’t encouraging! In the end we decided to go for it, and driving the boat assertively and sticking to the prescribed waypoints we crossed the bar without incident. Once inside we turned east to where the other boats were visible and quickly spotted an empty mooring, which we picked up without any issues. To be honest it was a bit scary and it left us wondering what our exit would be like.

The park is as beautiful as the reviews claim. We went snorkeling directly off the boat shortly after we arrived. This turned out to be our second scary experience in one afternoon. As soon as we jumped in the water we were approached by a very large barracuda with a terrifying array of teeth. I gallantly, turned around and headed back for the ladder, leaving Gloria as “Cuda Bait”. I would have gotten out there and then, but thankfully he lost interest and swam away. Apparently it is very rare for barracudas to attack humans. We proceeded with our swim and saw some amazing fish. The water was super clear and visibility in the sunlight was excellent. Unfortunately, as with many places we have been, the coral is not in good shape. During our snorkel trip we checked out our mooring and were somewhat concerned to see that the mooring line was snagged underneath the concrete block to which it was attached on top. We had no idea whether it was being frayed by the sharp edges of the block, but it played with our minds.

I had one of the worst nights sleep ever - I was hot and thirsty and got up at 2am. Then my mind kept focussing on our mooring line and whether we could get out across the bar safely. Nothing like a good nights sleep … and that was nothing like a good nights sleep!

This morning we took the dinghy to Terre-de-Bas and walked the nature trail up to the lighthouse and along the cliffs. It was wonderful, with iguanas everywhere you looked. We also saw sharks and turtles from the shore. We were bacon board for lunch and decided we could do one more snorkeling trip and still have time to pack up and make it back to St Louis before dark. We opted to do this, rather than stay the second night, to avoid fretting about how our exit would go. It turned out to be just fine, with only some steep swells to contend with. We are now anchored off St Louis again, safe and sound, but exhausted.

Mike

The Lagoon between the two Iles. The photo is taken from Terre-de-Bas, with Terre-de-Haut across the water. The latter is a nesting sanctuary and closed to visitors

Looking across the harbor between the two islands, taken a few hundred feet east of the previous shot. Reefs protect the eastern side and the only navigable entrance is from the north (left side out of sight). Only five moorings were occupied overnight, but loads of tour boats comer in during the day. Cotinga (in center of the shot) was the only mono-hull sailboat, the rest were catamarans.

The lighthouse (automatic) on Terre-de-Bas. The ranger lives in the house in front of the lighthouse. He visited us on our morring within 10 minutes of our arrival to check we had the obligatory reservations and to discuss the regulations